Hillbrow Drop-In Centre

Our Drop-In Centre is an emergency resource for runaways and destitute children on the street.

It is a place of hope, safety and a resource to girls who are trying to survive the streets. According to its Business Plan and Grants Conditions Hillbrow Drop-In Centre is a 23-hour resource, always available and accesible. Once the street cycle of life get to the girls and young women it is very hard and dangerous for them to break away - but once they decide to make the change, someone has to be there for them, immediately..

When girls discover within themselves the need to rid themselves of the vices of the street - somehow to break away from the murderous pimps, ruthless drug pushers (whom they owe money), the grip of crack cocaine and cheap heroine, and the shame of multiple rapes and the crippling effects of prostitution - Drop-In Centre must be there for them.

Drop-In Centre offers safe haven to drop in to, a place where no questions are asked, no judgement is made, no pressure applied - a place where one can shower after a bad incident and regain some dignity, a place to wash clothes and get a cup of tea and a sandwich - and to stock up on clean needles, condoms and literature, and exchange information about dangerous Johns (called 'steamers'), who died today, who was arrested today, which pimps to avoid and which pushers cut drugs with poisonous substances.

The two pictures show Hillbrow Drop-In Centre's location among the Skyscrapers of Hillbrow. The round building in the background is a 52 storey apartment building renowned for being a hot spot in the trade of children in the sex industry. The first pic shows Drop-In Centre in 1995 and the second pic in 1997 when we had perimeter security installed after many incidents of street violence came to the haven. We needed gates and steel rods in front of windows to keep angry pimps and crafty thieves away from the girls and the personnel.

Drop-In Centre is open to its public (ladies only) 24/7/365 and serves almost 10 000 feet through the door each year.

Discussion of the Problem

Some children run away from their homes for various reasons, from all areas of the country and end up in the Johannesburg inner city where they attempt to make 'a better life' for themselves.

We know from extensive local research what it is that happens to male children who lead a life on the streets. We also learn from these sources that nationally more than 10 000 such boys are in need of intervention. (Schurink W, et al; Street Children , HSRC, 1993 and Schurink E; Street Children Quo Vadis? , HSRC, 1994). Until The House started publishing details of the nature of its work many specialists in the field only wondered at the reason why it was that only male street children are visible on the streets.

The House understands that female 'street children' are not as visible since they get drawn into the systems of prostitution and illicit drug addiction very soon after arriving in the city. These children live in hotel rooms. They apply their trade on the street (beat) and in brothels, in striptease bars as topless waitresses, and in escort agencies. These children do not sniff glue as their male counterparts do, but are rather crack cocaine and intravenous opiate addicts and spend an average of R8 000 per month feeding their habits. Many of these girls are 'managed' by pimps who effectively ensnare them and make a helper's access to them almost impossible.

It is known that about 70% of children reported to the Child Protection Unit as missing or as absconders are female children. Research observation however shows only the 10 000 male children to be visible but to date there is no empirical estimate of the amount of girl children living this street life. We can only guess that the figure must be much higher than that for male children.

Runaways are generally regarded as innocent to the Street and as at risk of being corrupted by the experience of it. Everything in our power must be done to prevent this contamination from occurring and all care must be taken to deal with this child as efficiently and quickly as possible. Retrieval of these 'invisible' children is much more complicated than in the case of boys, and involves intricate retrieval mechanisms and specialised therapeutic needs.

Prevention and early intervention are crucial to the safety of our children. Through many years of experience we found that early intervention is the most crucial aspect to ensuring success. The portion of runaways that are led to inner-city drop-in centres before they get involved in 'survival sex' or 'child-prostitution' is increasing rapidly. Presently, 95% of the women and girl-children at the Hillbrow Drop-in Centre, and more than 50% of the children in Intombi Shelter and Kulula belong to this group. Our chance of successful reintegration or placement of this child is 600% better than with children that have been on the streets for some months. Sadly, once the girl child has been on the streets for too long (anything from three months onwards) her chances of returning to normative society or making the right choices about her future drops to less than 20%. Unfortunately that child may be doomed to a life of child prostitution and most probably will become one of the inner city statistics of a young life of devastation.

In view of the now well accepted fact that the Police, Welfare and the powers that be have proved themselves totally impotent in arresting the escalating incidence of girls falling into the snares of child prostitution, The House will continue to pursue the task of retrieving these children. We furthermore estimate that the pending legalisation/decriminalisation of prostitution will add to the measures of this already unmanageable problem.