Street Feat

In Nepal, kids who call the streets home are building businesses—and rebuilding self-worth

For 18-year-old Kriss, Kathmandu is not really the Himalayan Mecca it is for the adventure traveller. Living on the streets of the Nepali capital since the age of nine, finding food and a place to stay warm has been his daily challenge. That is, until last year when he figured out a clever way to make money by capitalizing on Nepal’s chronic (and daily) shortage of electricity: candles. Not the slender dinner-party type—but large chunky ones that burn extra bright and long, and which he and his partner, Pradip, now make and sell around Kathmandu.

“Kriss is very artistic,” says Asha daCosta of Street Kids International, a Canadian non-profit that helped the boys develop, then launch, their now-growing candle business. And indeed, though utilitarian, the candles are also exquisite, adorned with squares of embedded colour or hand-painted, by Kriss, with unique designs. DaCosta says the idea sprouted after he met a travelling Japanese candlemaker who taught him the basics of the craft at SathSath, a grassroots organization in Kathmandu that’s partnering with Street Kids to bring its micro-business teaching program to Nepal.

Launched in August of 2007, Street Business aims to help unskilled and largely unschooled kids like Kriss start their own microenterprises, in hopes they can earn a living in a safe and productive way—even if they continue to call the streets home. Using its core ‘business tool kit’—an eight-step how-to program—youth participate in workshops (put on by staff at SathSath and a network of Nepali non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who’ve been trained in the program by daCosta and her colleagues) over a period of weeks. An activity-based approach, the tool kit helps youth pinpoint their interests and strengths and then identify businesses they could run. Overall, the tool kit keeps it simple, says daCosta, breaking business into basic concepts that even youth can understand. What service or product does a community need? Where is the best place to set up shop?

So far, the answers to those questions have led to the development of businesses reflective of street-life itself, says daCosta, with momo (steamed Nepali dumplings) carts being the most popular. Other ventures have included fresh produce carts, clothing and jewellery stalls, and chocolate or mineral water selling. A few youth are marketing pig-themed trinkets like piggy banks and lapel pins; a handful are selling charcoal briskets; and at least one is creating and selling his own paper crafts, like frames.

The myriad of ventures are all given a leg-up by Street Business; the program provides start-up funds, supplies like carts and utensils, and a kitchen where the youth can cook the foods they sell.

Sounds simple, but, in fact, this is anything but. With a profound distrust of mainstream society, Nepali street youth are a difficult group to reach and teach, says SathSath’s Biso Bayracharya, who’s been working with Kathmandu street kids for more than 12 years. Stigmatized and marginalized, they have little respect for social protocols and their focus on daily survival means they lack the ability to think and plan long term. “If they make 1,000 rupees they don’t keep it for the next day,” says Bayracharya, “they spend it immediately.” And because many come from Nepal’s lowest social caste—the Dalits, also known disturbingly as ‘the untouchables’—it’s tough for them to imagine rising above their circumstances. Most of the estimated 30,000 living or working on the streets of Nepal have fled intolerable situations like domestic violence, poverty or the death of a parent, the Street Children of Nepal Trust reports, adding they’re vulnerable to sexual abuse and trafficking for indentured labour.

Rebuilding their trust in the adult world is the biggest challenge child outreach workers face, says Layal Sarrouh of UNICEF Canada. “Some people don’t understand why, if there’s a drop-in centre, children wouldn’t naturally flock to it,” she says. “But then they see that it’s run by adults, and they’ve been abused by those who were supposed to protect them.” In fact, in Nepal, says Bayracharya, street kids are frequently harassed by police who demand bribes to back off—a reality that’s both demoralizing and discouraging as they struggle to support themselves. “They’re considered the worst of society, so that’s how they think of themselves.”

That kind of self-loathing is heart-breaking enough, but it is also an added barrier to doing business—translating into poor coping skills, moody behaviour and a submissiveness when dealing with customers. Where a good day can net motivation and focus, says Bayracharya, a bad day can prompt them to call it quits. “One of the major challenges is to show them running a business is long-term work.” Adds daCosta: street youth stand a better chance of transitioning from a life of risk to a life of safety when they have consistent adult support. A practice period, supervised by a designated mentor (a staff member from one of the NGOs), helps address that motivational gap and troubleshoot problems that can typically or unexpectedly arise—like what to say when a repeat customer begins asking for credit, or do if there’s no tomatoes in the market that morning to make the momo sauce. The practicum is also helping them see areas they need to work on, says daCosta, “like maybe they don’t like talking to strangers.”

The program also works at teaching street youth how to manage, even save, some of the money they’re earning, so they can begin planning for a life off the streets. (Kriss, for example, now lives part of the time in an apartment with other boys.) Denied access to banks (they have no legal documents), Street Kids is encouraging Nepali NGOs to take this on—that is, be a safe place for them to store their money—and encouraging the kids to start ‘savings circles,’ where their money is pooled and invested (with group consent) in other ventures.

To date, more than 50 staff from SathSath and the NGOs have been trained to teach the Street Business program and almost 850 youth have graduated, mostly in Katmandu Valley, Pokhara and the Terai region of Nepal that borders India. With Street Kids’ involvement due to end in 2010, the hope is SathSath and the NGOs will adopt the program.

Yet the question remains: can a person so beaten down rise to the challenge of running a business? Globally, Street Kids reports that 50 percent of the kids who go through the program eventually start a business. As for the long-term, it’s too early to tell, but the early signs are hopeful, says DaCosta. The practice business part has proven surprisingly popular and many of the youth who’ve gone through it are now encouraging others to get involved. “And that’s our biggest indicator of success.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Travel Cares. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.