Positive futures for Nepal’s street children
A safe home, education and opportunities for children who have experienced life on the streets.
For some children in Nepal, home is not a safe place.
Poverty, family difficulties and domestic violence can lead children to leave home in search of a better life. Once on the streets, children are vulnerable to exploitation, physical, psychological and sexual abuse, as well as substance misuse.
Life on the streets can also have a lasting impact on a child's education, confidence and emotional development. Children may face rejection and discrimination from the people and communities around them, while being repeatedly moved on from the temporary places where they seek shelter.
Mamaghar was established in response to this reality: to offer children a safe alternative and the opportunity to build a different future.
The issue
Reaching children in crisis
Our work often begins by identifying children who are living on, or are at serious risk from, life on the streets.
We take time to build trust and understand each child's circumstances. For some children, it can take several weeks before they are ready to consider coming to Mamaghar.
During this time, our staff provide practical support including food, clean clothing, healthcare and counselling. Where possible, they also work to locate and establish contact with the child's family.
A child–centred approach
There is no single solution for every child.
Some children may need considerable time to adjust to regular routines and education. Others may need additional emotional support, help reconnecting with their family or opportunities to develop practical skills.
Support at Mamaghar is therefore tailored to the individual child and their particular circumstances.
Children are not forced to join the programme, and they are not required to remain at Mamaghar. A child is free to leave if they decide that living at Mamaghar is not right for them.
The aim is to build trust, provide stability and give children the opportunity to make positive choices about their own future.
From street life to stability
Mamaghar's approach is about more than providing somewhere for a child to stay. We work with each child as an individual, recognising that every child arrives with their own experiences, circumstances and needs.
The children who live here come from different backgrounds and have experienced very different circumstances. Some have spent significant periods living on the streets; others have experienced poverty, family difficulties or trauma.
Living together is not always easy. There are disagreements and arguments, as there are wherever young people live together. But there is also friendship, laughter and a strong sense of mutual support. Older children often help younger ones, and the children develop relationships with one another that can be an important source of stability.
The relationship between children and staff is warm and supportive, while remaining professional and structured. There are boundaries, expectations and routines, but there is also time for play, conversation and fun.
For children who may have experienced uncertainty and instability for much of their lives, having somewhere safe and predictable to return to can make an enormous difference.
Mamaghar currently provides a home for 24 boys, from approximately 6 to 18 years old.
Life at Mamaghar
Mamaghar is a home, not simply a place to stay.
Our solution
Outreach
The first step is to identify children in crisis and create a plan of action to remove them from street life. Depending on how long a child has been living on the streets it can take up to 2 months before he or she can come to live at Mamaghar. It is particularly important that a child stops smoking and drug use as this will impact the other children living at the home.
During this time the child is supported by our staff through counselling and provided with clean clothes, food and healthcare. Our staff endeavour to locate and establish contact with their closest living relatives.
A safe and secure environment
Our residential programme focuses on moving children from street life to stabilisation and towards a sustainable livelihood. Mamaghar Nepal’s staff create an environment of compassion, stability and excellence in the home.
During this time the child is supported by our staff through counselling and provided with clean clothes, food and healthcare. Our staff will endeavour to locate and establish contact with their closest living relatives.
Reintegration through education
The aim of Mamaghar Nepal is to reintegrate children into the public school system and society at large and therefore de-stigmatise them through the provision of education and life skills.
Of course this isn’t always possible and for those children within our care who are unable – or who don’t want – to return home, we have a programme of skills-based training to equip them with the skills they need for employment once they reach the age of 18.
Challenging perceptions
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