By Gum Makur Gum
Teaching Assistant,
Rumbek University of Science and Technology
Lakes State, Rumbek.
Feb 1, 2022 —Many of our kids are living in the street today due to lack of parental care, family breakdown, political crises and natural disasters that could cause displacement and loss of lives. These factors will also vary over time, such as poverty, all lead to increases in the number of street children in South Sudan. There are two main causes of the phenomenon of street children. The first is the economic stress and poor conditions that families face due to industrialization and urbanization.
The second cause is changes in the traditional family structure, especially when women became the main contributors to households’ economies.
These Street children are part of the society, and must not be thrown out of the society for their living, earning and future. As a Country, it is imperative to invest in our future generation, the success of this Country in decades to come lies in them. When I was a kid, my mother who happened to be a farmer told me to always preserve seeds for the next season, if you don’t take care of today’s seeds you will have nothing to cultivate in the future and this is exactly what happens to human beings.
One can take a walk through the streets of Rumbek and elsewhere in the Country or stop at places where these street children can be found; the scene seen is heartbreaking. You can see so many little kids holding a half – cut used plastic container of water. If you pay attention to what is inside it, you will notice a yellowish substance in the container section.
The kids frequently put the container in the mouth and inhale the glue in it, a very toxic chemical substance used mainly to repair shoes. These kids are between ages of 7-18 years. When you go closer to where they are, they look sadly pale, dizzy and about to pass out as a result of getting high from the inhaling of the toxic substance. They use different ways to ask for money and sometimes collects leftover food at waste collecting centers or in the restaurant
The toxic chemical they are inhaling is not a controlled substance, hence, these street kids can easily have access to hardware stores and dealers who are older in age and paying less for it. Inhaling glue is very damaging practice and causes permanent damage to the kids including brain damage, paralysis, kidney and liver failure and even sudden death. It is alarming that thousands of kids who are living in the streets of Rumbek and elsewhere in the Country are inhaling glue in mass and one would ask if it reached an epidemic level.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that inhaling a substance like glue can have immediate and long-term effects.
The immediate effects include: happy giggling, relaxation, sleepiness, poor muscle coordination, and slurred speech among other things. Hallucinations and fits can occur with heavy use. The most immediate danger to the user includes sudden sniffing death. Death could occur as a result of suffocation. Long-term effects are as a result of a regular long-term use included: nose bleedings, rashes around the mouth and nose, loss of appetite and lack of motivation. Some of the solvents are toxic to the liver, kidney, heart and brain.
While at market places where these kids stay one of them explains their addiction to this substance as a means to forget hunger and resist the brutal coldness at night. Street children face difficulties in providing themselves with good sources of food, clean drinking water, health care services, toilets and bath facilities, and adequate shelter.
Many of these children are affected by the declining standards of living, as a result they find themselves in the street bagging while polishing public shoes to earn income to sustain themselves and their families. It is inevitable that many of the unemployed who attained eighteen years and above can easily resort to crime violence as means of accessing material goods. Even for individuals who are gainfully employed, the cost of living has generally outstripped their incomes.
The lives of street children can only be improved in one way: get them off the street, and give them safe homes to live in, food to eat, and access to a basic education. A big rehabilitation effort needs to be established to detox the addicts and integrate them back to the community. Another way of solving this probe could be sending them to school, training them on life skills, jobs creation, housing and some facilities like sport venues and recreation centers.
The views expressed here are solely mine and do not necessarily represent views of Rumbek University of Science and Technology.
The writer is Teaching Assistant at Rumbek University of Science and Technology.
He can be reached via gummakur75@gmail.com.
