Why we made street children a priority
The term ‘street children’ is often disputed. In general terms, it refers to children who rely on the streets for survival.
In 2005, Unicef, the international children’s charity, predicted there were over 100 million street children around the world. Not all agencies working with street children believe this figure to be accurate. The figure is thought to be rising. Work is currently being done to establish the current number of children living on the streets.
What we do know is that just one child being forced to live this way, is one too many.
Life is extremely difficult for them. Even the most basic of necessities that most of us take for granted aren’t accessible to them. Food, clothing, shelter and healthcare are typically hard to come by. And violence is a constant threat.
Often street children turn to crime as a way to survive and cope. It may be that they’ve been forced into this way of living by other street children or adults who are exploiting them. Even so, they are often treated as delinquents.
Low school attendance is another issue. Having a decent education can help them for the future, though many find it challenging to adhere to attendance requirements and the routine and discipline school life brings. This is made even more testing if they are working on the street as well.
Additionally, they may face discrimination from other students or teachers, they often don’t engage with the subjects taught as they see no correlation with their current lifestyle, and they may not have family around to help guide them with their homework.
It is apparent that this an area where a huge amount of help is needed.
How we help street children
Transforming People’s Lives supports charities that are helping street children. We do this in various parts of the world, including Africa. We help fund organisations where children don’t have access to decent education to make sure they will receive schooling that will last them for a lifetime.
Our work with Educare Fund is a good example of this. Our support helps them provide education for young women at secondary school level in Lesotho (Southern Africa).
We also support the Falconer Trust which aids the work of the Falconer Children's Home and Orphanage, situated at Kabulamema, North-West Province of Zambia.
To help us support charities that work with street children, donate today using the button below:
