There is a huge and largely voiceless population living in the streets of our cities globally. Neglected, abandoned, and orphaned they are forced to survive on their own without love or protection. Countries east to west, large and small are confronted with this worldwide phenomenon. Who is this population that presents such a staggering need? It is the 150 million children living on the street worldwide.
 

The Statistics Of Street Children 
 

The Definition Of Street Children 

The definition of a street child is any boy or girl for whom the street has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults. For these children the street more than their family has  become their real home.
Different countries describe street children in various ways. However, two general categories have frequently been used to describe them:

1. Children living, sleeping, and working in the street (approx. 25%)
2. Children who work on the street and maintain some level of contact with a family member or relative (approx. 75%)
    

Why Are There Street Children?

There are a variety of reasons why children live and work on the streets.  Some of the most common are listed below.

--family breakdown
-poverty
-alcohol and drug abuse
-sexual abuse
-abandonment
-child labor
-war and political conflicts
-famine, floods, earthquakes

Some Facts About Street Children 

-Street children are generally malnourished and anemic. Many of them are physically stunted. They lack access to adequate health care, nutrition, and hygiene.

-Street children usually come from broken families with six to ten children per family, and have suffered psychologically from undo family pressures, abuses and neglect.

-Street children have very little formal education and in most cases are illiterate

-Street children are frequently the victims of sexual abuse, violence, and exploitation and suffer appalling abuses by family members and police authorities.

-Street children are viewed with overwhelming negativity in many countries and considered a social burden.

-Street children are primary voiceless and faceless to the majority of the world population.
 

WORK on the Streets

Street children will work from 6 to 16 hours a day. They must be creative and do whatever it takes to survive. Work includes selling trinkets, carrying baggage, washing windows, begging, stealing, dealing drugs, and prostitution.

SEX on the Streets

Street children suffer extensive sexual abuse, usually starting with their own family members and then extending to life on the street. In a 1991 study of 143 Guatemalan street children, one hundred percent of the children had been sexually abused. (This study was conducted by the Center of Orientation, Diagnosis, and Treatment of STD’s and Casa Alianza.) The children reported being abused by relatives, friends, neighbors, unknown people, and police authorities.

Sex on the street is also a way to make money. Both heterosexual and homosexual prostitution earns money necessary for survival.  In addition many of these children become involved with predators who introduce (or force) them into other forms of the commercial sex business.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) such as genital herpes, gonorrhea, scabies, syphilis are very common among these children. Also on the rise is the incidence of HIV infection and AIDS.

DRUGS on the Streets

Most street children are addicted to inhalants. Some of the most common are industrial glue, paint thinner, nail polish remover, rubber cement glue, shoe polish, and gasoline. They are cheap and easily accessible. Sniffing the fumes causes the hunger, pain, and loneliness to be numbed for a moment. The children can escape from their harsh reality as the lightheadedness and loss of appetite settles into their senses. At the same time, irreversible damage is being done to the liver and brain.  Other side effects are hallucinations, pulmonary edema, and kidney failure.

VIOLENCE on the Streets

Street children suffer varying degrees of violence ranging from minor abuses to murder. Gangs, drug syndicates, death squads, other street children, sex partners, families are all sources of violence.

In many countries the police are known to be the greatest source physical abuse and violence. Thechildren are often hit, beaten, tortured, detained or imprisoned injustly. In some countries it is reported that vigilante groups (death squads) are commissioned by authorities to “get rid” of the problem by killing the children.

The reality of children living on the street and the abuses that they suffer is one that every adult needs to be made aware. This problem will not go away on it’s own. In fact, statistically as the world population grows so will the number of street children. Adding to this statistic is the increase of poverty, world hunger, political unrest, and other global trends. Those of us who can do something about it should and MUST act.  We can not allow such a great need to paralyze us into inaction. The life of one child is worth (even the little) action we can offer. To that one child we have helped…it is a world difference.