Street Clinics at the Bus Stop

Most of the clinics this week have taken place at a bus shelter behind Jinja’s main bus station which many of the street children frequent during the day. We have discovered during our time here in Uganda that there are many different types of children that can be seen on the streets of Jinja; there are children that tend to go to the streets during the day to earn money through performing small tasks for local shop keepers or finding and selling scrap, before returning home at night; ones that permanently stay on the streets both day and night; as well as older children who have been on the streets for many years and have become very hardened to the lifestyle.

During our street clinics this week we have been able to interact with both some of the younger children who permanently stay on the streets as well as some of the older ones that come there during the day to earn money before returning home. A major issue that became immediately apparent on stepping foot inside the bus shelter is the number of children that have resorted to taking drugs (sniffing aviation fluid). This is something that we as interns were well aware of but walking into the station and being hit with the fumes really brings it home.

The clinics have given us a great opportunity to talk with the younger children and find out more about their individual situations and ways in which S.A.L.V.E. may be able to help them - as well as gaining their trust in us as an organisation. It has also enabled us to interact with the older street boys, which has been a really interesting experience. Our previous understanding of the older children, before spending time with them this week, was that they would be the most hostile of the various groups that live on the street.

However, we were surprised that they were very receptive to idea of talking to us and discovered that they, much like the younger children, have been written off by society and there is a great challenge ahead to try and reintegrate them into society. Whilst our facilities at the moment are better suited to take on younger children (under 16) , we are always going to continue to build relationships with the older street children in the hope of being able to offer them more opportunities in the future, such as vocational training, as S.A.L.V.E. continues to grow.