Kids in Jail by Rylin Smith

On Monday we were able to visit the juvenile jail in Arusha which holds children ages 13 to 17 while they are either awaiting going to trial if their charges are either not bailable or their family cannot afford to post bail, or if they are appealing their case. The jail was established in 1974 and, although Prof. Buske has been to this jail before and said that there were over 100 children, at this time the jail only had 5 boys. When asked about the reduction in the amount of children, the manager explained that it was due to communities becoming more knowledgeable about the consequences of crime. The model of the jail is not to punish the children, but rather to help them by teaching them how to escape the type of environment that got them there in the first place. It was explained that the majority of children that come through are there due to poverty. Poverty here can lead children to commit crimes often as a means of making money, but it also forces the child's parents to work and be away from taking care of their children making the parents unable to assure that their child is going to school. We were told that children will even commit crimes just to come back because at least they are provided three meals a day which they are not always promised in their day to day life.

Walking around inside of the jail it wasn't like how you would picture American jails. There are no matching uniforms that the children wear. The boys were just sitting outside when we arrived. It was hard to tell who were the boys apart from other employees and the construction workers who were there. This was something that I believe was a positive thing. It helps to keep the children feeling like a real person rather than just another inmate.

I think it is good to go into a situation like this with a healthy amount of skepticism for what was being told to us. As a group of American outsiders it is important to remember that of course the jail wanta to look as of they don't have serious issues, everything runs smoothly, and that they handle problems in a fair and just way. When we were having our discussion with the social welfare officer who is also the manager of the jail he made it seem like the children are here really for their protection and that they focus providing an education to the children to help them get out of the environment that resulted in them being arrested in the first place. The more we spoke though I started to notice little holes in his story. For example there is not always a teacher available because the Tanzanian government already doesn't pay enough to provide teachers in government schools, so providing a teacher to children in jail is very low on the governments priority list. Additionally, when looking at the room where the children sleep the manager pointed out a small door with a lock on the outside and explained that this is the solitary confinement room. Children can be put here for fighting or disobedience such as not cleaning when they are supposed to. Children can be locked in this room for up to three days at a time and they are provided no mattress and only a bucket to function as a toilet. I asked if they corporal punishment at the jail and while the manager denied this he did say that the children can be forced to do manual labor at the farm. He even said that they must be hard on the children and cannot be easy or forgiving because they need to learn how to behave and listen. I thought it would be interesting to talk to the children who were there to hear their perspective, obviously that was not an option, but if this facility was as great as they tried to make it sounds I would want to hear in what areas they think the jail is working successfully and where the jail could improve.

I think the things that the manager was saying were right- that this is not a place that children come to be punished, that many of the children come with serious trauma and that the jail can function as a form of protection for some, but I also think that jail shouldn't have to be a place where children are protected and children shouldn't have to turn to crime for survival but this is just an example of how important social services can be to preventing crime and to creating a productive society.

 

Next, we went to the Amani home for street children located in Arusha. Only the women in our group attended this meeting because there seemed to be higher number of girls who were victims of sexual violence at this location compared to the Amani we visited in Moshi. This location was surrounded by a big wall preventing outsiders from being able to look over and communicate with the children inside and we learned that it was built because often families would come and convince the child to leave to come back home. We sat down and learned more about Amani and specifically this house from Naomi who is one of the coordinators there. She explained that all of the children that live there have active court cases and at the time we visited they had 7 boys and 16 girls living there. They also have part of the property open to other street children who can come get breakfast, see a counselor, take showers, and wash their clothes but these children are separated from those who live there. Amani has a counselor who meets with each child for individual sessions as well as group sessions and they have one teacher who teaches all grade levels in one room. We were given a tour of the property and it was a beautiful home! The walls were pained bright colors and the rooms felt spacious and clean. The dorm rooms were limited to 2 sets of bunk beds per room which felt like a nice size of not overcrowding the children. After the tour we got to meet the children and they sang us two songs. I think something that many of us in the group have struggled with is going to these places and when the children sing it feels like they are put on display to perform to us. It was explained that the children do sing for every guest that comes to visit I know that the organization most likely just wants to thank the guest and wants them to feel special, but I wish this was something that organizations working with children who have trauma who rely on the organization would considering stopping this practice. One thing Amani did that was different is that we got to introduce ourselves and each child got to tell us their name and what they want to be when they grow up. We heard doctors and pilots and teachers galore and even a shoe maker! It was nice to see the more personal connection but you could tell many of the children were shy or uncomfortable speaking to us. Looking at the faces of these children was hard. You could see the pain and suffering that many of them had gone through. The older ones especially seemed to have a pain about them. We were told that two of the girls were currently pregnant and were in the processes of either trying to get their cases wrapped up so they could leave to take care of their baby after they give birth or would need to find someone they trust to take care of the baby while they finish their case. The younger ones seemed happy but although children are so resilient that doesn't take away from the pain and trauma that they have gone through. Naomi told us that 13 of the children living there were victims of sexual violence including the youngest who looked like they couldn't have been more than 6 years old. It was a hard experience but the work Amani is doing to get children off the street and away from abuse while providing a safe environment is creating such a positive impact on communities and especially on the children.

 

Myself and two others (Rachel and Tavis) were lucky enough to get our names drawn to be able accompany Naomi and two other street outreach coordinators on a night walk to check in on street children and learn about any new arrivals. Going into this expierence I felt a little nervous for my safety as we stick out and draw a lot of attention and I didn’t  want to inhibit the workers from being able to connect with children and do the job that they came out to do. The children's lives who are put of the street are much more important than me having this one expierence. Our driver Ernest was scared for us. He really wanted to make sure it was safe for us to be there but he trusted that Prof. Buske knew what she was doing and that the street outreacher workers were confident that they could keep us safe. We met at the Amani office at 7:30 to pick up Naomi and then drove to what is the equivalent of their downtown and stood on the side of the busy road where we waited for the other two to meet us. We were already getting looks when Ali arrived who has been doing this work for 15 years and his trainee who had just started in the last month. They made a plan to have us follow Naomi and Ali and the third man followed us from behind. I was amazed to see how they worked- while I was busy carefully watching every step to make sure I didn't trip over the bumpy road or step on the litter I could see Ali scanning the streets, looking to a familiar face. Within the first five minutes of walking he saw someone behind a dark bush on the other side of the road. Ali went over first and explained to the boys who we were before giving us the thumbs up to come join him. The two boys were rummaging through a pile of trash that had had been thrown off a bus. They were looking for food as they hadn't eaten since early that morning. Naomi explained that these were once Amani kids who had gone through a year of mechanics training, but went back to the streets. As we left Ali told then that they would come by later in the night and buy them dinner. Next we walked over to the big bus area that brings people from other regions. This is a busy area where a lot of children will take their first steps in Arusha. We found a group of boys who had almost been Amani kids and they now have jobs cleaning the busses that come in. It was amazing to see Alis connection with them. They looked like old friends. Ali threw his arms around them and even grabbed cup out of a boys hands and took a drink out of it. 

These boys were a success in Amani's eyes- they had jobs, they were all renting a room together, and one even had a smart phone. Although Ali was not impressed to see him spending what little money he had on an expensive phone, Ali did give the boy his phone number and shook his finger at him to not call him after midnight. As we walked away Ali explained the importance of having mutual trust- the Amani employees need to trust that the children can make good choices on their own and the children need to trust that the employees do have their best interests at heart and are looking out for them. Amani relies on the older kids to introduce them to the new and younger ones which is a major way of how Amani is able to reach street children. Naomi explained that we were next going to walk down a path that is for commercial sex work. She told us that the women stand outside and we wouldn't see children but to know that they are in a back room waiting somewhere and all a "customer" has to do is ask. This was a very jarring walk- seeing the women literally lined up against the wall in a very 'take your pick' kind of way but also knowing that there is more young children behind the scenes that you can't see was hard. We ended up in another busy bus area where we met a woman who makes food for those coming off of the bus. Naomi told us that the woman acts in a helpful way for them to reach new arrivals of street children because when they get off the bus the children are hungry and they know to get food from her. We were told that they would go back before the end of the night to see if any had arrived. Later, came across a big group of kids. The youngest couldn't have been more than 7 and the oldest maybe 14 years old.  We continued to walk around and the same types of interactions would occur- Ali would be friendly with them, ask how they are doing, ask if they had seen any new street children and where we could find them, and then always make sure that the child knew they could come to Amani if they needed anything.

I left the street outreach feeling invigorated and motivated. I never felt like I was in danger because I had some of the most well know and good natured people watching out for me. They spoke to us about the struggles they face, especially that of children knowing the different resources they could get from different organizations which causes them to move around and makes it more difficult for Amani to keep track of the children. This is the type of work that someone has to be built for. It is not easy, there are long days, and not all of the children are willing to accept the help that is offered, but seeing those who did come out as a success story and knowing the faces of children who need help makes the hard work all worth it. This expierence made me feel more comfortable with being able to back home to Portland and do similar work there.