Say Yes, Winter 2003: Diyarbakır Starfish

There is much to be done before we can say that we have A World Fit for Children. Many of our children do not enjoy the security of homes and families. They live on the streets, prey to all forms of physical and moral abuse, their lives hanging by a thread. In this respect, Turkey is no different to any other country: the number of children living and working on the streets rises daily. Thankfully there are agencies and individuals working hard to change this -- such as the team at the Social Services and Child Protection Agency’s (SHÇEK) 75th Anniversary Child and Youth Centre in Diyarbakır. Here are six stories about children of that city who, through no fault of their own, have had to brave life on the streets. Some have been successful, some continue to struggle. All of them are trying hard to find a world fit to live in. Names have been changed to protect their identities.

Şehmuz and Dicle

At twelve years of age, Şehmuz was scraping a living on the street, selling things to late-night shoppers and cinema-goers. Often he would sleep on the street, despite the fact that his family lived not far away.

One day he brought his baby brother, Dicle to the Centre. He was very worried about the baby’s state of health: the child looked very thin and ill. A thorough examination revealed nothing more than that Dicle was hungry. Baby food was quickly fetched and after being fed, Dicle was put down to sleep for a bit while they looked into the children’s situation.

The boys’ mother had already lost two children through malnutrition and starvation. She told them:

I have ten children. My husband only comes home a few times a year so some of my children have to work in order to find extra cash. Even then we only get by with the help of our neighbours.

Their mother is now using a diaphragm (IUD) -- although there is a health centre close by, she had been unaware of birth control and family planning methods.

Today, Şehmuz is at boarding school. SHÇEK plans to do the same for Dicle when he reaches school age.

Fırat

Fırat is thirteen. He used to sell sweets to passers-by. Then he took to begging, at which point social workers began to keep an eye on him. They asked him why he had started begging:

At home one evening my little brothers and sisters had not eaten enough and we were still hungry. Although I had been working, my mother couldn’t even afford to bake bread for us. So the following day I started begging. I earn more this way.

Since then, social workers have been trying to convince Fırat to give up begging so that he can go to school and perhaps one day, he might perhaps fulfil his ambition to be a doctor. However, the boy feels it is his duty to find a solution to his family’s crippling financial problems or at least to do what he can to ease their plight.

Unfortunately for Fırat, the local authorities and SHÇEK have limited resources to offer families in such dire financial straits. Fırat can only hope that the desperately needed assistance will come from elsewhere if he is to have any hope of shaping his future.

Murat

Still only fourteen years of age, Murat runs with a gang of thieves. His family suffer all the disadvantages of poverty: no proper medical care (his brother died of tuberculosis); lack of education and, of course, hunger and malnutrition. They are desperate.

In an effort to break the predictable cycle of poverty and crime in which he was trapped, social workers and specialists convinced Murat to sever connections with the gang and attempt to earn his living lawfully. So Murat took himself off to the Black Sea region where he found work picking hazelnuts for a couple of months.

When he came back, he visited the social workers whose advice and good intentions had been so persuasive during the summer. He looked thin and pale.

He told them he had been working from five in the morning until eight in the evening without any lunch. He was paid a total of 60 million TL -- 30 million TL a month -- little more than US$37 by the current rate of exchange.

Murat understood that as he starved, his employer was blithely exploiting him as cheap labour.

Finishing his story, Murat threw the money on the desk and added:

I could earn this in one day with my gang and I wouldn’t have to starve for it either!

The Water Children

A group of eight children aged between seven and thirteen years, all of them relatives, had been trying to earn money selling water and ice on the streets during the hot summer months.

For some time word about the Centre had been out on the streets, so this little group decided to have a look and see what it was all about. It would seem that they approved of what they found there because, in a very short space of time, each one of the children became something of a regular fixture. They had an incredible talent for music and took full advantage of lessons in guitar and flute as well as more practical instruction in computers.

With the support of the Centre, they eventually committed to a full-time education and enrolled in the boarding school which they currently attend.

Şirvan

Şirvan is fourteen. In Diyarbakır, it is not unusual for temperatures to rise above 35°C during the summer. Şirvan was easily recognised by her eccentric habit of an overcoat which she would wear all the year round -- even in those swelteringly hot summer months.

One day, she was asked how, indeed why, she would brave the intense heat in such an outfit? She said that her breasts were attracting attention from men and that sometimes led to harassment. When social workers spoke to her mother, she was fully aware of the problem but wasn’t inclined to do a thing about it.

So the social workers took it upon themselves to guide Şirvan in a more comfortable way of dressing which would also protect her from unwanted attention. Eventually, she was persuaded to wear light summer clothes which were comfortable and stylish but also loose enough to protect her modesty.

At present, Şirvan is still under observation by SHÇEK and the ægis of the Child Department of Security.

Sinan

At thirteen years of age, Sinan was living and working on the streets. He was badly electrocuted at an early age and his body is permanently scarred in several places. He would dress to hide his scars: heavy clothes and gloves because he had also lost a hand.

A new social worker came to the Centre who, because of his own facial burns, was gifted with the kind of empathy born only of shared experience. They worked closely together focusing on the child’s attitude to his injuries. After four months, Sinan shed his inhibitions along with his coat.

Eventually, Sinan had the confidence to begin open primary education in tandem with a course of æsthetic therapy provided by a local charity.

Sinan’s father suffers from a very severe psychological disturbance and he would beat his son just for attending the Centre. It was he who had set the boy to work on the streets in the first place. By his mother’s consent, the boy and his brothers and sisters were placed in the care of a SHÇEK boarding facility. At this point, his father threatened social workers at the Centre with violence.

In spite of this, all of the children are attending school and Sinan has plans to go to university.

About the Centre

In 1999, SHÇEK and the GAP Provincial Directorate set up the 75th Anniversary Child and Youth Centre in Diyarbakır in the heart of Southeastern Turkey. Designed as a rehabilitation project, the Centre has 480 girls and boys registered on it’s books. The Centre also works with families where possible and so reaches out to more than 1,300 sisters and brothers of these children. In addition, the social work team at the Centre constantly watch over the activities and general well-being of over 3,000 children living and/or working on the streets of Diyarbakır.

The Centre is building a strong network between other concerned agencies, working closely with the Police Department, the Greater Municipality, Education and Health Departments and the Turkish National Television and Radio Channels as well as UNICEF and other NGOs. Frequent monitoring and evaluation reports are submitted to the SHÇEK General Directorate.

SHÇEK is planning to apply the successful model in other Provinces.

Would You Like to Help?

UNICEF’s contribution to the future success of this project and others like it depends on the availability of funding and resources.

Ask us for a copy of our Donor Funding Catalogue If you’ve already decided to make a contribution, use the Support Us link at the bottom of this page to make a payment direct to UNICEF Turkey’s National Committee. Should you prefer to telephone or write to us, follow the Contact Us link for details of the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF Offices in Ankara and İstanbul.

For more information about unfunded programmes and projects by UNICEF Turkey, read Can We Bank on Your Support? in the Autumn 2002 issue of Say Yes.

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