Street Kids and Juvenile Detention Center

I don't have pictures for this blog entry.  But, I wanted to make sure to remember the experience I had with the homeless-street kids and the Juvenile Detention Center.

The Juvenile Detention Center
The detention center housed about 25 boys from all of Mongolia.  Kids are not placed in the center unless they have committed a crime 2 times in the same providence.  That means they can commit crimes one time in each providence and not be sentenced.  Most boys are there for theft related crimes.  Their sleeping quarters were bunk style beds with a little more room than I thought there would be.  As we walked through the halls, the boys stood up at attention and I felt like there was one boy in each cell that definitely was the head of the group.  The boys seemed hard and rough. We talked with the social worker in charge of the facility.  He stated that the program they run at the center is focused on educating the boys.  They work on school work, as well as educating them to be able to integrate back into society upon their release.  They have a library full of books.  The social worker coordinates the education and mental health.  There is a psychologist that counsels with the boys as well.  The facility is extremely old.  The boys get to take care of pigs as well as a garden.


 The Homeless Street Kids
 On the first day that I was here, we met a homeless boy and talked with him and bought him some lunch.  He was with a bunch of kids and we were walking by them, they eyed Scotts pockets and started to follow him close so I hollered Scotts name and he turned around right as the boy came up behind him.  So this boy said that he sleeps on the streets in the day and scavenges for food and money then does gaming all night.  We will be interviewing and talking to more homeless kids later this week.

The following are my interview notes of Yalalt (Victory)-male, Bilguun-male, and Sonintogs-female.

• Play games - Internet Cafe opens at 10:00.  They get there at 11:00PM and stay till 6:00 AM.  
• They visit parents - come and go because parents can’t support
• Bilguun and Yalalt are 18 yrs old
• Sonintogs is 19 yrs old
• They have been homeless since 2007.  Poor nutrition = small street kids
• School- Yakalt finished 2nd grade, Bilguun 7th grade, Sonintogs graduated from high school and is going to College.
• Boys have completed haircutting training.  
• 65% of street kids are illiterate.
• How will Sonintogs pay for tuition? She plays trumpet - going to music college.  The college is taking 10 girls and she is one of them.  Tuition paid because she tried out and was selected.
• In 2006 she was sent to the center.  In 2015 she decided to leave to be independent.  Her mother passed away.  Just her and her sister now.  Sister married.  Scared on streets but nowhere else to go.  
• Does anyone make you do something you don’t want to do?  No, because she stays with her friends and she feels safe because she knows the kids on the streets.  Same friends that were in the shelter with her.  Has a father and step mother.  
• Talents- Yalalt’s is basketball, Bilguun is videogames, Sonintogs is trumpet.
• What do they do for money?  Wash cars, sale stuff, at the open market they will carry things for people to earn, take money from old begging people on street.
• They play games till they fall sleep
• Why do they like video games?  Boys like gaming, girl does fb, youtube, music.  11:00 they start playing, then at 6:00 they go sleep.  At 10:00 AM sleep in stairwell or in an attic for a couple hours.  But then back up to earn money so they can game the next night.
• Yalalt- rather be on the street than with parents.  “Happy life” for him
• Bilguun- sometimes at relatives house, parents separated
• No shelter allows children to come to shelter to sleep at night only.
• Do orphans get adopted?  Yes by foreign, and local.  As long as adoptive family want kids that is what is important.  Nationality does not matter.  
• Police, Administrative Affair, Officer from Ministry investigate for 2 - 4 yrs.  No fees for adoption.
• Goals and dreams for future- Sonintogs is college, graduate, study well and then job with music.  Yalalt has no goal, but would like own apartment. Bilguun also would like to have another life.
• If their friends were at shelter would the street kids rather be at the center or cafe?  Would rather be with friends.
• Are they friends with those they game online with?  No, doesn’t consider friends, just playing games.
• 82.8% street kids are males.
• Is there a goal working toward in game?  No score is kept .  Goal is to win.  
• Do they want to be the best player?  No, main purpose just to win, not to be better than peers.
• Where do they get clothes to stay warm?  Police Chief answer- look for clothes at organizations, also donations from churches.
• Where are the kids from originally?  UB
• PC- some kids will come to city from outer areas by bus or train - then the police will take them back to their city.
• Summer numbers decrease and then when winter comes, numbers increase.
• Kids said that their friends that have a typical life, they do not try to recruit them to the street.
• PC said Bilguun did encourage his friend to join him on the street.
• Can they leave the internet cafe if they choose?  In the city yes.  In the Ger district they are locked in so the worker can go home for the night.
• Do they drink or smoke?  Smoke yes everyday.  and some alcohol.
• PC said 3 kids passed away this year.  2 by CO gas and 1 by alcohol.  He said the kids are very dear to him. 
• 80% street kids are 9 - 16 years old.  Anyone 18 yrs and up is not included on stats.  PC follows those that are 18 yrs old to help them.  Kids contact him for help for job referrals or what ever he can do to help.  “I love my children and the children on the street”.

Saturday night at 11:00 pm we met the Police Chief and the street kids on the corner near an Internet Cafe in Ulaanbaatar.  There were about 15 teens waiting to talk to us.  The PC said that it was important for him to be there with us so that we did not get beat up.  We walked over to the Internet Cafe and got permission to quietly walk up and down the isles.  I noticed most gamers were playing the same game.  I'm not sure what the game is called but it was a shooting type of game.  Not the violent person shooting but the laser beam astroid type shooting.  Some kids were on Facebook but most were gaming.  This particular cafe only allows 2 street kids in at a time.  After we saw the cafe, we went back to the corner and each kid introduced himself and briefly told us their story.  Their stories are all sad and heartbreaking.  The one that I keep thinking about is the boy that was left at the train station by his brother when he was 5.  That was 10 plus years ago. When we asked if there was one thing that they wanted most what would that be?  All responded that they would like for us to help them get their center back so that they can get an education and a job.  When the new laws went into effect recently, the center that previously allowed homeless kids to eat and sleep there was shut down.  Now they have nowhere to go for shelter.