What do you do for a living, boy?
This is a painful sight to see, and it is all too commonplace now that very few people actually see it. The boy asked me to take a picture of him, and then begged me not to delete it, and I met both demands. He was with two other boys, more advanced in age than he is, and a man.
Those other three were hunting in the huge trash container for food, probably, or items of use. The man freaked out when he realized I was taking pictures, and I honestly grew scared that harm might come to me so I stopped. This takes place at the University of Jordan’s campus everyday. There is a good number of kids selling gum or tissues to university students, very little or no education, rights that nobody cares to protect, and a life on the streets. They somehow bypass security and enter the campus, and oftentimes spend the day on premises.
I have seen most of those kids smoke and engage in fights. Most of them, I am told, are forced to be out on the streets the whole day to get some money and hand it to their “superiors”. Whether this is true or not I do not know, but it seems logical that abuse does not fall on one by itself, there is a cause.
From Human Rights Watch: The term street children refers to children for whom the street more than their family has become their real home. It includes children who might not necessarily be homeless or without families, but who live in situations where there is no protection, supervision, or direction from responsible adults.
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December 14th, 2005 at 8:48 am
some of them are forced but rarely. this is a way of life for them, survival of the fittest. they have a wider definition of family and a stronger concept of the word than we do because there is no independence, they all depend on each other
but then there are the beggers…and this is a whole other breed.
December 14th, 2005 at 11:04 am
You know when I was in Jordan University we used to talk to the kids who sell gum and beg for money all the time..i think they are mostly forced to do that and you can sometimes see them coming down from a pick up truck in bulks around traffic lights..one kid once told me that they all smell aago to give them a high..I wish it was only ciagrettes..poor kids..The students sometimes paid a young girl who begged half a dinar to run around a friend they want to teas and kiss him ..and i want to shock you some more:there’s a small place that sells coffee in shmesani..you know the take away type that taxi drivers buy from..he hired a girl(who is barely 13 years old) to work there and give out the coffe cups to drivers in their cars..obviously the girl was taught to do more than that since I often saw her disappear into the basement of an unfinished building next door with some taxi driver or janitor from the shops around..how inhumane is that?someone must have complained she stopped working there or I don’t see her anymore.
December 14th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
You can not say they are forced because often they are not, its just the only way to earn some money enough to buy their bread and butter. Such scenes break my heart.
December 14th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
I hope that the National Agenda will take those kids in consideration.
Such a waste, I imagine this kid as a talented engineer in the future… I hope so…
December 14th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Unfortunately, some people made this their profession working on people’s emotions .. in other words emotionally blackmailing regular people like you and me who would feel sorry and sad for these kids .. you see one of them and you think that he should be at school learning with his peers to become a man of the future, but instead he is there begging you to buy a gum and when you ask how much, often they answer “illi betla3 min nefsek” .. so it is begging in disguise
I really am not optimistic about this phenomenon .. because it is only increasing
I don’t buy from these guys because I don’t want to encourage them to continue in this lifestyle but I am only one person .. at least I do what I believe.
December 14th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
SC,
If you don’t like the word ‘Forced’ then rest assured that they are reluctantly coerced into becoming peripatetic vendors.
December 14th, 2005 at 5:34 pm
My question is: If those kids are on the streets to make money, regardless of one’s approval or disapproval of this method of making a living, who’s fault is it?
When I think about it, I often ask myself “What makes me so different?”, and usually the answer is illogical. It’s chance, fate, call it what you may, but anyone could be born in such devastating conditions. Who’s fault is it that this goes on?
December 14th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
Well Tololy, thanks for bringing this up!
I think we should all agree that these kids are victims!
Now, you have to realize that out there, you have people who make love (usually it’s an alpha male, thinking it’s his right to be doing it 24/7 no matter what the Hurma says) and end up with kids…they’ll unleash them, so this explains why u got kids wondering around at 1am from one place to another with “Jarna Abu Rebhi” and so on!It’s not like ur mom, who made sure that u had a bath every night, ironed your shirt before going to school,prepared your lunch box,gave you a hug in the morning,etc etc…
Now, I’ve once saw something disturbing…a bunch of 20 something students were gathered around the poor kid,they knew him by name, they were doing inappropriate things (I won’t describe what was going on, but they were tossing him from one guy to another while kissing him, and more)
Salam you should always speak up!Call the police, they won’t bother you anymore! I mean they’ll invistigate the matter for sure!We really got many faithful officers.If it was nothing, no harm is done…the police won’t even get you involved in anything.
December 14th, 2005 at 6:24 pm
I don’t think that it is so much about pasting the blame on somebody, at this point in time it has become a way of life for some people in the society and it isn’t going to be that easy to break the highly organized nexus.
December 14th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Salam, your comment about what you saw regarding the 13 year old girl devastated me. Although I know this stuff happens, just the image of it in my head is haunting and gives me chills to think that in other circumstances, that may have been someone I know, or me!
Tololy, I have the same thoughts as you did. What if I were born of those circumstances? Would I be doing the exact same thing?
I don’t care so much to place blame on anyone in particular as I do to try and figure out what can be done about it. I think the government needs to establish stronger programs for social services, which focus on these children who are victims of poverty and exploitation.
Question: Since we have representatives in the government, do we have a way to communicate with them and make demands? I think this is something we need to learn from other countries that petition their leaders to make their voices heard between the walls of parliament and congress!
December 14th, 2005 at 9:12 pm
You know Firas,I decided to speak up at one point and I did ask someone I trust in Greater Amman Municipality he asked me to get him details but then I realized that she is not around any more and the story just went by ..yes I should have done that earlier.And Lulu I agree it is a devastating thing to be happening..The heartbreaking thing is that it was obviously well studied ,the plan,I mean.At one point they cut her hair to make her look like a boy,which attracts less attention,then they made her wear a 7jab !!!really disturbing!
December 15th, 2005 at 6:50 am
I value your input greatly, Salam, and I would like to welcome you to Tololy’s Box, in hopes you would drop by again.
I must say this give-and-take of thoughts and suggestions is truly amazing. I agree with Firas that the kids on the streets are mainly victims, of what, I do not think I can put my finger on the cause directly, but there is something going on that does not “work”.
December 15th, 2005 at 9:14 am
thanks,Tololy,I have actually been reading your posts..and enjoying them..keep up the good work!
December 15th, 2005 at 3:02 pm
Sad story. When I see things like this it makes me say “Alhamdulillah” and reach deeper next time I give to charity.
December 16th, 2005 at 10:29 am
Hatem, what i was trying to say is that their families would’nt have pushed them to the streets if they weren’t in need of money, its not like their parents could afford schools yet forced them into the streets out of greed.