Boys in Boots.....

Ingrid Chawner has been good over the last few weeks and yesterday we played BINGO! All the boys love it and we had prizes for them all at the end. In the afternoon we played word Bingo which was also good but a little harder for the ones that are not able to read and write but the idea is just to help them familiarise themselves with everyday things. I also took one of the houses to the swimming pool after lunch which was hilarious because the weather has been a little ‘cold’ of late, 19oC, as we are now in Winter. The difference is horrible being used to 40oC so Ive wearing cardigans and water proof attire as its also been raining a lot. I really can feel the difference. Anyway, the pool was freezing and so there were only two soldiers in the pool, Samuel and Edilson. They only lasted about 15mins before they had to abandon ship.

Francisco is a new recruit into Ingrid Chawner having been there only 3 weeks now. He is another of my favourites and he has the cutest face ever. He cannot read or write and so I have taken it upon myself to give him at least an hour of my time while Im there practising his ABC and his numbers. I was so proud of him on Thursday as it seems the work is paying off. On Tuesday it was almost impossible for him but it seems he very good at retaining information and so he was able to complete writing the alphabet in order and then when I called it out randomly. Joanna had also informed me that she had been practising with him so I think the combination of us together is really working. There is a need for some specialist people within the centre who are skilled in assessing the needs of children like this. Tomas for example is about 10 and I think he has ADHD or some mild hypo attention disorder because he cannot and will not sit still for more than 3mins. When he is sitting down he’s very manic about the way he does things and extremely fidgety. I think he wants to learn but doesn’t know how he can make himself sit. He cannot read or write and doesn’t know his numbers. It makes me a little sad to know that these children didn’t have people around them who could give them these basic tools for their lives. The literacy rate in Mozambique is very low in itself so most of these children’s parents probably have the same problem and so the cycle continues. I guess I can only do by bit and write about what Im seeing. I think the centre is doing an amazing job with these boys in trying to provide them with the tools to help them in the future however whats missing is what they need on an emotional level. I think it should be a standard that they have counselling and assessment of basic needs but maybe that’s my Western view and the way I think that things should or need to be done. Its also difficult to broach this subject when Portuguese is not your first language and also I don’t have the qualifications to really make these judgements and advise others. I do think that I understand a little about this having parents in the field and having fostered many children with my parents over the years.

On Saturday night we went to a bar near Baixa with live music and dancing. Before we went inside were were hanging out with some friends on the street and 5 street boys appeared ranging from the ages of 8 to 11. The strange thing about the encounter was that they all had womens boots on. The best pair were some pointed white knee highs sported by the 8 year old Gashpar who used to be at Ingrid Chawner up until a few months ago when he ran away. I was trying to ask him why he doesn’t come back to Ingrid Chawner but again Portuguese isn’t my first language and so it just didn’t work. His older brother is still with Ingrid Chawner and in fact last week his brother ran from Ingrid Chawner to be with him but came back. The few hours we spent with those boys before entering the bar showed me that these boys are happy in the now. They have fun collecting money from tourist and they earn a sweet little penny let me tell you! They are all like brothers and they all look out for one another. They have no adult telling them what they can and cannot do and are just free. I don’t know what dangers they face on the streets but I can only imagine. You could see that they hadn’t washed for weeks because their hands were covered in dirt and they smelt of wee. Gashpar remembered me from the centre and roped me into buying bread for all of them. It was so funny….me, Nastasia, 5 boys in women shoes and a security guard walking to the bread shop at 12am in the middle of Baixa. It was nice and they were appreciative of the gesture in a boyish way and what was also nice was that Gashpar didn’t ask for money from me just food because they were hungry. Mozambique has a huge problem regarding street boys and I don’t know how they will get on top of it. You’ll see some really small little kids begging and sleeping in the streets and I wonder how they got there in the first place at the ages of 5 or 6. I think another problems then arises when these children have been on the streets for a year or two I can imagine its difficult to be ‘contained’ within a place like Ingrid Chawner, however, what they don’t realise is that when they hit 20 and they can’t read and write what prospects do they have. I really don’t know but Im glad that I am seeing this and have an opportunity to share it with you and possible make a difference to a few of their lives. 

Here are the boys in the ladies shoes......despite my camera being broken Jan managed to capture the moment! ENJOY!