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 Standards

Established Goals:

Children make their homes on the street because of poverty. This lesson examines what happens when parents and other adult carers cannot provide basic needs for children. Students will understand the causes and consequences of why tens of millions of children spend a large portion of their lives on the streets.


National Council for Social Studies Standards:

II. Time, Continuity, and Change

III. Peoples, Places and Environments

IV. Individual Development and Identity

V. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

VI. Power, Authority, and Governance

IX. Global Connections

X. Civic Ideals and Practices

Transferable Concepts/Links:

Human Rights, Culture, Human Geography, Globalization, Conflict Resolution, Citizenship, Homelessness, Poverty, Corruption, Tolerance, Abuse, Basic Needs, International Cooperation, Collaboration, Civil Society, Humanitarian Agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Course Connections:

Global Studies

Current Events

Geography

Economics

History

Social Studies

Understandings:
Every child has the right to live a decent life and be free from any exploitative or harmful activity.

Poverty prevents children from reaching their full potential.

Impoverished children are more likely to engage in activities that harm their health, safety and development.

Essential Questions:
Interpret human existence as valid regardless of traits, traditions and or circumstances.

Identify ways and means by which street children can be helped.

Discuss what governments and international organizations can do to prevent families and children from ending up on the streets.

Examine international documents like the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Use interpersonal communication skills to raise awareness about the importance of helping street children.

Enable students to synthesize the knowledge they have gained.

Review the success of international efforts to remove children from the world's streets.

Students will know:
Human rights vocabulary

What is being done about this global problem

International documents and the issues they address

The names of international organizations and NGOs that help street children

How to get involved to help solve this global problem

Students will be able to:
Respect others through exposure to another way of life different from their own.

Explore opportunities to bring about social change locally and nationally.

Equipment and Materials:
Television and DVD or VHS player

Computer with access to the internet

'What's Going On? Street Children in Mongolia. Richard Gere reviews the plight of street children in Ulanbaatar, Mongolia and other cities in this remote country between China and Russia.

Convention on the Rights of the Child http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm


 Learning Activities

 

Activity 1:

    1. Give students a brief background on Street Children:

    Children roam the streets to make money by selling candy, cigarettes or toys, shining shoes, picking through garbage, and begging. Street children may become victims of sexual abuse and drug peddlers, or take on the dangerous habit of sniffing glue or participating in petty crime. Street children often dream of a better life, with a roof over their heads and sufficient food to eat. Unfortunately, these children have a very difficult time breaking out of their unhealthy situations.

    According to UNICEF, a street child or youth is any girl or boy (under 18) who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the broadest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become her or his abode and/or sources of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults. This includes the two co-exiting categories referred to by UNICEF as those "on the street" and those "of the street".

    Children of the Street are homeless children who live and sleep on the streets in urban areas. They are totally on their own, living with other street children or homeless adult street people. These children probably lack parental, emotional and psychological support normally found in parenting situation.

    Children on the Street earn their living or beg for money on the street and return home at night.

    http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/files/ZIM_01-805.pdf

    Ask students: Why do you think it might be difficult for children in this predicament to improve their lives? Is it difficult for children in this predicament to have hope for their futures, why?

Activity 2:

1. Ask students: Define your basic needs; what is required to survive?

Answers might include: food, safe water, housing, clothes, education.

2. Ask students: What basic needs are not met when children live on the streets?

Answers might include:

  • Physical safety

  • Adequate nutrition and medical support

  • Education

  • The opportunity to play or to use time in useful or creative ways

  • Protection from economic exploitation

    • 4. Ask students: Why do children end up on the street?

    Answers might include: Some children might be orphaned or abandoned by their parents or relatives. HIV/AIDS has increased the number of orphaned children. In some cases, children leave their families because of poverty to look for work in cities. Violence and/or in the home, which may be a direct cause of stresses associated with poverty, may cause children to leave their homes.

    5. Explain to students that street children have the same rights as any other person under the age of 18 years. Street children are entitled to protection as well as services that enable them to live a healthy, prosperous life.

    Ask students: If parents and guardians can't meet the needs of children, who should be held responsible? What do you think would be required to protect street children and provide them opportunity to get out of their unhealthy circumstances?


     

    Activity 3:

    1. Hand out copies of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1989, world leaders decided that children under 18 years of age often need special care that adults do not. The Convention is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate a full range of human rights such as civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights for children.

    The Convention is an international document negotiated by Member States at the United Nations. Every Member State of the United Nations has ratified (or adopted) the treaty except the United States and Somalia, who have only signed it.

    The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. By recognizing children's rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.

    Madeline Albright, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, signed the Convention in 1995. However, the United States Constitution requires that such documents receive a two-thirds approval by the Senate to be adopted. There are some articles in the Convention that the US Senate has yet to come to an agreement on.

    Ask Students:
    What is the difference between ratifying and signing a treaty?
    Why do you think the United States has not adopted the Convention?

    Answers can include:
    a. Signing does not create a binding legal obligation but does demonstrate the State's intent to examine the treaty domestically and consider ratifying it. Ratification signifies an agreement by the state to be legally bound by the terms of the treaty.

    b. Some US legislators feel that the provisions or certain articles of the Convention could interfere with the role of parents in their children's lives.

    The Convention is the most widely supported international treaty because nations, organizations and individuals realize that the future of humanity is in the hands of our children.


    2. Share these facts with your students:

  • At least 150 million children worldwide are believed to live, at least part time, on the streets.

  • 40% of the world's street children are homeless, the 60% work on the street to support their families

  • Many street children use a number of inhalants (glue, gasoline, lighter fluid) and illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine and heroin).

  • Street children are routinely detained illegally, beaten and tortured and sometimes killed by police in some countries.

  • An estimated 40 million children live or work on the streets of Latin America--out of a total population of 500 million people.

  • Up to 10,000 street and underprivileged children die in Lima, Peru every year.

  • Brazil is estimated to have 12 million street children.

  • 100% of street children in Brazil use drugs.

  • Mexico City has 1,900,000 underprivileged and street children, 240,000 of these are abandoned children.

  • France has about 10,000 street children.

  • Ireland has 500 to 1,000 street children.

  • Street children in the Netherlands number some 7,000.

  • Phnom Penh, Cambodia has about 5,000 to 10,000 street children.

  • There are 6,000 to 7,000 street children in Istanbul, Turkey.

  • India has a population of 1 billion with about 35 million orphans, many of whom live on the streets.

  • Africa has 10.7 million orphans as a result of AIDS and the numbers continue to grow.


    • http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/press/release.php
    http://www.mexico-child-link.org/street-children-definition-statistics.htm
    http://www.streetkids.net/info/
    http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Brazil-%20drugs,crime,viol,HIV.doc
    http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/press/16-pdf3.pdf

    3. The Convention says that all children under the age of 18 should be protected from harm.

    Ask students to identify and highlight which Articles of the Convention are violated when children are surrounded or involved with armed conflict.

    Answers might include: 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 39

    Ask students to rephrase the Articles 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 39 for an in class discussion.

    Note to teacher: Students should hold onto their copies of the Convention for further use during other "What's Going On?" lesson plans. It is recommended that you have students use the following initials next to each article that is violated for each topic they learn about from the "What's Going On?" series. [Child Soldiers (CS), HIV/AIDS (AIDS), Refugees (RF), Child Labor (CL), Landmines (LM), Girl's Education (GED), Indigenous People (IP), Northern Ireland (NI), Poverty in America (PA), Street Children (SC).

    Activity 3

    1. Screen the documentary 'What's Going On? Street Children in Mongolia. Richard Gere reviews the plight of street children in Ulanbaatar, Mongolia and other cities in this remote country between China and Russia.

    2. Ask students to site the challenges Bagii, Itgel, Nandin, and Byambasuren face. Ask students to respond emotionally to the experience of the young people in the film.

    3. Ask students to imagine what it might be like to live as one of the characters in the film. What would their challenges and fears be?

    Activity 4:


    1. Write a response to the lesson's focus questions: Why should it be a global priority to prevent children from living on the streets?
    2. Have students read the personal stories of Bagii, Itgel, Nandin, and Byambasuren. Ask students to respond to the question: What would you do if you were in their situation?
    3. Research and report on the work of NGO's that are working to remove children from the world's streets. (See NGOs Below)
    4. Assign each student to a different country to determine the number of children living on the streets. Students should research the types of services (health, education, shelters) street children have access to. Students might present their findings in a research paper, PowerPoint Presentation or presentation to the class.
    5. Students should be able to form their own groups and contribute to the global effort to help children forced to live on the street. Divide students into groups of 3-5 and have them come up with the following:
    1. A group name and logo
    2. The group's mandate and mission statement
    3. Long and short term goals for the group
    4. Other organizations to collaborate with
    5. Come up with a PR campaign to inform the school and public about their organization

     


     Resources

    Websites

    ILO
    http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/features/06/childstreet_russia.htm

    UNICEF
    http://www.unicef.org/egypt/protection_144.html

    UNESCO
    http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001181/118101eo.pdf

    Street Children:
    http://www.gvnet.com/streetchildren/

    The Consortium for Street Children (CSC)
    http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/

    The European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide (EFSCW)
    http://www.enscw.org/

    Grow up free from poverty
    http://www.grow-up-free-from-poverty.org/site/pages/ui_home.aspx

    Better Care Network
    ttp://www.crin.org/bcn/ h

    PANGAEA Street Children-Community Children
    http://pangaea.org/street_children/kids.htm

    Human Rights Watch: Children's Rights
    http://www.hrw.org/children/street.htm

    One Big Village: Street Children
    http://www.worldvision.com.au/onebigvillage/print.asp?topicID=73

    Arms of Love
    http://www.armsoflove.org/what_street.htm

    Butterflies: Working for Underpriviledged Children in Delhi
    http://www.butterflieschildrights.org/

    Street Children World Wide Directory
    http://www.almudo.com/links.html

    Street Child Africa
    http://www.streetchildafrica.org.uk/aims.htm

    Umthombo: The Voice from the Streets
    http://www.umthombo.org/

    Identity Foundation
    http://www.identityfoundation.org/Work.asp

    Felices Los Ninos Foundation
    http://www.feliceslosninos.org/en/nosotros/bienvenida.html

    Agape Bible Fellowship
    http://www.agapeindia.com/street_children_challenge.htm


    Articles

    Woman Fights for Mongolia's Street Children
    http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/International/story?id=1350000

    Out in the Cold: The Street Children of Mongolia
    http://www.prout.org/pna/mongolian-street-children.html

    'Child by child,' group aids homeless street kids
    http://archives.cnn.com/2001/fyi/news/07/02/russian.kids/index.html

    U.S. woman working to save Siberian street children
    http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/21/harrigan.kids/index.html

    Street Children: More and More Killed Everyday
    http://pangaea.org/street_children/latin/brazil.htm

    Severe Chill: As winter deepens in the valley, street children find their daily life deteriorating
    http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/spotlight/2003
    /jan/jan10/national8.htm

    Mexico's wealth divide keeps kids on street
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20060801-0500-mexico-streetkids.html

    Baghdad fuel shortage supports generation of street kids

    'Young doctors' minister to India's street children
    http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9808/29/india.street.children/
    index.html?eref=sitesearch

    Preamble to the Problematic of Street Children
    http://www.enfants-des-rues.com/pages/uk/enfants_preambule.asp

    The Children on our Streets: Part 1 the Problem
    http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-1201-bourdillon-I.html

    The Children on our Streets: Part 2 the situation
    http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0102-bourdilon-II.html

    Street Children Human Rights and Public Health
    http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/13_1/Vol13_1Articles/panter-brick.pdf

    Children's Right Human Rights Development
    http://www.hrw.org/wr2k/Crd.htm#TopOfPage

    Human Rights, Legal Issues & Law enforcement
    http://www.lakareivarlden.org/sidor/stp_en_17.htm

    Severe Chill by Niraj Poudayal
    http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/spotlight/
    2003/jan/jan10/national8.htm

    Changing Paradigms for Working with Street Youth by Stephanie Sauvé
    http://www.streetkids.org/assets/pdf/2003/SKI_paradigms.pdf

    Consortium for Street Children: An Outside chance
    http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/resources/details/?type=publication&publication=18

    Pangaea Street Children-Community Children
    http://pangaea.org/street_children/kids.htm

    Bolivia: Abandoned Street children turn to drugs
    http://www.wfn.org/1999/01/msg00011.html

    Children without Childhood
    http://www.luaviet.org/English/treem.htm

    Standing in front of me
    http://www.exop.org/pub/fiveshillings.htm

    Help For Ukraine's Street Kids, From Two Us Women
    http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/streetkids.htm

    Books

    Street Children: The Tragedy and Challenge of the World's Millions of Modern-Day Oliver Twists by Andy Butcher

    Children of the Streets by Harlan Ellison

    At Home in the Street: Street Children of Northeast Brazil by Tobias Hecht

    Street Children in Kenya: Voices of Children in Search of a Childhood by Philip Kilbride

    Juvenile Injustice: Police Abuse and Detention of Street Children in Kenya by Yodon Thonden, Lois Whitman, Binaifer Nowrojee, and Human Rights Watch

    El Nino: Children of the Streets, Mexico City (Image and Imagination) by Kent Klich and Elena Poniatowska

    Urban Life and Street Children's Health: Children's Accounts of Urban Hardships and Violence in Tanzania (African Studies) by Joe Lugalla and Colleta Kibassa

    Asphalt Angels by Ineke Holtwijk, Wanda Boeke (Translator), Aneke Holtwijk
    Hardcover 192 pages (April 1, 1999) Front Street

    A Ceiling of Stars (American Girl Fiction (Paper) by Ann Howard Creel
    Reading level: Ages 9-12
    Paperback 96 pages (September 1999) Pleasant Company Publications

    Lives Turned Upside Down : Homeless Children in Their Own Words and Photographs by Jim Hubbard
    Reading level: Ages 9-12
    School & Library Binding (October 1996) Simon & Schuster (Juv);

    Monkey Island by Paula Fox
    Reading level: Ages 9-12
    Paperback 151 pages Reissue edition (April 1993) Yearling Books

    The Street Children of Brazil: One Woman's Remarkable Story by Sarah De Carvalho

    Robbed of Humanity: Lives of Guatemalan Street Children by Nancy Leigh Tierney
    Sleeping Rough in Port-au-Prince: An Ethnography of Street Children and Violence in Haiti by J. Christopher Kovats-Bernat

    Children on the Streets of the Americas: Globalization, Homelessness and Education in the United States, Brazil, and Cuba by R. Mickelson

    Screaming From the Streets: The Street Children of Java (Centre of Southeast Asian Studies) by Wendy Miller

    Poverty, AIDS, and Street Children in East Africa (Studies in African Health and Medicine, 10) by Joe Lugalla and Colleta G. Kibassa

    Working with Children on the Streets of Brazil: Politics and Practice by Walter De Oliveira


    Radio

    Homeless in Mongolia
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1023667
    December 3, 1998 · NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Ulan Bator, Mongolia about the thousands of homeless children who live in the streets of the capital city. She examines why they leave home, how they subsist, and efforts to help them.
    The Barefoot Doctor and India's Street Children
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1142849
    May 5, 2002 · In the third part of his series for Weekend Edition Sunday on the "pavement dwellers" of Mumbai, India, Julian Crandall-Hollick makes the rounds with Dinesh, a 22-year-old, self-taught doctor who treats runaway children arriving by train at Dadar Station.

    Street Kids Give Guided Tours of New Delhi
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5421058
    May 21, 2006 · Westerners get a different view of Indian life when they take guided tours by street kids in New Delhi.
    Children Underground
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1139243

    Sadak Chhap, Part 1 and 2
    http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/features/2002/sadak/
    http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/features/2002/sadak2/
    April 7, 2002 · This two part series of independent producer Julian Crandall Hollick's focuses on the street kids of Mumbai.

    Afghan Beggars
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1135663
    January 1, 2002 · NPR's Jacki Lyden reports from Kabul, where thousands of Afghan children roam the streets supporting their families by begging. The children are known as 'Spandee' and some of them are as young as eight years old.

    The INS and Illegal Children
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1069590

    HOMELESS CHILDREN IN RUSSIA
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1023977

    Educating Homeless Kids
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1141038


    Film

    "Children Underground" directed by Edet Belzberg
    http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Belzberg_Edet_010919.html

    Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388789/

    Children of No Import'nce (1928) directed by Gerald Lamprecht

    Homeless To Harvard (2003) directed by Peter Levin

    Gadens børn (1991) aka "The Street Children" directed by Anja Dalhoff

    Boot Polish (Hindi) (1954) directed by Prakash Arora

    Kun den stærkeste overlever, directed by Per Wennick

    East Side/West Side" The Street (1964) directed by Millard Lampell


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