Street Children
Street Children
"People don't love us," says Tigiste, a 12 years old street girl from Addis Ababa. A small example of how these kids suffer everyday, as Tigiste, there are many kids like her all over the world. One of these countries that has a huge problem in this issue is Egypt. But who is a street kid? how can we classify these children by that name? and what is the number of them?
"A street child is defined as any boy or girl for whom the street in the widest sense of the word has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults" (ESCWA). Omneya Ragab, writer in Al-Ahram weekly says, "Among the estimated tens of thousands children in street situations, 65% escape family problems, 30% are out in the streets to earn money for themselves and their families while 23% are forced to leave by family members. It is estimated that the number of these children is ranged between 200,000 and 2,000,000. You can find them sleeping on pavements, standing at traffic, shining shoes, selling newspapers or notice them under bridges.
The main cause of this phenomenon is poverty. Although there are not reliable studies, but it is assumed that "the percentage of those living on less than $1 a day is 3.4 % while the percentage of those living on less than $2 a day is 42.8 %"(ESCWA). Other causes are : violence, an old thought that a child has to work at an early age and stop education and falling preys for employers, a member in family or by their peers. Effects are clearly observed as this resulted to depending on charity, sexual abuse and continuing of a series of violence in general and illness. So, this essay will demonstrate the causes of this problem, then the effects in details and how can this problem be solved tackling some projects that are already done to face this.
So as to analyze any problem we should know its cause which will lead us to
"People don't love us," says Tigiste, a 12 years old street girl from Addis Ababa. A small example of how these kids suffer everyday, as Tigiste, there are many kids like her all over the world. One of these countries that has a huge problem in this issue is Egypt. But who is a street kid? how can we classify these children by that name? and what is the number of them?
"A street child is defined as any boy or girl for whom the street in the widest sense of the word has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults" (ESCWA). Omneya Ragab, writer in Al-Ahram weekly says, "Among the estimated tens of thousands children in street situations, 65% escape family problems, 30% are out in the streets to earn money for themselves and their families while 23% are forced to leave by family members. It is estimated that the number of these children is ranged between 200,000 and 2,000,000. You can find them sleeping on pavements, standing at traffic, shining shoes, selling newspapers or notice them under bridges.
The main cause of this phenomenon is poverty. Although there are not reliable studies, but it is assumed that "the percentage of those living on less than $1 a day is 3.4 % while the percentage of those living on less than $2 a day is 42.8 %"(ESCWA). Other causes are : violence, an old thought that a child has to work at an early age and stop education and falling preys for employers, a member in family or by their peers. Effects are clearly observed as this resulted to depending on charity, sexual abuse and continuing of a series of violence in general and illness. So, this essay will demonstrate the causes of this problem, then the effects in details and how can this problem be solved tackling some projects that are already done to face this.
So as to analyze any problem we should know its cause which will lead us to