That's a gecko! No, it's a chameleon by Tavis Crocker

Will a gecko recognize a good life when

it passes by, or with certainty will it declare, “that’s a bad life!

It does not look like mine.”

No, it’s a chameleon.

A good but different life.

 

This afternoon, in the shade of trees hundreds of years old, surrounded by trimmed hedges and the remaining rows of a coffee plantation, we met Sherman. A wonderful, thoughtful and informative individual. As a third generation Tanzanian, Sherman, grew up in Dar es Salaam, attended an international school and completed her undergraduate studies and Masters of Social Work in the United States, she has worked with street children in Tanzania for 25 years.

Our discussion focused on the reality of how victims and street children are treated in Tanzania. One major point was addressing the myth that children are running away to live on the street for handouts. This myth fails to acknowledge that no child would risk the real dangers of living on the street, if they had a safe and stable situation at home. Given this reality, it raises questions about the continued practice of sweeping of children using exclusion laws from the 1930’s and giving them bus fare back to their home does nothing to solve the problem. A simple lack of bus fare is not what prevents these children from returning home.

We also talked about gaps in the current governmental system, in which national social workers serve as the legal representative of domestic and child abuse victims. However these workers do not have any formal legal training. While NGO’s fill some of this gap it is few and far between, that a lawyer can be made available to advocate for the victim’s rights.

We discussed that within the current system 9 out 10 children in orphanages are not true orphans. They have known family and are in the orphanages partly to increase numbers and for funding. Sherman spoke about how UNICEF is seeking to eradicate institutionalization of children due to the immense harm it causes the children. We discussed how it is an easy downstream solution and if you build one it will fill quickly.

Sherman spoke of three of the street children, now adults, that she used to work with. One is now a Dala Dala driver and soon expecting kids. The second a fruit seller, who told of a child who is not well and asked for money, the money given was based on trust built that truth was told. The third a high strung individual remains upon the street, when asked he says his child brain and bad choice squandered opportunities and aid.  This time he asked for money to buy bags for porter work, she left him with the funds to purchase some smaller bags that with work could raise the fund for larger ones. She told him to show her he was willing to work to better himself.

Each of these stories addressed the difficult reality within charity and aid programs. It is easy to give money and walk away feeling good, it is much more difficult to give the time and effort to seek the root of the problem.

So here we are miles from home grappling with our own understanding of this world and learning to dig deeper.

//// Tavis Crocker