30 percent of people on the streets of Suva are girls - Kiran

It is shocking to see that 30% of the people on the streets of Suva are girls.

This has been highlighted by the Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran during fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan.

Kiran says according to their survey in the Western and Central divisions, there is an average of 100 kids on the streets and some are involved in drug peddling, and offering methamphetamine to others.

While speaking on people living on the streets, she reveals that in the Suva and Nausori corridor there were 11 children profiled from the age of 7 to 14, 51 people between the age of 15 to 35, 35 people between the age of 36 to 59 and 15 people above the age of 60 years old.

The Assistant Minister says many of the kids have homes to go to however, they end up on the streets due to grief and loss and abuse by relatives while majority are from broken families.

Kiran says when they visited one of the vacant houses, there were around 20 to 25 people out of which 8 to 10 were girls who had their partners in remand and had babies while some were neglected and abused at home or on the streets.

She says from the majority of the kids profiled, 44 percent want to complete their education and 32 percent want to get employed while a few are not clear about where they are going.

The Assistant Minister further says they are profiling the smaller ones and putting them in shelter or on rehab or livelihood programs.

Kiran says they are working with partners like the Ministry of Youths, APTC, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Education and the Itaukei Affiars to help these kids get motivated and have youth development centres.

She says some of the children are also between the age of 7 to 8 years old who will be taken to boarding schools and for children who don’t want to go home, they are talking to the guardians to get their consent to put them in rehabilitation and boarding schools.

Meanwhile, Inspire Pacific Co-founder and Program Director Ben Morrison says the men of the family must be depicted as good role models and take up responsibility as a father figure because mostly there are issues with the man of the family and children mimic what they see and experience.

You can watch the full Straight Talk interview below.