by Joseph Mcquade

Created on: July 22, 2009

There is a very severe, chronic and disturbing problem going on in Kenya, Africa. There are approximately 300,000 children ages five to seventeen living and working on the streets of Kenya. Let that fact sink in for a moment, three hundred thousand children...This life on the street is not a healthy or safe one. It is one of danger and high risk.

"The ongoing orphan crisis (in Africa) will have grave implications not just for the children themselves, but for their communities and nations," says Carol Bellamy of UNICEF.

Kenya is a country of just more than twice the size of Nevada, with a population slightly above thirty nine million. One in 130 citizens in Kenya is a street child. Doesn't sound so bad? Project that 1:130 ratio onto our (U.S.) country's population of 306,000,000. That would equal 2,353,084 children living on the streets of America, today. Obviously, Americans wouldn't accept or tolerate that amount of juvenile homelessness here in America. In Kenya, a nation torn by war, poverty and globalization, it's a much harder problem to conquer. Children living in the streets face an almost impossible task of overcoming crushing poverty.

"Chokora," means scavenger in Kenyan. Many of these street kids forage through garbage dumps for their food. The dumps also provide the children with recyclables to collect for small amounts of money to purchase food, narcotics and alchohol. Kenyan street children also beg, pickpocket and shoplift to earn money. Their life is a constant hustle for survival. The clothing and shoes street children must wear are usually in pathetic condition.

Sniffing glue is a huge problem among Kenya's street children. The glue is highly addictive. It is used in local Kenyan industry to make furniture and shoes. A bottle of it can be bought on the streets for ten cents. The children use the glue to overcome hunger pangs and to ward off the cold at night. The Undugu Society, a Kenyan group that rehabilitates street children estimates that 52-90% of Kenyan street children are addicted to glue. The glue carries a high risk of brain damage, respiratory infections and other diseases that will go untreated on the streets.

Approximately 30,000 girls, age 19 and under are engaged in prostitution in Kenya. The sex industry thrives in coastal cities like Mombassa, a city that has a reputation as a "sex tourism" destination. Here, a tourist, usually a European male can buy sex for extremely low prices. Many of these children on the street, male and female, are ten years old and younger...

Some young women in the trade are single and have their own children to support. They see prostitution as a way for their family to survive. Not all girls go into prostitution willingly, there are many cases of sexual slavery by kidnapping or coercion (threats of violence to the girl or her family members.)

Kenyan street children are routinely harrassed and falsely detained by Kenyan police. Arrests for loitering, carrying illegal weapons, refusal to give into sexual demands or being rude to police officers are common. Once in custody, many children may wind up in adult jails where they are denied food, beaten, insulted and sexually abused.

This problem obviously will not go away by itself. The time has come where we need to step up. We can help! Our dollars still go a long way in Africa. A small, regular contribution from each of us can make huge difference right now in a child's life. Please help...

Here are three excellent charities that will put your money to work, you can make contributions right on their web-site:

Feed The Children.com

Direct Relief International.com

International Justice Mission.com

Thank you, and God Bless You...

Learn more about this author, Joseph Mcquade.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.