Projects & Activities for Street children in Nairobi

In order to implement an appropriate program to assist children living on the streets of Nairobi it is necessary to understand not only who they are, but also the root causes of this problem. Both the children of and on the streets suffer from varying degrees of neglect, abuse and exploitation by the same adults assigned the responsibility by the society for their welfare and development such as
parents, guardians etc. Some children have been born and are being brought up on the streets. Usually children of the street are considered those who have a home and a family where to return at night, while children on the street are those who live and work on the street full time, with only very occasional contacts, less than four times per year, with their relatives.

Even to the most superficial observer, extreme poverty is the basic cause and the most striking feature of street life. It’s therefore not surprising that a number of children encountered on the street of Nairobi appear to be malnourished and diseased, without any or with inadequate shelter and protection.

Street children are exposed to large number of health hazards because of their life styles. The most obvious is dirtiness, and its manifest consequences are visible at first sight, like skin rashes, coughs, ugly festering wounds etc. Some of them have poor mental health. All suffer from lack of love and protection, from insecurity and emotional deprivation, and especially for the constant presence and threat of physical violence. Extreme poverty limits street children access to the most essential medical treatment, and as a result some of them even die on the street from easily curable diseases.

Rehabilitation programs for street children have endeavoured to respond to their special needs. They try to provide food, health care, clothing, shelter, and when possible basic literacy, vocational training, growth in self-esteem, socializing skills and moral values, in order to support them in growing as responsible adults.

In Kenya, a child is generally defined as a person below the age of 18 years. Street children do not enjoy any of the rights as affirmed in the Declaration of Children Rights such as Child survival, Child development, Child protection and Child participation. They are forced to become adults prematurely, often with the responsibility to care for their younger siblings, without education and with little