'Glue is a comfort'

2006-05-02 12:29

Nairobi - On almost any day, at almost any time, children dressed in rags with bottles of glue pressed to their faces stake out the major intersections of Kenya's capital.

No one is sure how many children live on the streets of this city of three million, but they certainly number in the tens of thousands.

Many have lost parents to Aids and other diseases. Some have been cast out of their homes. Many are runaways.

Kenya, like most African countries, depends on private groups to help these children.

One group in Nairobi, the Undugu Society, cannot take in all of these children, so it is helping the children to help themselves.

Social worker John Mshindi said: "We bring the children into groups of 25 to form an organisation. They have leaders and develop rules and regulations to govern them."

The groups identify the problems they face and help come up with solutions. The Undugu Society provides food and helps out, but insists the children be sober to attend meetings.

Rape of street children is common

Glue and marijuana are often the only comforts street children know.

On the world's poorest continent, the children are the poorest of the poor, and depend on begging, theft and prostitution to survive.

Street children describe a life of almost constant violence and fear. Stronger children regularly beat the others, police raid their hide-outs and sexual abuse is rampant.

"Life in the street was so hard, sometimes we sleep without eating, we sleep outside, we have no shelter," said Angela Onjiku, 17, who now attends secondary school with financial help from Undugu. "There is a lot of raping and drug abuse."

Given the chance of rehab

Mshindi said the Undugu street children identify other children in need of immediate rescue and those who want to go into rehabilitation are given the chance.

For the rest, Undugu offers food, counselling and sports.

For those who want to get off the streets, the group takes in children between seven and 17-years-old. When they arrive, they are sent to a rehabilitation centre to help them stop using drugs and adjust to normal life.

Then the children attend an accelerated primary school. Most receive some kind of vocational training, while others are sponsored for secondary school.

Undugu finances its operations through donations and the sale of curios, jewellery, furniture, and stationary made by the children in the vocational programmes.

Onjiku, a teen who once lived on the Nairobi streets, credits Undugu for her transition to the classroom. She hopes to attend university.

- AP