NATIONAL8 (Spotlight Weekly]

Struggle For Dignity

Dispossessed and disgraced, the vicious circle of poverty multiplies their pain

By AKSHAY SHARMA

With the onset of the monsoon, among those bracing for the worst are the capital's street children. Wet pavements, slippery surfaces and incessant deluges all conspire to dislodge them from their dwelling.

The world is not deprived of poverty. Experts say that of the 6 billion people on this planet, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day, and 1.2 billion live on less $1 a day. About 44 percent of these people live in Asia.

Street child : Needs to berehabilitated

Street children are familiar features of many urban centers in the developing world. "These kids consider the kerb as their pillow and the street as their mattress," a philosophically inclined observer describes their plight. "The people of Kathmandu know these children as 'khates', who suffer the brunt of what usually happens in the capital," says a sociologist.

Bimal Pun, who arrived in the capital from Nuwakot, west of Kathmandu, offers a rags-to-rags story. "I've collected garbage, begged and done all sorts of work. Now I work for the owner/driver of a Safa tempo."

For many like Pun, their struggle to make ends meet often manages to draw the attention of the state, but in a disapproving way.

According to social activists, during last year's unrest in Kathmandu, police detained many of these street children. However, law-enforcement officials maintain that there is a reason why 'khates' are the usual suspects. "They are easily led astray because they have no source of income and have been observed to play a vital role in the unrest that usually happens in town," Inspector Rajendra Gurung, told SPOTLIGHT.

There are other threats to the wellbeing of these children. One newspaper recently reported that many street children had been observed sniffing toxic wastes in garbage dumps around the capital. "Paints and gasoline can be especially toxic and damaging to the brain," says Dr. Prashanta Barakoti of Patan Hospital.

Seminars and workshops on the plight of street children are generally caught up in the wider debate on poverty. These children live without fundamental freedoms of action and choice that better-off sections of society take for granted.

They lack basic necessities like food, clothes, shelter, health and education. These deprivations hold them back from living the life that everyone values. "Street children also face extreme vulnerability to economic dislocation and natural disasters," says sociologist Anjan Lama."As they are exposed to the ill-treatment of the institutions of the state and society, they also find themselves powerless to influence the key discussions affecting their lives," Lama says. All this in turn creates a sense of alienation at such an impressionable age.

The magnitude of the deprivation street children suffer is obviously intense and painful. A poor person's description of what living in poverty means bears eloquent testimony of his or her pain. When escaping poverty becomes impossible, the suffering only multiplies.

"Poverty is a result of economic, political and social processes that interact with each other and frequently in ways that exacerbate the deprivation in which the poor people live," says Suhesh Sharma, who teaches sociology at Tri-Chandra College.

The debate then returns to how limited assets, inaccessible markets, and scarce job opportunities lock people in perpetual poverty. At macro-economic level, experts stress the need to promote opportunities by stimulating economic growth, making the markets work better for the poor people and building up their assets.

However, that does not tell the full story. Sharma says, "In a world where political power is unequally distributed and often mimics economic power, the way in which the mechanism of the state operates may be unfavorable to these young people." One law-enforcement official agrees: "These children are often victims of corrupt and arbitrariness on the part of the state."

Pun says: "I have slept with blanket of newspapers covering my head. I have managed to find a job and I am proud." That sense of pride became apparent when SPOTLIGHT asked him how much he earned in a day. He brushed aside the question with the contempt of a grown-up, reminding us how impolite it is to ask a man his salary.

In the end, Pun's brusque response may have provided planners, policy makers and everyone concerned for their well-being a gem of advice: Start helping street children by giving them the respect all human beings deserve.