Child Protection - StreetSmart SA

"Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good actions; try to use ordinary situations."
??????????????????????????????????????? Jean Paul Richer

Once a year we?celebrate?National Children's?Day ? so we ?re actually creating extraordinary circumstances.? It is, however, an opportunity amidst all of life?s issues ?nd that of the day, to make a conscious effort to make a difference in a child?s life. An opportunity to stop and reflect on the needs and future of the largest part or our population.

StreetSmart focuses its funds on the most marginalised of children, the street child. Who, as a general rule, left home because of being abused, neglected or abandoned. Once on the street, the child who tried to escape dire circumstances at home, is exposed to equal, if not increased, levels of danger. This hurt and angry child has little chance of getting out of this destructive cycle was it not for the efforts of persistent and dedicated individuals. In spite of slow, small steps of progress (and sometimes major set backs); they continue tackling this huge problem, one child at a time.

StreetSmart SA started as a vehicle to raise funds to assist with the normalizing of street kids? lives. The funds are collected for a very specific purpose: to empower, train and equip street children to change their lives, to change direction. Read a good news story. The funds raised through participating restaurants, go to education, skills training and family reunification programmes.

More precisely, the funds go to:

The salary of a street worker - who walk the streets to get to know the kids and help them to trust adults again; to look out for the child against abuse and harassment. Most importantly, to encourage the child to visit the shelters and make a decision to leave the streets.

The salary of a social worker ? who has to work sensitively with each child, unlocking fears and hurt, assessing and evaluating the individual.

The salary of a child care worker ? who in the interim, takes care of
body and soul of the child, until family or foster care can be established.

Travel expenses ? to enable the child to go for family visits over weekends or school holidays, in order to re-establish relationships within his/her family. Or, in the happy cases, to take the child home, once his/her family was found ? be it in Douglas, Kraaifontein or Idutywa.

Tools and Materials ? equipping the workshops where the child is taught skills which they can use to earn an income.

Government only take care of the basic needs of a child in a shelter, but StreetSmart raise funds to assist agencies with the greater process of social normalization. A street child is just a normal child in abnormal circumstances.

An old clich? perhaps, but children are our future. Invest in a child?s life today.