GIVE CHILDREN A PLACE TO THRIVE

Education instead of rubbish collection. SONNE daycare centers are pivotal in meeting basic needs

In and around Yangon, many children and youth endure lives on the street in the most precarious of conditions. SSO is operating three daycare centers (DCCs) for these destitute young people, which provide non-formal education, daycare, nutrition, training services, bathing facilities and medical care to 40 – 50 children per centre. Children are taught reading, writing, arithmetic and other school subjects, added up by a sports- and arts program. Children who still have a chance to be integrated into formal school are supported with enrollment, materials and free tuition class.

Street children, vulnerable children, marginalized children – all are children with the right to a better life

Our main target group is children who have been forced onto the streets by their socio-economic circumstances. Those who don’t live permanently on the street, nevertheless, still have to live off it. Most children visiting our centers work as rubbish collectors – every day.

A day’s rubbish-collecting might earn them a couple of Kyats to contribute to their low family’s income. Those children that still have families often live with them in make-shift shelters on public property and can be evicted or made homeless at any time. Only a lucky few are able to go to school, most drop out after a few years due to a variety of factors and many have never been to school at all. Even though public school is generally free, most of these families can neither afford school materials nor get by without their children’s earnings.

Child education not only in the hands of a child

To bring education to children includes bringing awareness to their families and responsible persons too. Once a month the centre opens its gates for a community meeting to develop strategies towards problem solving and livelihood improvement together, receiving awareness training such as education or healthcare. We provide opportunities for the communitiy to get involved and encourage them to begin to take responsibility for the education and development of their children.