Street children miss hometowns

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 10/03/2008 5:00 PM | Jakarta

A boy sang loudly beside motorbike riders, hoping for some small change. No one gave him money. So he danced alone on the street, not for small change but perhaps for fun.

"My name is Wempy Ibrahim," the boy said loudly.

Wearing red elementary school shorts and a worn out shirt, the 11-year-old boy drank a cup of orange juice he bought from a nearby food vendor for Rp 500 (less than 5 U.S. cents).

Wempy always comes to the area, popularly known as the Coca-Cola intersection on Jl. Yos Sudarso, to sing for money either in the morning or afternoon.

He is one of the 30,000 street children scattered all over the city, according to the Commission for the Protection of Indonesian Children (KPAI).

There were three other boys who sang and played the same instrument at around noon.

"My mom told me to sing on the street or else we would starve," said one of the boys, Dody Junaedi, who sometimes turned to be a street car wiper.

His mother is also a street busker and his father a scavenger.

For the boys, working on the street is quite hard and scary. They are often nabbed in operations launched by public order officers and sent to one of several rehabilitation centers in the city.

These centers are supposed to provide the children with life skills and self-development training as well as spiritual and mental guidance.

Wempy said he and another boy were arrested once and sent to Kedoya rehabilitation center in West Jakarta.

"We received no training or guidance. Worse, our parents had to pay Rp 300,000 (US$31.50) to get us out," he said with a low voice.

Life outside the center is harder. Wempy said they often fight for the money they got. They usually get Rp 10,000 a day, but sometimes there were people who gave us Rp 50.000. Once, I got Rp 50,000 and the other children forced me to share the money with them," he said.

The children and their families live nearby in the soon to be evicted Penggarengan area. Many of them were born in the city, but their parents originated from Bumiayu, Central Java.

Smiles suddenly disappeared from their faces when asked whether they would return to their hometown to celebrate Idul Fitri this year. They said that they could not go back home because their parents did not have enough money.

"We actually would love to go back to my kampung because I have a lot of friends there," said Fikri Ibrahim, another street child.

"Yeah, yeah, I love to be in my village because I won't have to sing on the street back there," said Fikri's friend, Abdul Rohman, with a shrill.

Even though they will not be able to celebrate the holiday in their hometown this year, the boys still hope that something good will happen to them.

"I hope there are good people who will give us presents this year," Abdul said.

"I hope I can go back to school," shouted Wempy who had to drop out of school last year. (pmf)

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