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Street Children


	Identifying the problems: Your project should respond to a specific need in your community. It is important to involve Scouts in this part of the project using participative and dynamic methods. Here are some creative ways of exploring the issue of street children with Scouts aged 10-14. Activity 1: How much do you know? The Patrol leaders could find some interesting facts on street children and organize a 'Run around Quiz' - see Activity Treasure Chest to highlight some of these facts to other Scouts in the Troop. Activity 2: Our reports Ask each Patrol to prepare one short documentary, news or newspaper report on street children. The situations chosen could include your own country and other countries where the situation regarding street children is different. Developing awareness and empathy: After actively participating in identifying the problem, Scouts need to be helped to develop their awareness of the issues, many of which are complex. Here are some activities which will help Scouts to explore the issue of street children and develop skills and empathy. These activities use the Scout method of active participation and exploration. The project in the community should help the Scouts use the skills that they have developed. Activity 1: I need shelter! Some street children live on the streets 24 hours a day. These children are known as 'children of the streets' and they are the most vulnerable. Scouts could prepare shelters at camp and sleep in them - some from natural materials (a bivouac) and others from materials that would be available to street children e.g. card, polythene etc. After the experience ask the Scouts to compare their experiences in building their shelters, sleeping in them and the maintenance required to keep them waterproof. Activity 2: I need money! Some street children have homes and families but live on the streets during the daytime to earn a living, sometimes selling things to earn money but sometimes stealing and robbing. These children are known as 'children on the streets'. Give each Patrol a small amount of money and ask them to come up with a plan to double the money in a week from their own efforts. A leader should check that the plans to make money are appropriate for the Scouts. Activity 3: The real value of toys Street children often sell goods to make money. They buy sweets, packs or tissues in bulk and sell the individual items at a small profit to make money. • Ask the Scouts to find out the cost of their favourite games/toys and give them a commodity to measure the value against e.g. tissues, sweets, batteries. • Ask the Scouts to find out how many sweets, batteries or tissues a child who lives on the street would have to sell to buy the toy. Present all the results and discuss with the Scouts the relative value of their games/toys. Activity 4: What's my future? Using the comic strip and the template provided, give each Patrol a blank strip and ask them to discuss the starting point and develop the story. Share the results and ask the Scouts to talk about the different approaches and the outcomes which may present positive or negative situations. Taking action: The Gifts for Peace project should make a difference in the community. Actions need to be developed which are appropriate to the community and are challenging and fun for the Scouts involved. Here are some projects which may be appropriate for Scouts to respond to the subject of street children in your community. Project 1: Let's tell others The Scouts could prepare an information campaign on the situation of street children in their country and another country, based on the information they have discovered through their activities e.g. building shelters, showing their comic strips, comparing the cost of items, showing the ways they found to make money. This campaign should be displayed to the wider community. Scouts could run activities for other groups e.g. another Scout group, their parents, their school class etc. to help them to learn more about the situation of street children nationally and internationally. Project 2: Our response Scouts could respond to the needs of street children in their own country or another country by identifying the resources street children need and then gathering them from friends, family and the local community e.g. warm clothes, stoves, cooking utensils, blankets. These could be distributed to street children though local people involved in social services, religious communities or charities. The Scouts should be helped to identify the items required before the collection is undertaken and show the results once the items have been distributed. This project could be undertaken with Scouts in another country who are working to improve the lives of street children. Project 3: Making a difference here Where street children are present locally, Scouting can respond by engaging with them with the long-term aim of helping them to develop skills which will improve their lives. Leaders could make contact with street children and perhaps organize some games on a regular basis to start to make contact and build relationships with the young people. Over time a programme could be developed to provide Scouting for street children which will help them to develop relationships and skills which can help them to change their lives and re-establish links with the community. This project could be started with other partners working with street children. Measuring change: The project is designed to help young people to develop their capabilities, attitudes and values in response to situations where there is conflict, and then apply these to a project in their community. Scouts can make a difference in their communities and develop capabilities and empathies related to peace education. Two dimensions of change should be measured - change in the communities and change in the Scouts themselves. Measuring change should be built into the design of the project in a fun, participative way. Here are some activities which will help to measure change. Activity 1: Scouts' perceptions At the end of the project, re-run some of the activities that you used at the beginning of the project e.g. developing news reports, completing the comic strip, to see if the perceptions of the Scouts have changed. Make sure that the results found are explained to the Scouts. Activity 2: Our opinions Ask each Patrol to speak for 'Just a Minute' on an aspect of street children - see Activity Treasure Chest. The topics could be: • Street children here (or in a specific country) • Children 'on' the street and children 'of' the street - what's the difference? • We can make a difference • The future for a street child Activity 3: Our local situation Over a period of time ask the Scouts to collect stories from the media in relation to street children and see if the situation is changing for better or worse? Invite someone from another organization working with street children to come and report on their ongoing work and how the situation is changing? Case study: Here is a story from Kenya on how Scouts are changing the lives of street children in Nairobi. Some street children in Kenya have had the good fortune to be join to Scouting ñ which has been a life-changing experience for them. The Kenya Scout Association responded to the growing number of children who found themselves on the streets of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, by setting up a programme for them. This programme is now well established; over 2000 Scouts are currently registered and overall 12,000 young people have benefited over the years. Through Scouting young people are given the opportunity to attend school and take state exams, learn skills such as computing, carpentry, tailoring and driving; skills that will give them employment opportunities in the future. Many of the young people continue to battle with addiction but they are supported by other Scouts who have had these experiences and overcome them. Through Scouting many street children in Kenya have been given a 'ticket to life', transforming their lives and making an impact in the community. Scouts in front of the shanty town on the edge of Nairobi. "If you want peace, work for justice." Pope Paul VI