| |
|
| |
Street-living Children - Who are they?
|
 |
| |
This group is the most unprotected and
vulnerable of all street-involved children. Faced with the extreme poverty of
their families, family violence and abuse, a hostile social environment and the
belief that they have no future, these children have decided to leave home – or
have been expelled from it – to live on the street. They frequently fall into a
life of crime and end up in the young offenders’ court.
|
| |
Street-living Children - JUCONI action
|
|
| |
The first step is to make contact with children in the street and convince them
that they can forge a positive future for themselves. We call this task
Operation Friendship. Once a child has committed to making an effort to change
his or her life and has acquired the essential skills they will need to
integrate into a residential programme, he or she enters JUCONI House. This is a
transitional home where, apart from providing shelter and food, the most
important part of JUCONI’s work begins: giving educational-therapeutic support
to help heal emotional wounds and build their self-esteem, then enrolling the
child in school and helping him catch up with lost schooling, and, if the child
is old enough, preparing him or her for formal work in JUCONI’s “Work Culture”
Workshop, which has proven very effective.
At the same time, we work where possible with the mother and father, giving them
the psychological and practical support they need to rebuild their family unit.
40% of children are able to return to a safe and caring family. JUCONI’s
educators continue to visit the child and family regularly for up to 3 years to
ensure the family strengthens their participation within mainstream society and
are able to protect and nurture their children as well as ensuring sustained
access to rights such as education and healthcare.
JUCONI’s Youth Home caters for children for whom returning to their families is
not an option. Here, with the support of the JUCONI educators, they continue
their education and/or work, develop aspirations and learn to plan for the
future as well as learning how to manage their income and expenses, to eat a
balanced diet and to cook. In short, they learn to be independent and
responsible members of society.
|
|
|
|
|
