The world gets grimy and the love object is in stark relief from its surroundings. This is love, a pretty thing on an ugly street and why wouldn’t you pick it up…?.

Daniel Handler “Adverbs”

STREET CHILDREN IN AFRICA
Stroll through a market or past a hotel or at the roadside of any major street in the center of most African capitals, towns or urban areas and you cannot fail to see them.

They are stopping cars and people to beg or to ask for work. You will see others shining shoes, selling sundry articles of uncertain origin, or hurrying to wash the windscreens of cars stopped at traffic signals. Yet others would be roaming around or gathered in small groups waiting for something to do. Look at them closely -their faces show strain and sadness, their clothes are ragged and dirty, others appear hungry suffering from ill-health and malnutrition. There is something mature beyond their years in their haunted expressions. At night, you can see them huddled along street corners, in doorways, or in any dry and secluded corner. They are the representatives of a growing multitude of children who have become known as the “street children”.

The twenty-first century presents a hostile face to many millions of children in many African countries. An increasing number of children are being forced to the streets as result of poverty, abuse, torture, rape abandonment or orphaned by AIDS. Human rights violations against children in the 1990s have become a common and disturbing occurrence in many African countries. Indeed denial of basic human and legal rights including the right to life, liberty and security as a person to children are now a defining feature of the African socio-economic landscape.

Today, street children are a major issue. Tomorrow, if present trends continue, they could be a blight on urban civilization. For Africa, tomorrow is already here. Street children are not only a blight on urban civilization; they pose a serious obstacle to overall socio-economic development in Africa. The world and Africa in particular are witnessing rapid and wide ranging socioeconomic and political changes. There is rapid urbanization, run away population growth and increasing disparities in wealth. The introduction of structural adjustment programmes and globalization are changing the very fabric of African society. One of the negative consequences of these changes is the emergence of large numbers of children on the streets.

In Tanzania they are known as ‘watoto wa mitaani’, in Kenya they are known as ‘chokorra’ and in The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) they are called moineaux or ’sparrows’. By whatever name they are called, what stands out is the sad fact that everywhere, children living and working on the street are ignored, scorned, mistreated and misunderstood by society and by governments.

“People don’t love us,” says Tigiste, a 12-years-old girl, who sells roasted barley and begs for change at stoplights in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa (UNICEF, 1985). The observation made by this young girl illustrates the attitude of most of us. Society tends to view these children as troublemakers, a nuisance or menace that needs to be taken of the streets. Few stop to ponder on the reasons why these children are on the streets, where it is apparent they are not enjoying themselves.

Identifying reasons for the existence of street children is crucial in finding a permanent solution to the problem. There are those who argue that the emergence of street children is bound up with the totality of urban problems – that the phenomenon is exclusively urban: there are no “rural street children.” While it is true that street children are usually found in urban areas, many of these children have rural origins.

We as individuals and as a society have failed to live up to our responsibilities as parents and as custodians of the young. The community tends to hide its head in the sand hoping that the problem will go away. Unfortunately the problem is not going away, but increasing to alarming proportions. Traditionally in an African society, a child was normally a member of a community and could not be separated from it. This meant that even the entitlement that a child deserves was a community matter. Shorter (1974) observe that in traditional East African societies, the child was educated and socialized by the community for membership into the community. A child in Africa used to be the responsibility of each individual member of society and therefore children had no need to fend for themselves.

They were loved and cared for by society. Today’s children are the responsibility of individual parents and are ignored by the rest of the community. While the number of street children grows by the day, the community remains silent with the exception of a few individuals and organizations. There is no community outrage to the problem. We shake our heads and moan about ‘watoto wa siku hizi!‘ (The children of today!) and go about our daily business. The few soft hearted or religious ones will throw a few shillings to these miserable children and move on.

Extracted from a paper by:

PETER ANTHONY KOPOKA (Ph.D). UNIVERSITY OF DAR-ES-SALAAM

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES for the “INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STREET CHILDREN AND STREET CHILDREN’S HEALTH IN EAST AFRICA.”

TITLE OF PAPER: THE PROBLEM OF STREET CHILDREN IN AFRICA: AN IGNORED TRAGEDY.