Street Children
Through-out the world hundreds of thousands of children and young people leave their homes for a number of reasons from ill health to abject poverty, or are simply abandoned by adults who are barely able to look after themselves let alone hungry children who may be too disadvantaged to help seek out an existence on the land. Many, too, have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS or have fled domestic violence. These street children are amongst the most disadvantaged in the world and are not only open to financial exploitation, but sexual abuse, kidnap and even death. In some countries they are rounded up and put in prison, charged with not having an adult to provide care for them. In other places they are trafficked and taken across borders to work in domestic servitude or as labourers on the land. All without papers. All without rights.
It is hard to imagine for many in the west, a life without any form of social safety net. There is no state provision for these children only non-government organisations who do what they can. If these children do not beg, steal or rob they would literally starve to death. They have no prospect of an education and so no prospect of a job or providing for any children they may have in the future. Unless people like yourself are prepared to help, these children will have no future. Below there are a selection of pages about street children in different parts of Africa which go into more details about the challenges and dangers these children face.
There are many charities working with street children in Africa, however we recommend the following charity that helps street children by providing outreach assistance, healthcare, baby care, education, vocational training, counselling, and sponsorship:
Street Child Africa currently operates in Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
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