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Date: 25th February 1998, The Nation

An animated video aimed at teaching street children about the dangers of drugs has drawn both fire and praise, writes Manote Tripathi.

A recent police raid on a prostitution ring in Bangkok set free a handful of under-age boys. These are the lucky ones, we are told -- the ones who have been rescued -- but then luck is a somewhat relative term.

Most of these children have a depressingly familiar story to tell. Runaways or abandoned, living on the street, for most it's but a small step from the frying pan into the fiery world of pimps and prostitution.

The foundation for a Better Life for Children estimates there are currently around 10,000 children making their homes in and around places like Hua Lampong railway station, Saphan Phut, Saphan Phrapinklao, Sanam Luang, Victory Monument and Patpong.

Help is available but, somehow, it never seems to be enough or the right kind. Local NGOs run classes for homeless children on the dangers of Aids, prostitution and drug abuse, but for many on the street the allure of drugs and the promise of easy money outweigh the perils. It's the devil's own recipe for exploitation.

That's not to say that local NGOs are giving up the fight -- far from it. And now help is coming from further afield.

The plight of Bangkok street children has caught the attention of a Toronto-based organisation, Street Kids International (SKI), which recently launched an anti-drug video cartoon called The Goldtooth at the Sol Twin Hotel.

The idea is simple: To raise awareness about the dangers of drugs by conducting workshops for street children in which the video is screened and then followed by a Q&A session between counsellors and the children.

Christine Kim, a training officer at SKI, says cartoons are an excellent way to get messages across to children. This is SKI's second video: the first, Karate Kids, which talked about Aids and HIV, was launched in 1992 with the cooperation of the World Health Organisation, National Film Board of Canada, and Unicef. The Thai Red Cross Society, working with SKI, has translated both videos into Thai.

According to Kim, the use of animated films in conjunction with workshops helps young people better understand the problems they face. The emphasis is on risky behaviour, decision making, drugs, violence, Aids, sexual relationships and friendship.

The Goldtooth contains some of the same cartoon characters that first appeared in Karate Kids. In the new story, a young boy becomes addicted to sniffing glue, which he is given by Mr Goldtooth, the ultimate bad guy. Fortunately, the boy's sister is quick on the uptake and helps her brother escape from the clutches of Goldtooth. She lands her brother a job at a bakery, where he learns the value of work. The new job plays a vital role in keeping the boy away from glue and other drugs.

Kim says screening the film is a highly effective way to generate discussion about the high risks young people face from drugs.

''When they watch the video, the kids are asked to comment on the behaviour of each character with questions like 'What makes one person use drugs while others manage to avoid [the trap]?' By encouraging discussion, workshop leaders are able to get the message across,'' she says.

''The video is basically intended to educate children aged between nine an 14. But the point is, the video should go hand in hand with the workshop,'' she says. This makes it ideal for use in schools, homes and youth centres -- situations where an adult is present to facilitate discussion.

Karate Kids has already been shown at youth centres in and around Bangkok and in cities such as Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

So what do Thai youth agencies think of the idea?

Subin Nanthadilok, a youth worker and member of the Duang Prateep Foundation's Aids Project, screened Karate Kids for a group of around 50 slum children. It was generally well received, he says.

''The children were quite interested,'' he says. ''I would say the video is helpful for slum children because they can actually identify with it. Since watching the video, many of them have become more wary of strangers coming into their community.''

However, Subin is quick to point out that slum children aren't the same as street children. They may look poor, he says, but most live at home and benefit from the emotional support of a family.

Other local youth workers have suggested that a comic-book campaign would make more sense, because street children don't often have access to television. Though the video is intended to be shown at youth centres, getting children to come to the centres in the first place can be a problem.

In most cases it's not as simple as asking them to come along. Dealing with street children often means dealing with the very gangs and pimps that exploit and control them -- potentially a dangerous business.

Other youth workers question whether the whole exercise is even worth it. Will children really be moved by the message? Are they likely to change their attitude towards drugs because of a couple of cartoons? Would they even want to see the video in the first place?

Wallop Tangkhananurak, a senator and secretary general of the Foundation for the Better Life of Children, is one of the naysayers.

''Street kids don't watch TV,'' he says bluntly. ''They know about the dangers of drugs and Aids, but most of them just don't care. What we really need to do is get them off the streets. The point is, the situation of street kids in other countries is not the same as in Thailand -- the way one deals with street kids in one country may just not work in another.''

Drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases are hardly problems exclusive to street children, he says -- even children from wealthy families are at risk.

''The point is that [street children] need someone they can depend on emotionally -- not just an educational video,'' he says.

Wallop, who is also chairman of the Youth-Welfare committee, believes such projects are virtually meaningless unless the foreign production team works hand in hand with local youth agencies. Mutual cooperation, Wallop says, would reflect a degree of respect for the Thai youth workers, who, after all, have first-hand knowledge of the situation here.

''If the video is made by people living in a society and culture different from ours, there are elements that just won't work in the Thai environment,'' he says.

For instance, ''the situation of street kids in Brazil is very different from ours -- the two aren't comparable. I think the video and its concept won't really be accessible to Thai children.

''It also seems very strange to me when local youth workers, who know the problems very well, have someone else telling them what to do. There should be far more coordination with youth agencies right from the start,'' he says.

Video or no video, street children can only hope that the concerned parties can agree on one thing -- the need to make them safe from those who would do them harm.

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