The streets of Dhaka
are teeming with children who have no home. Sonia is a nine-year-old
who sleeps on the verandah of a hospital with her mother, who
collects garbage. Sagor, nine, carries bags onto boats for passengers
and makes about thirty cents a day; his father abandoned him
on the streets of Dhaka soon after his mother died. Monir is
eleven; his mother died when he was a toddler and because his
stepmother was cruel to him, he left his village home and ended
up on the streets. He sleeps in a park at night and each day
collects paper scraps in a fertilizer sack to sell for two cents
a pound.
Jokhon/Tokhon, which in Bangla means “when/then,”
is a joint ministry of PC(USA)’s partner church, the Church
of Bangladesh, and ASK, a nongovernmental organization that
provides legal aid to women and children. The two-room center
in the heart of Dhaka is open eight hours a day, five days a
week for street kids aged nine to fifteen to drop by and be
with friends. Here they can wash their hands and faces, hear
a story, learn to read and write, receive medical care, and
have something to eat. Art materials and toys are always out,
and there are classes in music, drama, and art. It’s a
low-key program, flexible and open to the needs of each child.
Eleven-year-old orphan Lalon wants to be an artist. His friend
Jahangir, whose father is a drug addict, wants to be an engineer.
With the efforts of Church of Bangladesh worker Nomita Roy and
others, their dreams just may come true. |
