It is without doubt that Trinidad and Tobago is indeed a wealthy nation. The national budget is now 29 billion plus and leaders speak eloquently of growth in the economy and the reduction of employment to single digits.

In spite of this however, vagrancy is steadily increasing at an alarming rate and has become very entrenched in this society. The rapidly rising vagrant population is now an accepted part of our environment.

As we focus on this issue, it is imperative that we understand the phenomenon of the vagrant, for the solution to this problem is based on our understanding of it. Who or what is the vagrant? How did the vagrant come about? What is the relationship between the vagrant or the state of vagrancy and the rest of the society? These are some of the fundamental issues we need to look at.

The vagrant is someone adrift from the mainstream of society, who does not function in accordance with its norms. His/her habitat is the streets and public places like squares and parks. The streets constitute the basis of their survival.

This is where they beg alms; where they obtain their meals; where they dig in the garbage bins or drink water from the canals; where they do odd jobs; where the pavements provide sleeping accommodation and shelter.

The streets are everything to them - their home and means of survival. The squares and parks serve as their public utilities, where they bathe, wash, hang their clothes out to dry, relax or sleep.

Vagrants can generally be identified by their dirty state, their unkempt hair, their sometimes bad scent, soiled clothing, barefooted or with rubber slippers on their feet - and that look and demeanour of futility and hopelessness.

It is very important to note that this population is not all of one type. Not all vagrants are the same. This is important to understand, so that in formulating an approach, we understand that our actions must be tailored to suit each individual set of circumstances.

The categorisation of vagrants is a complex matter, and in fact the types of vagrants observed present complicated issues. The benefit of observation will reveal the following categories:

STREET CHILDREN: This is a very special category. Some children have literally grown up on the streets. Not having experienced a caring and nurturing environment, which is no doubt linked to a lack of love from the significant adults in the home, many children have run away from home or from an institution.

Among these, are children from broken homes and the “barrel children”, children whose parents have migrated and whose only connection with them is the barrel of clothes and other things that they send for them each year.

Many have run from some form of physical or mental abuse. But their escape is never complete, while on the streets, they may become couriers for drug pushers, or sex slaves for those who will buy them a meal, or suffer some other horrible string of iniquities in the name of survival. If the children are our future, we must shudder at the thought of what now constitutes our future.

THE DESTITUTE: These are poor, homeless folk who, for one reason or another, have been displaced from their homes with no other place to go than the streets.

DRUG USERS: Those who could not cope with life's problems and initially found solace in drug use, only for life to turn into a nightmare when they became “hooked”.

AIDS: Those who have become affected with the HIV virus and who have begun to physically deteriorate and on whom society has turned its back – no relatives, friends or associates who would assist them or care for them.

THE MENTALLY ILL: Those who were unable to cope with a particular personal situation or those who have found it impossible to cope with life's complex demands and have experienced a mental breakdown in the process. They may/may not have been treated at the mental institution, but at any rate, are found at present roaming the streets of the city with their obvious imbalance.

DEPORTEES: These are individuals who were deported from countries like the United States and Canada (particularly the United States ), some of whom have lived most of their lives there and have no one to whom they can relate and no place to go. So they end up on the streets, increasing the numbers of the vagrant population.

What is significant about this phenomenon of vagrancy is that the victims come from every walk of life – craftsmen, artists, professionals, even intellectuals. Some are highly skilled or highly intelligent. They come from various social backgrounds including upper and middle class.

One would be making the greatest mistake to believe that because someone is a vagrant, he or she is illiterate, uneducated, unskilled or unintelligent.

There is therefore a pool of talent and skill that we are allowing to go to waste and which, if harnessed, if brought back into the mainstream of the society, could contribute to our national development, as well as to the individual's sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

The existing situation is a reflection of the fact that there is a breakdown in our social structure, which is causing such a problem to develop and escalate and which needs to be addressed.

We need to re-examine our society, look at the nature and functioning of our various institutions, see where we are falling short and take the necessary corrective action.

We must awaken within our conscience, the importance and urgency of responding to this human tragedy that is vagrancy. We must see it as our responsibility to reach out to those in need of our assistance and give them that assistance to lift them to a higher plane of existence. We will all be the better for it.

Let us put our hearts, souls and minds into a concerted effort to transform the lives and life situations of these unfortunate human beings. This is what the campaign must be all about.

We need to create institutions which are well organised, where there are qualified care-givers trained to deal with all the various needs of the vagrant population.

There is also a need to enhance those institutions, which may already exist, to ensure that they are at a level to service those needs. There is a need to rely on professional social workers and psychologists to assist in addressing the various problems.

And importantly, this must be done in an atmosphere of love and caring and administered with the will to succeed.