There is no official census, nor are there common causes that can explain why so many children in the world live in the streets, without a stable home and away from their families. It is a visible phenomenon in Asia, America and Africa, associated above all with poverty and violence, but it also happens in rich countries. They are children without a childhood, in constant danger, who suffer discrimination and whose rights are compromised by the lack of food, access to health and education.
Raul survives in Lima landfills in Peru; Keita, in a car abandoned in Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ibrahim, in the port of Freetown, Sierra Leone; João in the streets of Luanda, Angola; Tafari in a Kampala market, Uganda; Jaidev, in the railway station of Bangalore, India ... and so on, for millions and millions of faces and stories, of small creatures that have accustomed to asking nothing better than the dangers of the street, exposed to violence and abuse and without the warmth of a family or a house.
For all of them, however, there is a second chance to leave the road, dependencies and crimes to survive. Because in most countries where these situations occur, Salesian missionaries have reception and reintegration programs for minors. "Their past doesn't matter, it is enough that they are willing to change their lives and to be protagonists of their future thanks to education," says a Salesian responsible for one of these programs.
Thanks to multidisciplinary teams composed of social workers, educators, doctors and psychologists, the Salesians are going out to meet these boys and girls to offer them a change of life, in a family environment: a chance to sleep on a bed, have clean clothes, be able to take a shower, eat three times a day ...
The change is difficult for all of them, but most minors ends up adapting and learn to live with some minimum rules of good coexistence with their peers. In the end, the decision to leave the road brings with it another decision: to return to school or learn a trade.
Education then becomes the best tool for change. They overcome the traumas of the past, they acquire confidence, they appreciate the received reception and the effort made and they set themselves goals for the future. At the same time, Salesian programs, together with the authorities, try to trace their families to obtain family reintegration and a future full of hope and opportunities for these minors.
Source: Misiones Salesianas
