Philippines: Ignored plight of street kids

(Vatican Radio) They are often hungry, abused and exploited by pimps, drug gangs and other criminals and virtually all of them indulge in the deadly practice of sniffing glue to forget about their problems. This is the typical lot of the estimated one million plus kids who live on the streets of the major cities in the Philippines.

The Catholic Church is among those trying to assist these street kids who are often seen as vermin or pests by the authorities. The Marianist Brothers run a residential centre for street boys in the southern city of Davao and describe the difficulties of rehabilating these kids into a more normal and a structured lifestyle after the freedom of living on the streets. The centre in Davao is run by Father Pablo Rambaud who was interviewed by Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges.

Listen to the extended interview:

Father Pablo says their centre in Davao is a transitional place" where the kids can "come and go" between the home and the streets because as he explains : "it's very difficult to remove these kids from a life on the streets to a more regular life all at once because they "enjoy the freedom of the street."

He explains that one of the "biggest problems" they face in trying to adjust these kids to a more normal lifestyle is the prevalance of glue-sniffing among the street children. Asked how many sniff glue, Father Pablo says "about 99 percent of the street kids have been involved at one time or another" in this practice which he describes as "an addiction." In addition to the addictive qualities of this practice, Father Pablo says glue-sniffing can cause permanent brain damage after a few years of regular use.

Given all these difficulties, he says "unfortunately a big number" of street boys cannot make the transition to a normal life but there are also many successful stories such as that of a 9 year old boy who came to them and seemed "mentally retarded" because he could hardly speak his own language or engage with other people and was very aggressive and who now is doing well, has many friends and is attending a normal school.