Based on the analysis that children are pushed to the streets by experiences of abuse and violence in their homes, Tambayan considers healing, in its many forms, the core in its organizing efforts. Facilitating healing can take the form of individual therapy, group processing, or simply access to space and/ or an understanding adult to talk to. For Tambayan, the process of healing can be on an individual basis or collective.
While children on the streets have proven that they indeed have the ‘skill’ to take action – even take matters into their own hands, so to speak – a crucial factor is the recognition of abuse, of owning the problems/ issues they are confronted with. Several years of dealing with adolescent street girls proved that efforts at awareness raising will prosper to meaningful changes in the children’s lives through sustained action, only when they have come to terms with their experiences and themselves.
Abuse scars deep, and is manifested in many adolescent street girls through low self-esteem, risk-taking behavior, and attitudes of helplessness and self-blame. Helping these children understand their situations and realize their inherent capacities to help themselves and claim their rights facilitate healing. Whether undergoing individual therapy, group counseling or simply hanging-out at Tambayan, the children highlighted the fact that there is always someone to talk to at Tambayan.