There are so many social problems in the twenty-first century that seem intractable and insoluble. We explore Mars and embed telephones in wrist-watches, but we can’t keep children safe.
It is sad to say that Pakistan has one of the world’s largest street children populations. Ironically the number of children found living, working and begging on Pakistan’s streets has been growing. An estimated 1.5 million children live on the streets, and lots of them have suffered physical and sexual abuse. Among them some start and end their day on the streets, while others live with their families but are sent to the streets to make money.
The question is how change can happen around us? When will Pakistan send its street children to school? And how can we all make a difference? We don’t have endless resources as individuals or as a nation, but we can do better if we put our hearts and minds to it.
I personally feel that having good intentions are not enough. People rarely give money away as intelligently as they make it, and frankly much charitable giving isn’t very effective. So the country should focus an expanding opportunities because there is a lot of talent but not enough opportunity.
“One person can make a difference and everyone should try” – John F. Kennedy
In the 21st century, there are myriads of opportunities to lend our voice to others through the internet, donations and through volunteering. To make a difference in the community, we cannot simply rely on the government to solve our problems. We all need to take the lead and play a positive role in society. The fact is that you are never too young or inexperienced to start making a difference in the community.
Over the past couple of decades, a growing stack of evidence has shown that positive social behavior – including helping others – improves our mental and physical health, and extends life expectancy. The evidence suggests that social activities that involve helping others are particularly healthy and fulfilling. Altruism is a powerful force for health and happiness alike, and it seems to be deeply embedded in human neurochemistry.
Furthermore, volunteering is also a way to address poverty, inequality and other problems. For example, volunteers can help a few hours a week to coach low income youngsters, or teach them a skill that leads them towards a path that will lead to education and good livelihood.
“People who volunteer are happier with their routine” – Life Balance
The authors of a new study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that people who volunteer are happier with their work-life balance than those who don’t volunteer. As the researchers suspected, those who volunteered were also less stressed and less likely to feel burned out in their normal routine. Among young people volunteering is an important avenue in satisfying themselves by meeting the people benefiting from their efforts. Communities in Pakistan need to promote these initiatives on a wide scale.
For example, Azad Foundation have done great work for street children. They organized the street kids World Cup in 2014 in Karachi. Another major headline-making news in 2014 was when BBC released a documentary, Pakistan’s Hidden Shame. It was a powerful documentary about the sexual exploitation and abuse of many thousands of poor and vulnerable children in Peshawar. The narrator introduces Pakistan as one of the most important Muslim country but at the same time reveals the silence and denial about one of the most taboo subjects, pedophilia.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s decision to name Reham Khan as an ambassador for street children was a positive step. I was quite happy and proud that someone was finally providing a voice to the street children. The provincial government made the announcement to set up an academy for street children. It is a great initiative to empower them. The school will provide vocational training in addition to some basic education to street children. Reham – to her credit – has been pushing hard on this issue so that the society can acknowledge the problem and condemn child exploitation from every platform.
For every Pakistani this problem is a challenging one, and we can only win when we are all united and work as a team. We need to encourage others – rich and poor alike – to join in this push to improve the lives of these children. If we all participate in and support volunteer work and other social activities, we can make a difference. Those positive initiatives are the way to address poverty and inequality, and address the plight of street children.
To make a difference we all need to play a positive role for the society. This is a path of hopefulness, but also a path of fulfillment. We start off by trying to empower others and end up empowering ourselves too.