Yasir - Learning new skills

When Yasir was 14 years old his father died. His mum is debilitated by a chronic illness, so he and his brothers and sisters went to live with their uncle in his one room house.

With a total of six children living under one roof, Yasir had little choice but to leave school to go and work on the streets to help support the family. Yasir is one of the lucky ones. He only witnessed - rather than experienced - the horror of his fellow street children being mistreated and abused by adults around them.

 After two years of working on the streets his life turned around. Says Yasir: "One of my friends told me that there were some people doing research with a group of children in the market, learning more about our lives and what we have to do to survive. They opened a drop-in centre for street children offering different classes – a chance of an education.

Knowing that we still had to be on the streets, the drop-in centre opened at times that we would be able to attend. I’d always wanted to learn how to use a computer, so was keen to join. I went to the centre every afternoon and completed my course in computing. I now hope to have a career in IT. With my new skills I was able to find work in a computer maintenance shop and continue my studies.

I’m grateful to the staff at the War Child drop-in centre for getting me off the streets. I found out that I can win at something and the first thing I won was my self esteem. Now I can do two things; support my family and support myself by completing my studies.” Yasir has also won the respect of his friends and family. His Uncle says, “He did it. He got through the tragedy of his father's death and is now able to plan his own and his family’s future".