LettuceBee Kids makes a difference
Street-children loitering around in the marketplace in Pakistan are a common sight for the locals. Most survive on the streets through a combination of strategies: they pick trash from large, unhygienic rubbish dumps, sort and sell the waste product to assorted dealers for a pittance. Or, they just beg for money.
These children, who are as young as three years old, are amongst the most neglected, exploited, victimised and abused in the Pakistani society. According to the current UNICEF statistics, such children are estimated to be 30 million in Asia, out of which 1.2 million street children are in Pakistan. Institutional failure in Pakistan cannot alone be blamed for this. Our own neglect is to be too. If nurtured, educated and trained properly, these children can be turned into a massive productive force and progressive citizens of Pakistan.
But most of the proposed solutions rely completely on donors and rarely generate their own revenue, which leaves them completely dependent on funding and philanthropy. And more emphasis is placed on the physical aspects – to provide food and shelter to these kids. There is no long-term plan to integrate them into the society and to cater to the psychological, emotional and intellectual growth of these kids. It is of little wonder, why most children from orphanages and foster-care end up in prisons or are usually on the fringes of society.
The process hinges upon four basic guiding principles of life, which not only provide social inclusion and self-actualisation to these children but also generate internal revenues for the LBK ecosystem to be self-sufficient
LettuceBee Kids proposes a self-sustainable, entrepreneurial solution that has a mandate to reintegrate street children into the society and equip them with the skill set they need, in order to embrace a brighter future. Its aim is to bridge the gap between street-children and quality education by employing both formal and informal modes, especially through blended learning, digital literacy and character building.
The process hinges upon four basic guiding principles of life, which not only provide social inclusion and self-actualisation to these children but also generate internal revenues for the LBK ecosystem to be self-sufficient. It does this by teaching the importance of formal education, arts and crafts, music, relationship with nature, and respect of elders.
Led by a young and dynamic team, LBK pre-piloted this program in 2011 with a group of 70-plus children and witnessed incredible results. Following art therapy sessions with ‘Kuch Khaas’, LettuceBee design has converted the children’s art-work into a series of products; a greeting cards line, stationary products and other lifestyle products like lamps and cushions, which are then sold both nationally and internationally. The revenue generated is then used to fund further activities. Here are a few examples of the products produced by LettuceBee Kids:
Fortunately for LettuceBee Kids, a national radio-channel has committed to sponsor its program of music therapy. A local university offered their computer labs, where it started LettuceBee Literate and the kids are given basic education through Khan Academy and other online resources, with the help of volunteers for the past three years.
LettuceBee Kids’ model was taken as a case study by IE Business School in Madrid for its 400 business students to come up with more sustainable solutions for the model to be successful, scalable and universal. LBK conducted two very successful art and products exhibition at Serena Hotel on world street children day, April 12th 2013 where Mr Richard Olsen, US Ambassador to Pakistan and Dutch Ambassador, Frans Van Rijn, inaugurated the ceremonies.
Currently, it has also started an accelerated learning program, thought by an LBK fellow who provides the tools and curriculum for this program. The program aims towards preparing the children to take part and excel in primary level entrance exams of various public/private schools. Later, depending on the progress of the students, it will place them in different local schools as regular students. It is also in the process of creating some mutually beneficial alliances with local schools, as well as corporate organisations. Here are some other examples of the products produced by the students at LettuceBee Kids:
After three years of working out of temporary locations and borrowed spaces, LBK is planning on acquiring or renting a space that can be dedicated to the needs of street-children in Islamabad. This space will be the materialisation of the research by LBK’s founder, Sarah Adeel, a fulbright scholar and an architect, who has dedicated five years to explore family and community structures, understanding how a prosperous social structure takes physical form through design. This facility will allow the organisation to further its mandate of ‘reintegrating street-children into the society’ and to implement planned programmatic activities, especially vegetable gardening.
LettuceBee Kids’ model was taken as a case study by IE Business School in Madrid for its 400 business students to come up with more sustainable solutions for the model to be successful, scalable and universal
Its biggest challenge has been to keep the children’s income stream running. To cater to this need, it has involved their mothers in an economic-empowerment and capacity building initiative called ‘Second Life’ where they stitch discarded fabric to be converted into furniture upholstery line and use ‘Safety Pins’ to create necklaces. It certainly looks to be a promising start, only time will show how sustainable it is.