Street kids sore over media sensationalising their woes

December 17, 2004

Filed under: Nepal Streetkid News
Street kids sore over media sensationalising their woes
(Archive)
By Bishnu Prasad Aryal

DHARAN, Dec. 17, 2004: Street children in Sunsari district are irritated with media for sensationalising their plight – neither they want to talk about their woes on how they came to the street nor do they want to be called ‘street children’.

“Many people from various organisations came to interview us and take photographs, but they do nothing for us and they never return. No one comes to share our pain in reality but only to profit from our miseries,” said Saroj Rai of Daju-Bhai Child Club, the only club of the children living in the streets. There are about 70 street children in Dharan.

Rai said that he had been interviewed more than 10 times by the local and national media persons but their condition has not improved. “Rather, it has worsened.”

“So don’t ask me more about how I was thrown to the gutter of the street and living a dog’s life. I can’t hope much from you too,” he expressed his perception to this reporter. The children said that they were slightly better off after they established the club about five years ago. The club has done more for us than the assurances given by the elite groups, they said. “We share pains and try to console each other,” Rai said.

Street children, who are in dire condition, are brought to the contact centre of a local organisation, Underprivileged Children Association (UPCA) Nepal, which has encouraged and helped them to establish the club.

After visiting the contact centre, some of the children, however, do not hesitate to tell their tales of grief and anguish.

Dil Bahadur Khadka, 16, left home four years ago as his father used to kick him frequently. “Sometimes, I used to bunk the classes and smoke with my friends,” said Khadka. “As my father knew it, I was severely beaten. Then, I decided to leave the house,” he added. Khadka comes from a poor family of five daughters and three sons. But disgusted by the abominable life — picking plastics and rusted metals, having to go without food and straying as mongrels in the cold and deserted streets, he remembers that home is where the heart is. “I visit home occasionally.”

“When I reach my home, my father scold me with vulgar words like ‘khate’ (a mean word for street children). Then I don’t like to stay there even for a moment and come back to the street,” he said.

Fifteen-year-old Umesh BK’s life is no less touching than others. “My father went to India when I was small. But he never returned.” His mother eloped with another man with his two younger brothers. “I was abandoned,” BK went on.

“A cousin told me to visit the contact centre where I am sheltered now. I am studying in Class 5,” he added.

All these children are also worried of the insurgency that has added panicky miseries in their lives. “The conflict takes the lives of elders. Those death tolls turn into a demon orphaning and pushing us in the streets,” they said.

“We have raised the voices on domestic violence, exploitation and child rights,” said Rai. “But we do not dare to speak against the conflict due to the fear.”

However, it is a good sign that children of child clubs across the country have started voicing against their deplorable condition.

According to Rajiv Lochan Adhikari, manager of the Consortium of Organisations Working for Child Clubs, there are 3,000 child clubs working under 40 organisations in 22 districts.

SOURCE: The Rising Nepal