Their troubled future
As street children reach their teens, they cannot successfully beg from tourists anymore because they are no longer 'cute', and they have not learned the personal and educational skills required to help them move above the severe poverty of their parents. They therefore force their younger siblings into begging with a harshness that speaks of their desperate need for income and in a country with high unemployement, their lack of skills to obtain work.
YKPA planning
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In the Yayasans efforts to help the youngest children get off the streets, it has come into conflict with these bosses who see their incomes threatened. They order the children NOT to attend our beach school, and make up scary stories about us.
As an attempt to reach the younger children and improve their lives, we have begun reaching out to the teens to help their lives. If they see the Yayasan as helping them, maybe we can then help their younger siblings.
Just as with the younger children, most 'street' teens want a better life; they want to learn to read. The teens are too embarrassed to attend classes with younger children so we are setting up classes especially for them.
It is taking some time to understand how best and where to do these classes, as well and we need funding for teachers and supplies. Already we have 30 teens on the waiting list (see some of their photos below):
Some unemployeed teens waiting for reading classes to start
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These teens need more than learning to read. They require regular schooling, social skills, reading skills, health and sexual health education, obtaining immunizations, etc. Our access to them starts with reading.
Please donate so we can give these teens the opportunity for a better life
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