The streets of Herat, as with many cities around the world, are the workplace of a lot of desperate children from 4 or 5 years old upwards. Little boys and girls work all day scavenging for plastics and tins, selling lollies, cleaning shoes, washing cars and assisting mechanics and truck drivers.
At the same time one of their parents is either equipped to earn an income or sent to a vocational training course. The hope is that the majority of families will have a significant increase in household income that is not reliant on street child income.
Today I was shown into each of the three classrooms to a chorus of little girls greeting me with huge shy smiles and a sing-song “As-Salaam alaikum”, (they didn’t laugh too much when I returned the greeting) they showed me some of the work they had been doing then invited me to join them for a lunch of Afghan bread and sabsi.
Next week, 100 children will graduate from the Centre and will be presented with a School starter kit before they walk into a government school for the first time. By the beginning of May another 100 children will have been selected and the year will start again, at this stage we have funding to transform the lives of 300 children and their families.
Many families see no other option: if Mum and Dad are unskilled, sick or disabled then the children work or there is no food, no medicine; if there is no Mum and Dad and children live with elderly grandparents or relatives then they work; if Mum is alone, then they work.
I’m not sure that it matters which culture you live in, what you believe or what income you have, a parent does not want to send their young child out to work. No father wants to see his children deprived. No mother wants her child to be hungry. But life circumstances can sometimes gang up against you and force you to entertain ‘sub-prime’ options.
Over the past year 100 boys and girls between 7-10 years have been attending the Herat Support for Street Children Centre with the approval and support of the carers. Divided into 2 groups, 50 girls in the morning, and 50 boys in the afternoon, they receive basic education that will equip them for school entry, (83% of them passed their school entry exams), they have classes on health, hygiene, personal safety and child rights. During the 10 months the children are with us they have two health checks and any necessary health intervention, and with their families they receive personal counselling.
At the same time one of their parents is either equipped to earn an income or sent to a vocational training course. The hope is that the majority of families will have a significant increase in household income that is not reliant on street child income.Today I was shown into each of the three classrooms to a chorus of little girls greeting me with huge shy smiles and a sing-song “As-Salaam alaikum”, (they didn’t laugh too much when I returned the greeting) they showed me some of the work they had been doing then invited me to join them for a lunch of Afghan bread and sabsi.
Next week, 100 children will graduate from the Centre and will be presented with a School starter kit before they walk into a government school for the first time. By the beginning of May another 100 children will have been selected and the year will start again, at this stage we have funding to transform the lives of 300 children and their families.
