People Living on the Streets in Windhoek, Namibia
People end up living on the streets for different reasons and some of them are poverty, hunger, and food security. The city of Windhoek has observed an increase in the number of children living on the streets while conducting different activities. These children are seen begging for food or money on/beside the road, selling items, offering assistance services, and some children are seen smoking petrol in containers.
The system in place for helping these children is placing them at the After School Centre, the Namibian Orphanage Home, and SOS Children Home which offers a variety of programs for the children. However, The Namibian Newspaper, reported that the City Police Chief Leevi Iileka stated “We have been experiencing, with great concern, an increasing number of children living and working on the streets. These pressing issues not only jeopardize the health and safety of these individuals but also pose health and safety risks to other residents as they become a threat to public safety.” Therefore, the systems in place have failed to properly address the issue of children ending up on the streets. This is a suppressing issue that requires the attention of Social Workers in addressing the matter. What is your general take on this issue?
Social workers should explore family backgrounds of the street people and try to reunite the street dwellers with their families, however it's not always easy to reintegrate families cause of different dynamics that might have caused the break up in the first place, hence the government can consider setting aside funds that can be used towards funding these street dwellers to do vocational courses and skills training that can help them work for their own sustainability or to be employable. This might help make them be financially independent and be able to come off the streets without relaying on anyone.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest this is really an issue and these children are not safe. I remember last year there was an issue, a man bought fish and bread for a certain street child in Zambezi Region and his friend took it from him, that boy took a bottle and stabbed his fellow street child, i was called and took him to the hospital of which his hand was almost paralyzed. The system or does so little when it comes to children living and working on the streets. Ministry of Gender must avail funds and do something about these children because they is a year when a program was done in our region to try and end this problem but it had no funding. We donated money and reintegrated some of the street children. into schools and it worked, now imagine if we had funding it would really make a difference.
ReplyDeleteAre those solutions being provided like after care shelters, sufficient? Are they effective? Is a room for alternative solutions? What are the gaps in the current laws or policies? What do you recommend?
ReplyDeleteI will integrate this in my next blog post.
Delete