Introduction
When we think of orphaned street kids in a third world country we have pity for sure but we also apply values based on what we have come to accept as the “norm”.
We see these kids, wandering the streets and sleeping under whatever shelter they can find, and immediately make value judgments. Perhaps we feel they have no shelter, are malnourished and lack medical care. That is what we see because somehow that is what we want to see. We want to have some sympathy but at the same time, to remain distanced from the “problem”.
We write them off as having little hope for a future and have little chance of ever achieving anything. We wish they were not there because inside we have pity but with so many kids in the same boat, it’s a problem too big to fix. We walk passed, maybe a little embarrassed to even make eye contact and make a light or flippant comment to relieve any small pangs or feelings we may have for their situation.
If we are really arrogant, and let’s be really honest here, we all are to some extent, we look at the kids as downtrodden and pathetic. We don’t often blame the kids themselves but their governments or city councils for letting it happen.
How wrong we are!
Maybe we don’t think twice about spending $40 on a good steak and another $70 on a great bottle of wine, enjoyed with friends in a plush restaurant, chatting about how bad the maid is and how we just closed the deal of the century. If a total stranger walked up to your table and started asking you questions about what you are doing, chances are you would tell them to get lost.
Now picture a street kid, or better, a group of street kids, sitting on a few bricks under a busy road bridge, surrounded by debris and dirt, tucking into a few bags of somebody’s leftover food and drinking from an old Coke bottle of dirty water. They are talking about friends, discussing how they stole a few dollars here and scavenged and sold something there. A pocket picked or a piece of chicken stolen. “Man, that was a really great deal”, “I haven’t eaten like this in a while” or “Good to see you again Mike, been a long time.”
The same joys as your expensive meal; nourishing, sharing and together with friends. The money they get from petty crime or begging provides enough for them to have the basics they need. Food, clothing and shelter amongst friends. They have community and bonds. They are street smart and chances are, albeit not in our way, they are OK and will grow up in their way and they will survive. But they run risks. Peer pressure to move onto drugs, being caught by the police, often corrupt, who then use them. Or adults who are physically stronger and can take advantage. But for these kids, it’s the normal. They know no better so, as for you, whose norm is to eat at an expensive restaurant and have something meaningful to do, they accept their life.
Now picture a street kid, or better, a group of street kids, sitting on a few bricks under a busy road bridge, surrounded by debris and dirt, tucking into a few bags of somebody’s leftover food and drinking from an old Coke bottle of dirty water. They are talking about friends, discussing how they stole a few dollars here and scavenged and sold something there. A pocket picked or a piece of chicken stolen. “Man, that was a really great deal”, “I haven’t eaten like this in a while” or “Good to see you again Mike, been a long time.”
Of course they also lack much that they don’t realize is missing – why should they? They lack a loving, caring home life, values, the guidance of a responsible adult and opportunity. Not charity to sustain their existing lives but more.
So it’s from this perspective that the Newport Foundation came to be. A recognition that only love, guidance, responsible and understanding adults and opportunity, will change lives.
But the challenge, as always, is how do you walk up to that dinner table and ask people to think about what they are doing and how things could be more fulfilling , real and have opportunity?