I am very interested in comparing Turkey's rapid urbanization dynamics, which were succintly presented by Asli Gocmen, and their problems relating to street children and the urban poor. The toxicity transitions she discussed will have a great impact upon urban populations, but what kinds of impacts will it have in addition to health outcomes and which populations will be most affected by them. How has Turkey managed to balance increasing urban populations, the loss of natural green space and the living conditions of the poorest residents of the cities. I am very interested to discover if Turkey has a street children problem and if so what project or policies they may have in place to deal with it. If they do not have one, then what social, economic, cultural and political factors play a part in keeping children of the streets?

I think Lewis Garvin's discussion of the Grameen Bank also has some significant implications for addressing the plight of street children. Perhaps there is a way for the Grameen Bank to approve loans for projects dealing with street children. The initial problem would be in finding a specific agency or group to allocate the funds to, who would be responsible for repaying the loans, insuring the money goes where it should, that projects are feasible and self-sustaining and that children will receive long-term benefits from the project. Loans could be used to fund arts and crafts projects which could be sold to tourists or local markets, under the "Street Children" label. This would give children a creative form of employment, make them self-reliant and creates a working atmosphere where one's peers are valued and respected. The Grameen Bank could also be useful in setting up a children's outdoor camp similar to the one I have proposed above. The loans could be re-payed through crops the children grow, animals they raise and other income-generating projects supporting the rural camp. Cooperatives for children sounds like an excellent idea, at least in theory. Since many of these children have developed a greater sense of maturity, street sense and ability to adapt quickly, I think they would make excellent entrepeneurs if given the faith and encouragement to do so. By putting street children in charge of a set amount of financial resources required for an income generating project, they would be operating under the peer-evaluated system Lewis discussed in the Bangladeshi model. Children would be forced to rely upon one another for guidance and instruction, be seperated from the influences of gangs, drugs and negative sentiment, and working to support themselves while paying off an institutional loan. Of course, none of this is possible unless a pilot project proves successful and an agency is found which could manage or oversee the program.

A general connection to the other papers, which would be a valuable asset to my research is the comprehensive treatment/analysis of Transitional Theory relating to various conditions. Agricultural transitions in Vietnam, toxicity transitions in Turkey, epidemiological transitions in Uganda are examples of nation-specific research which has guided the social conditions within the respective country. How do these in-depth models explain forces leading to homeless children? Are there similarities between the transitions of various countries, be they agricultural or demographic, both in how they affect each other as well as how they collectively work to produce conditions amenable to the problem of street children? What are the variables which can potentially combine or clash to produce the pernicious conditions allowing children to take to the streets for survival? These are a few questions which a more detailed study of transitions and their combined impact on society can answer. Hopefully, there will be a day when such efforts will be made to understand the underlying dynamics fostering an environment where children face daily struggles against a host of insidious elements.