From hopeless street life to happy school
Sonita is 10 years old girl. She lives in a muddy rented house with her parents, brothers and sisters. Sonita used to work on the streets collecting scrap metal, food, fruit, garbage, and fire wood. Everything changed five months ago when she joined World Vision’s Centre for street working children. Today, she is studying in the first grade.
“When I was working on streets I was completely hopeless,” remembers Sonita. “But, when I got admitted to the World Vision’s Centre for Street Working Children and I learned how to read and write, I became hopeful [about] my future.” Sonita has made a lot of friends at the center and enjoys studying and playing with them. She is very happy because she doesn’t have to work on streets and collect scrap metal any more because her parents have also been provided income-generating supplies.
Sonita’s story in her own words
“Asalamalikum (greetings), my name is Sonita. I am 10 years old. I live with my father, mother, brother and two sisters in Herat province. We are very poor. We live in a rented muddy home. Before I join [the] Centre for Street Working Children, I had very bad and hopeless life.”
We were very poor. We didn’t even have enough food to eat.
“My sister who is 7-years-old and I were working on the streets collecting garbage, scrap food, fruit and metal. We were very poor. We didn’t even have enough food to eat; that is why my sister and I were collecting scrap metal to sell and spending [the money we earned] on cooking oil, sugar, tea, salt, bread, and oil for lantern among other things.”
“We had to leave home every morning at 7:00 or 7:30 and worked on streets all day long. It was very hard and boring, especially when the weather became hot or in winter. Also, some people did not treat us well. They used bad language towards us,” she remembers.
“I became sick many times because of the dirt and pollution. I didn’t care my health. I didn’t know what good health [was] or what was making me sick. [I know now that it was because] I was eating food with dirty hands and I didn’t bathe or change my cloths for weeks.”
Struggling just to survive
“We never had three meals at home. The best meal we had was potato. We were tired of eating potato, but we had to eat it, because my father was daily wageworker. His daily wage was 300 Afg ($5 USD) per day. He didn’t have [a] job every day. If one day he had job, he wouldn’t have [another one] for four or five days. When we asked our mother to cook meat or rice, she would tell us that I have to spend the money very carefully so as to not to go broke while my father found another chance to work and get paid. We had a very miserable and sad life,” she remembers.
“Five months ago, while I was working on the streets, I met with a man who was working at the Center for Street Working Children. He explained me what this center is for and the kind of activities are taking place there. I asked him if I could get admitted to this center? He said yes I can, but firstly he wanted to see my house and meet with my father and mother to get my permission. I took him to my home and he spoke to my parents. My parents agreed with me and I joined [World Vision’s] Centre for Street Working children. Since then, my life changed. I don’t have to work on streets under harsh sunshine and look for scrap metal, food, and garbage,” she says with a smile.
“Now, I am a student like other girls; like my neighbor’s daughter.
“Now, I am a student like other girls; like my neighbor’s daughter. I am studying in the first grade at the Centre for street working children and I will [be] promoted to the second grade and will continue my further studies at the formal school next year, because this center is only for first grade students and students. [After first grade] students are referred to the formal schools for second grade.”
“Now, I am very happy because I can read, write and count numbers. This makes me hopeful about my future and inspires me to study harder to become [a] doctor in the future. I am always present in the class and always do my homework and assignments. I have very talented and kind teachers, they always help me and my classmates.”
“Every day, I come here at 07:30 in the morning. After the other students and I have our breakfast, we go to classes. We study school subjects like math, language [and] drawings,” she says. “There is [also] a playroom for students where the other students and I play with toys. I never had toys at home to play with, but here [there] are many different kinds of toys like dolls, balls, cars, [and] birds.”
“We have lunch too. Lunch is very good and there is fruit with lunch every day. I like fruit very much. I had never had lunch with fruit before,” she says.
Helping the whole family
“There is health clinic for students too. If students or someone in their family get sick, they come here for treatment. Before joining the Centre for Street Working Children, I had a sickness called Typhoid. It was a very bad sickness and I had it for almost 14 or 15 months. Once my father took me to a doctor, but the medicine he prescribed didn’t work. When I came here, [the] doctors treated me and I recovered. Now I am very well and I am enjoying very good health. I am very thankful to Word Vision for everything. Two or three times my mother [has also come] here for treatment. Doctors referred her to the hospital and she recovered.”
“[In addition to reading and writing, I have] learned a lot of things, including the benefits of washing hands before eating and after [using] the toilet,
“[In addition to reading and writing, I have] learned a lot of things, including the benefits of washing hands before eating and after [using] the toilet, [the importance of] cutting my nails, taking baths, brushing my teeth and many other things. In the past, when I was working on streets, I didn’t used to wash hands before eating. I was eating with dirty hands. I bathed once a month and never brushed my teeth. In short, I never paid attention to my health. [Bit], I didn’t know I [was doing anything wrong].”
“Every thing I learn here I share with my father, mother, brother and sisters too. My father and mother are uneducated. They can’t read or write. Therefore, they are very happy for me to study and learn. My father and mother always encourage me to study hard and become a doctor like my neighbor’s daughter who treats patients and every one likes and respects her.”
“Now, we are happy family. My father and mother both work and make good money too. When I got admitted to the Centre for street working children, they gave my father a cart and he is selling vegetables on it and makes good profit. My mother is very good at embroidery. They gave my mother embroidery materials, like cloths, different kinds and colors of string, needles, scissors, and other necessary materials. She embroiders clothes for neighbors and earns good money.”
“I am very happy and hopeful about my future. I want to become a doctor in the future to treat poor people for free. I am the luckiest girl. I thank my teachers, headmaster and World Vision for all these good things provided to me, to my parents. I love you Word Vision,” she says.
Additional interview with Sonita’s teacher:
“Sonita is a very intelligent student. She managed to get used to with this environment very soon. I remember, like yesterday, that she was very slow in learning at the beginning. But, day-by-day she changed and became one of the fastest learners in the class. The reason why she changed was that Sonita had gone through some traumatic events; like she had witnessed other children being badly beaten by adults or abused on streets. These bad memories didn’t allow her to concentrate on her lessons. We have counseling section for students, where students are helped to cope with their bad and unpleasant memories. Sonita had three counseling sessions with our councilor and after these sessions she got better and better.”
Scene-setting information:
The place where I interviewed Sonita was students’ playroom, full of toys. Toys [were] scattered every where on tables. It seemed that students have just left the class. The walls of the class are decorated with different drawings of students and some lines of poems and sayings.
Project Background Information:
WV AFG recognizes that education is a primary foundation for children to develop into functional members of society. With this in mind, World Vision established the first Street Children’s Centre in Herat in June, 2011. The center provides children between 6 and 12 the opportunity to receive health care, in school rations, care, protection, formal education, and life skills. The center aims to target the root causes of child homelessness, neglect, and disempowerment while also working to raise awareness of child rights and help children to attend school regularly. Of the first 200 graduates, more than 95 per cent have passed the school entrance exams, and 90 per cent have been integrated into the formal education system.
In addition to this criteria, children will have to commit to attending the center six days a week for four hours a day, with 60% attendance of remedial classes Their parents will also have to commit to bi-monthly counseling and vocational training sessions through a signed agreement with World Vision. Failure to attend three consecutive sessions will result in disqualification.