Life on the street: Street children of Dimapur enacting their lives on the streets during the inaugural function of a night shelter for Street Children at Burma Camp on November 13. The night-shelter is courtesy of Sophia Foundation. (MExPiX)
A respite: Night shelter for street children
Longrangty Longchar
Dimapur | November 13
The scene was realistic, and the young amateur actors carried out the scene of street children being harassed by policemen and others. Likewise, children collecting rags and scraps were enacted in a very convincing manner. The young actors showed no sign of nervousness while performing the skit in front of a small audience; after all, it is their daily life they are showing to the people; they are the ‘children of the street’ leading a life of fear, dejection and hopelessness.
It is not uncommon to see young children picking through garbage dumps and other places searching for scraps to sell at the iron and scrap dealers for their daily needs. However, the alarming fact is that most of these street children are into drugs and commit most of the petty crimes in the town for survival. Chacal (name changed), a sixteen year old Naga lad, said that he started taking drugs after he first started inhaling ‘dendrite’ (an adhesive) thereafter he started taking ‘brown sugar’. “I used to go to Lahorijan (Assm) to collect scraps and there I saw the people selling brown sugar and my friend asked me to try it…so I tried it,” said Chacal, who comes from a broken family. He said that he has already given up drug abuse three months back.
His friend, Raja (name changed) who has several scars on his face, confessed that he hurt his face after he fell down after being intoxicated by ‘dendrite.’ This eighteen year old non-local adolescent said that he left home eight years ago. He has been living on the street doing anything that would ensure his meals and dendrite. Both the street children, however, now look to the future with faith and hope and plan to be carpenters, thanks to the Sophia Foundation, an NGO which has found a house for the ‘children of the street to pass the night’.
Dimapur streets have been the dwelling of many children who have either run off from their parents’ home or simply have no family to look them after. According to reliable sources from Dimapur based NGOs, there are more than 522 registered street children and more than 2000 child laborers as per a survey taken out during 2005-07.
However, thanks to the Sophia Foundation, the street children of Dimapur have found a roof to sleep under, with the inauguration of ‘Night Shelter for street children by MLA Atomi Zhimomi at Burma Camp here today.
Atomi Zhimomi opined that if the street children are left alone and allowed to go astray, then they would become vagabonds, which is a very big concern for the society. His words gains significance since one of the members from the Sophia Foundation confessed that ‘most of the street children are thieves and almost all are drug addicts’.
“Most of the children take to the streets not just because there is freedom of living but they needed more money to buy drugs and they do anything on the streets for the sake of survival,” said a handout issued by the Foundation.
“Seeing the needs of restoring hope and transformation of these street children we have decided to work together and be a liberator by reaching out one child at a time,” said the NGO, Sophia Foundation and added that the Night Shelter to street children will create a common platform for likeminded NGOs and children to create more awareness in restoring hope to many children and approach the government to take serious initiative for the welfare of such children in need. The NGO hopes to bring in at least ten children into the shelter, who will be provided with beds and bedding, health care and imparted vocational training for sustaining their lives. However, there are plans to expand the project in the near future, said Supong, the Coordinator of the Sophia Foundation.
The two room building will house the children while another room is for the ‘Residential Counselor’ who will look after the children. A kitchen for the children has also been arranged where they can cook their food.
“Through prayer and God I can change their life”, said Selimong Sangtam the residential counselor. “If they meet God and accept Him into their live then there is hope of transformation.”
However, it still needs to be mentioned though the Sophia Foundation might have embarked on a noble journey, the issue of children running off and taking to drugs and juvenile delinquency, are much of a social issue and though the government and the NGOs try their best in addressing the issue, many concern citizens point out that unless the general public wake up and address the issue with a humane and not moral approach, then it would be very difficult to ameliorate the social predicament that the society is in.
