It is estimated that over 500 street children are in Colombo alone. This population includes orphaned, abandoned and otherwise homeless children, as well as those 'working' in the streets in an effort to supplement their families' insufficient incomes. Driven to the streets for survival, these children are rendered exposed to sexual exploitation and physical abuse. These exposed children are vulnerable to many ravaging risks. The children joining the streets are increasing in their number as this is the only option for many who are faced with repugnant hazards of broken families, loss of parents, hunger and harassment caused by various individuals around them.
The children in the streets are denied of basic fundamental rights which include the right to enjoy the innocent bliss of childhood, good health, the freedom of speech, expression and education. They are constantly considered a nuisance to society, thus allowing them to become tomorrow's drug addicts, prostitutes, rapists and thieves as there is clear evidence of such.
World Vision took up the challenge of addressing this issue. After starting small, and growing steadily through the years, World Vision currently conducts three centers for street children in the Colombo and Kandy districts. Over 125 kids are assisted through these centers and they are supported in health, nutrition, education, skill raining, recreation ,social upliftment and family rehabilitation. The purpose of these programmes is to rehabilitate and integrate the children into mainstream society as responsible and useful citizens.
Therefore, Me as an SLMUN EXCO member spent two days (Saturday & Sunday) with these children at the Dehiwela Centre. Our goal was to teach the children here skills such as singing, dancing, drama, and even cooking and handwork.Not only would they be learning skills, this would provide opportunities for the project children to interact with kids of other social standings, namely; us. Conversely, it gave us the opportunity to spend time with a group of individuals you would never normally meet and speak to, throughout our entire life."
Three other fellow EXCO members and I were incharge of these two days. We had planned to coordinate this as sessions. On Saturday, we had singing/dancing and cooking, whereas on Sunday we had Art and Craft, Self Defense and Dancing.
I was surprised that about my ability to converse with the students in Sinhala, as I didn’t think that my Sinhala was that great. I however, was still able to learn a few words which expanded my vocabulary. (their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth), (developed new skills) I have never played clapping games in Sinhala before, and for the first time I did. It was very interesting, and challenging at the begging inorder to actually remember the words. (undertaken new challenges) I did part of the planning part, as my fellow EXCO members and I had to plan out the activities. This was an unfamiliar activity, as I hardly plan out activites for a large age group, therefore it was fun to experiment and find out which would suit them the best. (planned and initiated activities) Volunteers had signed up to help us too, therefore they had helped us. For this we had to work collaboratively with them to make sure that they understood what had to be done. (worked collaboratively with others) These kids had come from really harsh backgrounds so we had to be careful about what we asked them, and had to make sure that nothing about their parents or past were asked. (considered the ethical implications of their actions). I went on time and stayed till the end of the session. (shown perseverance and commitment in their activities)
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