This is Ali and his friends. They are just 3 of the thousands of homeless kids living on the streets of Pakistan. A poll found 90% of homeless kids in Pakistan are victims of sexual abuse at some point in their lifetime. Imagine if kids like Ali could spend time without the threat of sexual assault. Imagine the lives they could lead or the good they could accomplish. HAS is going to Pakistan to partner with a local organization to set up a safe haven for homeless kids and we need your help.
While there are Pakistani laws to protect children, police rarely bother to protect them and a survey of 1800 men in the country found that 1 out of 3 believed raping a boy is not a crime. So it's no surprise 90% of street children in Pakistan are victims of sexual abuse. These young kids, often homeless due to natural disasters, poverty, and internal conflict, lose out on their chances at a normal life and often become victimizers themselves.
Providing secured safe havens is the first step to breaking this vicious cycle of abuse and helping these kids live happy lives. By using our trained staff to secure locations, ward off potential abusers, and de-escalate situations, we will create safe spaces at local churches for them to sleep. We'll give kids the opportunity to rest without the constant threat of violence, help them understand that not every adult is looking to take advantage of them, and most importantly, to just be kids,
By codifying and sharing the security and de-escalation skills we've developed to other potential local safe spaces, they will be able to set up safe havens as well. We will help to create a network of safe spaces for young children to sleep in that will keep them out of harms way. No one solution will solve all of the challenges faced by homeless Pakistani kids, but a safe space to sleep during the night will remove one critical hurdle to their development and help break the cycle of abuse.
