At that moment, in that encounter, what is there for the photographer to do more than respect the space needed for the subject to feel ready… contextualized by their surroundings. appearing authentically self-actualized and comported at the moment their gaze finds the lens and our own gaze (the viewer of the resulting image).
Borana girl with grandmother. Sololo, Kenya
Then we tend to read all kinds of narratives into the image based on prior knowledge. So it’s a lot to ask of someone when that moment occurs, and while it’s often a furtive moment (taken away in silver halide crystals), there are times it pulls at the heartstrings as you wish you could be sure you were conveying the gratitude you felt for the privilege of being allowed to render the fossilized image…
Karimojong family, Uganda
At the same time, they are just “snaps” to the vernacular crowd, which is everyone else, including some in this group portrait…
Combined excerpts from two separate articles, originally
published in Kenya in Executive Magazine,
January 1993, and Survival, Spring
1994.
Being at the
forefront of street children-related work in Kenya, it is sometimes necessary
for the Undugu Society to assume the role of advocate. This is especially true
when cases arise where it is obvious that the rights of the children, as
espoused in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have been
violated. One such case occurred when government authorities decided to close
down a rescue center at Kariokor Market, one of the busiest sections of
Nairobi. An extremely harsh crackdown left several boys incarcerated among
adults- - a direct contradiction of the statutes related to child protection in
Kenya. The boys were hounded and even physically assaulted during their ordeal.
While it is true that many of these boys were not model citizens in any sense
of the word, they are citizens, and human beings, nonetheless. And though we
wish in all good conscience to be able to report that this incident was an
isolated case of overzealousness by a few officials, we are sorry that our
pursuit of the truth in such matters does not allow such a softening statement
to be made. To the contrary, such occurrences are so commonplace that to report
them regularly would entail the hiring of a full-time investigative reporter,
to be assigned solely to the juvenile courthouse, the approved and remand
school systems, and the police stations citywide. Reprinted here is the
editorial column from the March 1994 edition of Flash, the in-house quarterly
newsletter of Undugu.
In
the April –June, 1993 issue of Flash, our editorial outlined the work being
done by the Child Law Project, whose proposed Children’s Act seeks to refine
and consolidate the often conflicting and unclear legislation pertaining to
child protection. We noted then that Attorney General Amos Wako has said that
this act should become law sometime during this session of Parliament.
To
date, this has not yet been done, thus the Children and Young Persons Acts,
Chapter 141 (last revised in 1972) remains the definitive legislation on cases
specifically dealing with juveniles and others, including street children. In
light of the recent developments involving the boys from Kariokor, it is
instructive to note the following sections of this act, and we would ask the
proper authorities to pause and consider whether the rights of these children
are in any way being violated:
CAP
141, Section 23: (1) If any person who
has the custody, charge or care of any child or juvenile-
(a)
Willfully assaults, ill-treats,
neglects, abandons or exposes him, or causes or permits him to be assaulted,
ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed, in any manner likely to cause him
unnecessary suffering or injury to healthy shall be guilty of an offence and
liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment…
CAP
141, Section 5: Arrangements shall be
made for preventing persons under sixteen years of age while detained in a
police station, or while being conveyed to or from any court from associating
with adults charged with or convicted of any offence other than an offence with
which a person under sixteen years of age is jointly charged or convicted…
CAP
141, Section 14: Every court in dealing
with a person under eighteen years of age who is brought before it shall have
regard to his welfare and shall, in a proper case, take steps for removing him
from undesirable surroundings and for securing that proper provision be made
for his maintenance, education and training.
In
the first two instances (Section 23 &6), readers of our special report in
this issue (the closing of the Kariokor Rescue Centre) will not have to stretch
their imaginations too far to acknowledge the possibility of violations against
our children by the very agencies entrusted to protect them. With regard to
Section 14, a recent visit to the Juvenile Remand Home in Kabete, (one of 10
such home throughout the republic) revealed a situation so shocking and
depressing in its scope, that it is hard to imagine how the courts assigned to
deal with these children would be able to abide by that law.
Built
to hold 80-100 children, Kabete’s population fluctuates from 200-300 and has in
recent months reached as high as 500. With manager Bakala Wambani lamenting a
near total lack of funding from the government, the children held at Kabete
have no salt or milk in their diets. Many appear to be malnourished, a worse
condition than we find them when living on the streets. Scabies is rampant, as
there are precious few medicines to treat this or any other illnesses. There
are only two qualified social workers, with ten other staff members handing
various responsibilities. Even with probation officers sent periodically from
the Children’s Department to help follow-up the vagrancy cases (which constitute
the majority), processing is slow. It is not uncommon for a child picked up on a
street corner to end up spending more than a month waiting for some decision to
be made on his future. In the meantime, those categorized as needing protection
and care (P &C) are mixed together with those officially determined to
require protection and discipline (P&D).
The result—hardcore cases end up influencing and often spoiling the more
innocent children. In December last year, the government released 17m shillings
from the Treasury, to go towards the “repatriation” of children to their home
regions. Already dozens of children have been shipped to police station in places
such as Kakamega and Mombasa.
This
may stem the flow of children to the streets temporarily, but realistically it
is like trying to empty a sinking canoe with a spoon. Long-term solutions are
needed. Just as Undugu Society needs funding to maintain our programs, so the relevant
government ministries need to allocate sufficient funds to improve the quality
of services at the remand home and approved schools. It was pointed out to us
that there was once a “ State Maintenance Fund,” which was used to finance the
education of needy children. There were even cases of children being sponsored
clear up to university level. Reviving this would be a major step in the right
direction.
Without
such efforts of good faith, and until policeman and others in positions of
authority learn to treat street children as human beings, not whipping boys,
the chances are the system will continue to further harden, rather than help,
society’s most unfortunate souls.