1.2 Characteristics
The nature of street children is slightly different as compared to other children. For example, they trust each other very much, but they don’t trust or want to mingle with strangers. Once they trust someone, the trust is unbreakable. They open their heart to the person they trust and do not hesitate to share with them the good and bad things about their daily lives. At first, they may seem introvert, but once you get talking to them, you will find them very friendly. But they might not reciprocate the same level of dedication you have for them. In spite of your frankness, they might still try to take advantage of you. That is why things like your money and belongings going missing become normal when street children enter your life. But there will come a day when they will get tired of street life and will want to get involved in a noble cause. If they get your support, they will quit street life and become good citizens. As part of our budgeted program, when we went looking for street children, we found that some had chosen a good path while others had returned to the streets after being fed up of people’s selfish attitude.

Street children spend more money as compared to other children. Many Nepali families must wait for special festivals before they can afford to eat meat. But street children do not eat their food without meat. This might come as a surprise, but it is a fact. If they have enough money with them, all they want to buy is meat. It is their habit to watch movies almost every day and to keep eating at frequent intervals. They collect waste plastic to make a living, and they seldom fall ill. Their immunization power is strong, and because they eat food enriched with vitamin, they are often in good health.

Street children wish to earn money even after they quit street life. This is so because they are used to earning during street life. They don’t mind working 12-14 hours a day for an income. The first dream of almost every street child is to become a taxi driver. It is clear to them that they can earn more money by driving taxis. Some of their other dreams include wanting to marry a girl from affluent families and to become a film star. In some cases, they even struggle against class-based discrimination and the State.

Street children also want to reform themselves. But it takes time. They make mistakes frequently due to bad past habits.

1.3 Livelihood of street children and their contribution to society
The main source of income for the street children are waste plastic, milk packets, oil pouches, broken plastic buckets, bottles, pieces of copper, tin and iron. They collect these items from neighborhoods and streets, and earn their daily bread and butter by selling them.

If street children hadn’t collected the waste from our surrounding, it would have created a serious problem. For instance, diseases would spread and epidemics would break out. So, in a way, street children are relieving city-dwellers from health hazards; they are also assisting the metropolitan authorities with waste management. However, they are still disregarded and looked down upon.

The trend of disrespecting and abusing street children by referring them as khate[i] and chor[ii] still continues. Although they assist the metropolitan authorities with waste management, there are no programs to support these children. Their contribution to waste management should be evaluated, and the metropolitan authorities should make the necessary provision for their health, security, skill and education. City-dwellers should change their outlook on street children because they are directly contributing to their good health. In the present scenario, it would be difficult to imagine a healthy and clean city in the absence of these children. If only they didn’t collect the waste for 10 days, the city environment would be so polluted that cholera and other epidemics would break out. Then, on the other hand, waste metal items collected by these children are proving direct employment opportunities to many individuals and organizations[iii]. However, street children receive no dividend. Social bodies which are directly benefiting because of the street children are only creating an adverse situation for these children. They only think about their gains and benefit. They do not feel indebted towards the street children, or acknowledge them, in any way.

What would happen if street children stopped collecting waste metal items? How much money would metropolitan authorities have to invest in metal and waste collection? What would happen to factories that run because of the items street children collect? How would the health of city-dwellers be affected? These questions need serious thought and consideration. It’s time for those who are benefiting directly because of the street children to change their negative outlook on them. In fact, the role of street children in environment conservation appears to be important.

Street children get actively involved in door-to-door waste collection and management activities from a very young age. The children who once used to collect waste by carrying a sack on their back are now going around blowing whistles and collecting waste, and contributing directly to society. Only, their working style has changed. But the street children are negatively affected now. Previously, streets used to be littered with rubbish everywhere, and the metropolitan waste management department usually collected the garbage very late. So the street children got to collect waste plastic and sell it for money. But now, people are not allowed to throw garbage wherever they like, and the metropolitan waste management department collects the waste from designated areas early in the morning. This has endangered the street children’s waste-collection occupation. Therefore, they are forced to get involved in negative activities, including theft, robbery and prostitution. While some children are involved in waste management, the younger children beg on the streets. Some others are still struggling to make a living by collecting and selling waste plastic from the streets.

Though waste management is important from the environmental perspective, we should not forget about the other side of the coin. When the occupation of street children is endangered, they are driven towards negative activities, which is certain to appear as a major problem for the State. The government should, therefore, think of alternatives in time.

Given below is a summary of the daily activities of the street children:

- They search for waste plastic from 6 in the evening until midnight.
- After midnight, some of them sleep on the streets, while others return to their respective organizations; some even go to junkyards.
- They wake up at 4-5 in the morning, go out again in search of waste plastic and sell the collected plastic from 8 to 10.
- After selling the collected items, they go out for the day, watch movies or get engaged in other forms of entertainment.- They finish their money by buying meat, gambling, watching movies, going out and by purchasing clothes, alcoholic drinks and dendrite.

[i] Derogatory for street child
[ii] Thief
[iii] Through the recycling of waste metal

1.4 Diversity – ethnicity, caste and class
There is no caste-based discrimination among the street children. When they are meeting someone for the first time, they do not ask the caste of that person. If in the course of living or being together, they happened to know the caste of a friend, they addressed that person with their caste. For instance, if that person was from the Brahmin community, they would be addressed as Bahun. Similarly, if someone belonged to the Bhutia community, then they would be called Bhote. But this is not applicable to everybody. For instance, if someone is from a low caste, such as Kami[i] and Damai[ii], then that person is called by their caste. This shows that they have also been influenced by social culture and practices.

Although street children do not make discrimination between upper caste and lower caste, they still tease each other by their caste. For instance, if someone is a Brahmin, the others around him say, “Bahun Baje[iii] won’t eat the food touched by us.” Then the Brahmin replies, “You are almost touching my food. If you touch it, maybe you will eat it too. So let me run away with my food!” Clearly, they make fun of the practice of untouchability that still exists in Nepal. Sometimes they even have a debate on various castes and creed. All this is done for fun, without intending to hurt or derogate another. When these children turn adults, caste-based discrimination becomes a non-issue. Many street youths have gone for inter-caste marriages. Some of them marry while still living on the streets. There are also cases where they have delivered babies on the street. In such cases, various organizations seem to be helping them.

There are also examples of some street youth breaking wealth and class-based barriers. For instance, they have fallen in love with girls from affluent families and even married them. For instance, there was a boy who had been living on the streets for 12-13 years. While still on the streets, he fell in love with a girl who was a resident of Kathmandu. After a few months, the girl’s family found out about their affair and tried to separate them. But the couple ran away and went to Pokhara. The girl’s family brought her back from Pokhara and married her to somebody else. There are many cases such as this one.

However, some affairs have been successful, too. Affluent families have accepted their daughter’s choice. After the marriage, they have supported the street youth to take up various professions. In this way, some street youths have been leading a dignified life.

No proper research has been conducted to study the condition of street children by caste, religion and economic status. As a matter of fact, these aspects seem to make a significant impact in their lives. In view of some of the ‘estimated’ statistics above, it appears important to conduct a research on their caste and religion.

[i] Blacksmiths
[ii] Tailors
[iii] Nepali word for grandfather – traditionally, Brahmin priests are referred to as Bahun Baje

1.5 Implication of conflict
The problem related to street children is a serious one for Nepal. But it has often been overshadowed. On the one hand, the organizations working in this sector do not seem to be making much of a positive impact. On the other, Nepal’s other problems seem to be encouraging the street children. Due to the conflict, many children were displaced from their villages and were forced to live in the city streets. Moreover, the conflict made it even more difficult for them to spend their lives on the streets. Many children entered the cities due to fear of the Maoists. In the villages, they would either be forcefully recruited by the Maoists or suspected by the army of being Maoists or their spies. Therefore, they ran away to the city out of their own will or were advised by their families to do so. But when they came to the city, they could not find a job for themselves, and the only alternative they had was street life. There are also cases where some children spent some time with the Maoists before escaping from them.

During the movement for democracy, in 2006, the situation of the street children became very tense. They were very frightened and unsteady during this period because of the curfew imposed by the government in the country’s major towns and cities. The army was deployed in every junction and alley. No one knew when fire would be opened. Given such circumstances, these children could not come out for many days. It’s hard to tell where they must have stayed during that period, but one can guess that they must have found shelter in some corner of the city and in junkyards, or they must have sought refuge with various organizations. Their other problem at the time was their work. When the movement was taking place, they were not able to collect waste plastic and junk. As a result of this, they couldn’t make an income and had to starve for many days.

There were even cases where some children were trampled by the crowd during the movement. These children came out when they saw the mob, but when the security personnel chased the mob, the children got crushed in the rushing crowd.

Shiva Lama has been living on the streets for seven years. He has bitter experiences of being harassed by the army. He feels that the army and the police harass the street children much more now than they did in the past. When he and his friends went out at night, to collect waste plastic, they searched them over, suspecting them of being Maoists. When they explained that they weren’t Maoists, the security personnel scolded and abused them. They also inquired the street children how often they met with the Maoists.

On the one hand, the army and police harassed the street children, and on the other, the Maoists forcefully involved street youths in their meetings. They experienced pressure from both sides.

Some street children were even detained on various charges, such as theft, fighting and drug abuse. Such children were threatened and intimidated by the police, who accused them of being Maoists.

Street children faced many hardships during the conflict. In this connection, organizations working for street children held discussions with the police several times. According to the police, it was likely that street youths would be used by the Maoists. But when we looked at the situation from our perspective, we found that street children and street youths were caught between both sides. This book includes stories of children who were affected by the conflict and later forced to take up street life. These children were harassed by the Maoists. We could not reach out to those who had been harassed by the government security forces. This book therefore reveals some negative aspects relating to the Maoists. But we have read in the national papers that the number of street children who were harassed by the government security is also around the same. We must therefore make it clear that we are not biased towards or against any particular party.

1.6 Differences between street children in Kathmandu and Lalitpur
The condition of not all the street children living in Nepal’s major towns and cities is the same. The structure of the town/city, facilities availed as well as the population play a vital role in this variation. Some towns/cities may be equipped with more facilities, where lifestyle and eating habits may be completely modern. These conditions determine the lifestyle of street children also. We need not go too far. We can see a huge difference between the lifestyles of the street children in Lalitpur and Kathmandu.

The general feeling seems to be that all street children are of similar nature. When most people hear about someone living on the streets, they tend to assume that they must all have the same attitude and nature. But it has been found that their situations vary according to the place where they live. According to JAFON’s findings, there are around 200 street children in Lalitpur. It has been estimated that there are nearly 800 street children in Kathmandu alone. Among them, 400 are in the contact with JAFON. It is quite surprising that there is such a drastic difference in the number of street children in these two cities. The children in Lalitpur are generally cleverer and more educated than the ones in Kathmandu. Comparatively, children have more access to opportunities in Lalitpur. Likewise, their eating habits also differ. The children in Kathmandu get to eat two to three meals a day. They also receive food at programs and campaigns organized by various organizations.

Interestingly, the Lalitpur children visit Kathmandu less often, whereas the Kathmandu children visit quite Lalitpur frequently. Due to scanty availability of plastic in Kathmandu, these children are found to be going to Lalitpur.

Comparatively, there are more street children-related organizations in Kathmandu than in Lalitpur. Even the media seems to support the Kathmandu children more. These children come into contact with various individuals.

The Lalitpur children are found to be in constant touch with their families, whereas the Kathmandu children are not so keen to be in touch with their families. Most small children, who come to Lalitpur, are from nearby villages. Therefore, it’s not hard for them to stay in touch with their families. If they have Rs 20-50 in their pockets, they can travel home anytime. During the festival of Dashain[i], most of these children visit their families. There are some children who despite being ignored by their family visit their parents often. Some children are supporting their families by collecting waste plastic. In some cases, the whole family has taken up this work. A number of other parents have become street vendors.

But things are different for the Kathmandu children, who come to the city from various districts of the country. It is harder and costlier for them to travel back and forth in order to go home. So only a few children are able to visit their families. Until some time ago, the street children in Kathmandu and Lalitpur were not able to visit their families because of the conflict between the State and the Maoists. They feared that they would be abducted by the Maoists or detained by the police in suspicion of being a Maoist. Regardless of where they come from, the Kathmandu street children are a little behind when it comes to keeping in touch with their families.

[i] 15-day long Hindu festival, which is also the national festival of Nepal, usually celebrated in the month of October

1.7 Dreams
Every street child wants to lead a reputable life like any other person in society. But when the time and circumstances do not go in their favor, they are compelled to live on the streets. However, they also cherish dreams of earning name, fame and money.

- Most street children and youths want to become drivers.
- Others want to become artistes.
- Some want to set up fabric businesses, restaurant and retail business.
- They want to become cooks.
- They want to do house-wiring.
- They want to become plumbers.
- They want to get involved in the production of agricultural goods.
- They want to go abroad to earn money.
- They want to set up social organizations to help their friends on the streets.
- They want to join service.
- They want to join the army.

However, they do NOT want to join the police or hold low-income jobs.

Most notably, today’s street children appear to be more educated than those of the past. While most of them can read and write, there are some who come to live on the streets after passing Class 8 to SLC[i].

This indicates that they are more in search of skills and opportunities rather than education. But it would be important to place an equal emphasis on education.

[i] School Leaving Certificate, mandated by the government at the end of tenth school grade

1.8 Life after street
Although they may have lived on the streets some time ago, some street children are leading a different life now. This is because they are capable or have access to better opportunities, among other reasons. The list of young people, who were once street children but are now leading a successful life as any other citizen, is very long. Some of these children receive help from organizations so that they are able to quit street life and lead a successful life. It would therefore be inappropriate to say that organizations have not contributed to their success, but no to the extent of transforming their lives completely.

Many organizations have been set up to work for the street children of young age. But not much interest has been demonstrated towards these children. In some cases, children stop receiving help after they reach a certain age. This kind of help may benefit the street children temporarily, but not in the long run. But there are some examples of children who have transformed their lives as a result of the help they received when they were young. When such children enter adulthood, they leave the street to begin a new life. In many cities, there are examples of former street children leading reformed lives. Such youths have taken up various professions; while most have become drivers, others have joined garment business, government service and the army. Some are even holding good positions in private companies. Similarly, some are associated with organizations working for street children or have set up similar organizations.

2. Jagaran Manch Nepal (JAFON)
2.1 Establishment
There are now many organizations in Nepal working for street children. Jagaran Manch Nepal (JAFON) is among them. JAFON was founded on 8 April 2000 by Rewat Raj Timilsina. This organization is different from other organizations in various respects. Likewise, its operation also differs from that of others. Timilsina is a former street child himself. That is why JAFON’s campaign has a particular significance.

The story of JAFON would be incomplete without a mention of Rewat Raj Timilsina. The story of his street life is long. His struggle from the streets to the successful life he now leads is a source of inspiration to many. His struggle is linked with JAFON and many street children associated with this organization. Timilsina is originally from Siraha. He left his house when he was 7 years old because of family dispute. His parents quarreled and started to live separately. Thereafter, his mother took him to Birgunj for his studies. In those days, she was a teacher in Birgunj. While in Birgunj, Timilsina made friends with the city boys. He was more interested in movies and entertainment than in studies. He started hanging out with boys his age, watching movies, wandering at night and not returning home. He deviated from studies.

Four years later, Timilsina entered Kathmandu with eleven other boys, expecting to earn money in the capital city. On the first day, the boys stayed in Dhalko[i]. His friends knew a junkyard, where they could exchange waste tin and plastic for money. For every kilo, they made Rs 12-15. Timilsina worked there for six months. Then he left Dhalko and moved to Bagbazar[ii]. Thereafter, he started living on the streets. He spent almost 12 years of his life on the streets. He has many bitter experiences of his street life.

Through his friends, one day, in 1992, he ended up in CWIN, which works for street children. In those days, CWIN was working on a play with the Aarohan Theatre Group[iii]. 12 youths were needed for the play, for which Timilsina was also selected. Aarohan trained them for a month, and they prepared a play on street life. They play was titled Mahanagarka Anagarik haru (Non-citizens of the Metropolitan). Directed by Mr. Sunil Pokhrel and acted in by street children, including Timilsina, the play was staged in various places. Timilsina stayed with CWIN for almost a year, after which he started living in Gwarko[iv] with other friends. After some time, Timilsina moved into a hostel for street children, which was operated by the same Aarohan Group. During his stay there, he got a job as trainer in a program called ‘Child to Child’, which was related to child rights. He then left the hostel and did this work for 10 months. After that, he moved to Pokhara for to work as the chief filed officer at the Child Welfare Society.

He had the opportunity to work with several organizations working for street children. However, he and his friends were not happy with the way some of these organizations operated. One day, they felt that they could start their own organization. In 2000, Timilsina set up an awareness group for the welfare of street children, together with former street children friends. In the same year, Timilsina solely established JAFON. Presently, Timilsina is fully involved with this organization.

JAFON is a social organization operated by former street children, who spent more than 12 years on the streets. The organization has been operating its programs throughout Nepal and making an effort to create an environment where there will be no more children on the streets. Presently, it is operating various programs for the street children in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. It has its offices in Kumbheshwor, Lalitpur.

At first, the JAFON office was in Anamnagar[v]. The story of struggle of this newly established organization is memorable. Its first objective was related to waste management. Its other objective was to create employment opportunities for street children and to save the remaining money for the welfare of street children. This work was initiated by two street youths. They went from door to door to collect waste materials. During the first few days, they were involved in the waste management of seven houses. This number has now increased to 400 houses, in which 12 youths are involved. This program is still running under the leadership of JAFON, providing employment opportunities to several street youths.

[i] A place in Kathmandu
[ii] A place in Kathmandu
[iii] Aarohan Theatre Group, http://www.aarohantheatre.org/
[iv] A place in Lalitpur, Kathmandu’s neighboring district
[v] A place in Kathmandu

2.2 Hamro Sansar (Our World)
On 11 December 2004, JAFON started Hamro Sansar, a home for street boys. A house was rented in Kumbheshwor in order to set up the home. The boys who live here are provided with different opportunities. The program is supported by SHAPLA NEER, which was founded by Japanese citizens, who contributed their savings to the organization. For the last 12 years, SHAPLA NEER has been supporting various community development projects and programs for street children. Due to their support, it has been possible for Hamro Sansar to accommodate 30-40 street children and street youths in Kumbheshwor. Along with accommodation, Hamro Sansar provides various facilities, including health services, television for entertainment, musical instruments, sporting facilities, affordable and healthy canteen, saving facility, non-formal education classes, cleanliness and hygiene arrangement and the operation of an internal junkyard in order to prevent the children from being cheated (as they are cheated by other junkyards). The canteen and junkyard were started with a view to making the organization self-sustained. Hamro Sansar is operating many other programs, including programs to motivate the street children and other programs relating to skill development, driving license, citizenship, legal service and art.

Hamro Sansar occupies two floors with eleven rooms. One of the rooms is allocated for the office. Another room is allocated for entertainment, where the children watch television. Then there is a separate room for non-formal education, where the children are taught. Three rooms are used as bedrooms; two of the bedrooms are for smaller children and the third one is for grown up children. There is a separate room where they keep their belongings. Likewise, separate rooms are allocated for kitchen and dining. There is also a staffroom.

Hamro Sansar provides them with bathing soap. Medical facilities are also provided. The boys generally get ready for breakfast at six in the morning, although some of them oversleep. The working boys leave for work after breakfast. They come back to Hamro Sansar for lunch in the afternoon. They buy food with the money from their own earnings. The Hamro Sansar canteen serves a meal at Rs 25. Most of the boys have now got into the habit of buying food with their own income.

Hamro Sansar has its own rules and regulations, and the children staying here have their own lifestyle and daily routine. After they have dinner at six in the evening, they go out in search of waste plastic until 11 or 12 at night. Then they come back to Hamro Sansar for sleep. They wake up early and go out again in search of junk materials and waste plastic. They sell the collected materials to the Hamro Sansar junkyard. Then they go for a shower. After showering, some of the boys watch television while others play the guitar and start singing. Some boys also play the carom- board[i].

There is a problem of drug addiction among some of these children, who are not able to get over the habit. They consume dendrite and other intoxicating items even during daytime. Drug addiction is a serious problem amongst the street children. The Hamro Sansar children, who are addicted to drugs, have not been able to quit drugs in spite of counseling.

Children and youth ranging from 8 years of age to 26 years live in Hamro Sansar. However, the children below the age of 17 have a majority. Some old boys leave Hamro Sansar and the new ones come in; this trend goes on. Despite the facilities Hamro Sansar provides, it is sometimes hard to stop them if they want to leave. They come and go as they wish. But for many boys, Hamro Sansar has become a home. Once they come here, they do not want to go anywhere else. They enjoy living here. They bond with other boys, share friendly conversations and enjoy the company of each other.

[i] Visit http://www.carromuk.co.uk/carromboard.html for details on what this game is and how it is played