“Love. The Way Home” ---- Voices of the Street Children

There are more than 300 million children under the age of 16 in China.  The majority of them may be like our little ones at home, smiling and growing up in the warm embrace of their parents.  We can be content seeing them grow tall and learn new knowledge.  Yet there are around 150,000 frequencies of street children each year according to the figures of the Civil Affairs Bureau; and a study in 2005 by the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council estimated the number of street children in the mainland to be 1 to 1.5 million and increasing at the rate of 150,000 per year.

These children have no home and no love.  With the rapid development of the economy, the wealth gap is growing acute, family problems are increasing and children are the ones who ultimately suffer.

Some of them stopped going to school because of poverty.  Others ended up on the street from their parents’ divorce, family violence or being abandoned.  Children like Chao have not been protected by their parents and family and lack security.  Their dignity and fundamental rights have no protection.

Can you imagine what their lives are like?

These children eat leftovers, pick garbage and beg from door to door to support themselves.  In order to live, they may even steal or be manipulated by others into conducting illegal activities.

Yangyang has been one of them.  He was 14 years old at the time.  With both parents dead at an early age, he started roaming the streets just to pick up food to eat and sometimes to beg for money.  One day, a stranger befriended him and lured him with a job with good pay.   Wanting to make money to send home, he unwittingly fell into a trap that he has been regretting deeply ever since.

He was taken to a underground brick factory.  The stranger turned hostile and made Yang Yang hauling bricks from 6 in the morning to 12 at night each day.  The bricks were heavy, Yangyang was exhausted but the supervisor never allowed him to stop.  He would often scold and beat Yangyang, sometimes even hit him with a brick.  “Once he smashed a brick onto my stomach and it was especially painful....”  Recalling the past, Yangyang’s voice faltered and terror shone in his eyes.

After some time he took a chance and managed to escape.  With the help of some good people, he arrived at Yunnan Jiaxin Children Assistance Center.  There, he finally returned to the decent life of a child - happy, fed and clothed.

World Vision has established and registered with the provincial Civil Affairs Bureau this children center to help and save street children.  Services provided include outreach community services, supply of fundamental needs, special education services, case or group guidance, night-time crisis center, home care, foster care, vocational training and employment counseling, family reunion and referral to social services.  In addition, it has also started education sponsorships and raising social awareness.

Up to the end of September 2011, the center has helped more than 1,100 street children.  In particular, it has returned more than 300 children to their homes, sponsored more than 120 children to go to school and provided referrals to vocational training for approximately 80 children.

Actually for many years the departments concerned within the government have been making a lot of effort to improve on the problem of street children.  However, this is a complicated social problem and the task of helping and saving these children is not simple, requiring the concerted efforts of government and all sectors of community to complete.

Jiaxin Children Assistance Center has always emphasized on the wide and active participation of volunteers, the community and society.  In order to arouse concern within the community for these street children, the Center has published the book “Love. The Way Home” which records the true stories of children like Chao and Yangyang.

These children, regarded by many people as being without hope, are in fact good, bright and lovely, like most children.  A child, rich or poor, is a life just as equal as another, requiring us to feel and love with our hearts.  Are you willing to read their stories and accompany them on a journey which you have never imagined?