Kenyan Street Children

Street children and youth are often harassed physically and sexually by police officers or the public. They are beaten or forced to practice sex in return for food or clothes

Kenyan Street Children

• There are 250,000- 300,000 children living and working on the street across the country with more than 60,000 of them in Nairobi. Shanty towns like Kibera and Korogocho are home for some of these children

Kenyan Street Children

• “I lost my parents three years ago and since then I have been living in the streets without shelter and assurance of having food every day. Nobody cares about me; whether I live or not,” said William Githira, 15, who lives in the streets of the Kenyan capital.

“People don’t want to look at me. I’m trash. I don’t want to live in the streets, but I have nobody. My uncle beat me hard when I lived there, and so I ran. Living in the street is the only way to survive”, he added.

As half of the total population of Kenya is under 18, the living conditions of street children is one of the greatest challenges facing the government of President Mwai Kibaki.

Many of the children claim that their parents are either deceased or have abandoned them.

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