Some of the street children we meet on the street on a daily basis are not there because they want to or because they enjoy being on the street. Some are homeless with no one to look after them, while others have parents and a place to sleep at night but spend the majority of their days on the street.
The importance of street children to society should be recognized, and special care and attention should be given to them.
Photo by mohammad samir on Unsplash
These children have made the street their home; they work and eat on the street during the day, and at night, they sleep in the car park, inside the market, in an uncompleted buildings, and anyplace else they can find a place to sleep. They will wash their faces with water in the morning and then go out on the street asking for food, money, clothing, and any small employment they can find.
Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash
Currently, the number of street children is on the rise. A large number of children are fleeing their homes to labor on the streets. The continents with the most street children are Africa and Asia. The majority of these children flee their families owing to poverty, starvation, domestic violence, a lack of family support, migration, displacement due to natural disasters, children living in internally displaced camps, child abuse, parental death, and neglect by the authorities.
These children are unprotected and vulnerable to the world's perils. They are confronted with numerous issues and are barely able to get by. They face physical, emotional, and mental issues such as a lack of safe drinking and bathing water, a lack of food, clothing, and shelter, a lack of education, early prostitution, delinquency, criminal activity, drug misuse, early pregnancy, and bad health.
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To survive, these children market and sell nearly anything, beg on the street, clean shoes, prostitute, engage in street crimes and gangs, and transport bags from one location to another.
If unattended, an increase in the number of street children has a negative influence on the community. It will result in a rise in crime, thugs, drug traffickers, prisoners, street children dying, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS.
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Children are one-of-a-kind; they offer happiness to the family and are a gift from God. Families with children should consider themselves fortunate and take good care of them.
The problem of street children requires everyone's help; the government cannot address it alone. Though the government should build functional institutions to care for street children, the institutions should also offer them with a functional education system and skills that will enable them to earn a living in society.
Our role as good citizens is to accept them as our brothers and sisters, to show them love, care, and shelter, to provide food and clothing, to pay for their education, and to adopt or send those who do not have parents to an orphanage home. We can help raise public awareness about the need to help street children, as well as connect them with government and non-governmental organizations that will look after them.
Thank you for your time and have a pleasant day.