Manila's street kids learn to survive, save

Thrift isn’t something Manila’s street urchins consider, as most have barely enough money to survive, but a welfare group is showing them that saving their meagre income can be their ticket out of poverty.

Travelling down the streets in a van that doubles as a classroom, members of Childhope Asia Philippines give street children lessons on basic financial management in one of Southeast Asia’s poorer nations. The children are also encouraged to give some of their money to the welfare workers, to be put aside as savings.

"We teach these children personal accounting, because many of them have no idea how to spend money properly. For them, it simply comes and goes," said Richardson Mojica, coordinator for the group’s financial education program. Mojica said that learning to save gives the children confidence to face an uncertain economic future.

More than 40,000 workers have been laid off in The Philippines due to the global financial crisis, and some three million are jobless.

About 90 street children have joined the financial education program since its launch in 2007, with other students recruited from the city’s slums. The first group of children enter the program’s final phase this month, when they will be admitted to vocational schools to give them skills to help them become self-sufficient.

The Philippine government Social Welfare Department estimates there are about 200,000 street children in Manila. Many beg, sell small items to passers-by or car passengers, steal or become prostitutes. Often, they are abused.

"Life is hard, we have nothing to eat. We end up doing bad things. We steal just so we can have food," said a boy who gave his name as Jay-Jay while sniffing glue in the rain.

Childhope Asia Philippines discourages begging as a way of accumulating cash, helping the children get other jobs in manicure salons, or as bottle collectors and fruit pickers.

Maria Christine Dumlao, who has been teaching a core group of about a dozen slum-dwellers, said while the charity does not support child labour, it respects the children’s desire to help themselves and their families. "Can we blame the children for working? Of course not, because they have their own dreams and aspirations. What is their dream? To help their families," she said.