Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Child protection?

This morning I called with the HAC.
The Center where Jose Angel has been locked up for the last month.
For a month he hasn't been able to attend classes in El Collegio.
Nor has he been able to attend his so beloved art classes.
This is one guy that has a far better and far safer life than anybody else of the +- 40 street children in Granada.
He lives in a brick house.
Has a police woman living right across the street to keep an eye on the house (and on him!)
He goes to school.
Has a nice weekly allowance to buy food.
Loves making paintings and bracelets.
Loves playing all these board games with his 3 brothers.

But he has to give it all up to go and live with his aunt, because his mother is a psychopath and rejects him.
Miriam decided that he can't live in the house in Granada.
He has to live with his aunt in La Raison.

When Jose Angel was sleeping in the streets, nobody could care less about the hunger, the cold and the rain, and the lack of education.
He had been living in the streets fort he last couple of years.
He has seen incredible stuff... street fights with machetes, little (street) girls being raped by old drunks, he has eaten rotting food, or sometimes nothing at all...
Now that he finally has a break from the poverty and really tries to get ahead in life, now suddenly they are worried and protective.

I was shocked to hear that Jose Angel can't receive any more visitors until he is sent to his aunt.
Nobody, not even his brother or aunt can visit him where he's locked up.

When I talked to the woman on the phone just now, I asked her which 15 year old kid deserves to be taken away from his education.
Which 15 year old deserves to be locked up for so long, now without any visitors (this means no treats for him or for the other kids).

I was totally in shock when I asked for how long this would be.
A week, maybe two...?
No... for the remainder of the investigation.
And that will probably take up to two more months.
(What have they been doing the last four weeks while he was locked up!)
That doesn't make any sense at all...

Is there anybody amongst the readers of this blog who can come up with an idea.
There must be a way to really help Jose Angel.

It couldn't be more ideal...
Education, police protection, going to school on a daily basis, taking art classes, people who care sending some money to buy groceries, the rent and the electricity. Living in a nice rental with a refrigerator, a stove, beds, ...
And now they want to take that all away.

He can't even talk to anybody any more for the next two months.
What kind of a signal is that supposed to give him.

And what troubles me even more, is that everybody here thinks it is normal.
Everybody was shocked to see that I was shocked about the way they treat him!
Everybody is hoping for his swift release...
The directora from his school, the profesora who teaches him, the Police from across the door, the three brothers and his aunt, and everybody who helped sponsor him for the last year...

After 4 weeks, he must be quite desperate.
I would be if I would be locked up for so long...!

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