A GIRL CHILD ON THE STREETS WILL ONLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF STRRET KIDS?
A picture of street kids sleeping under the bridge
Many may say these kids have homes, they should just return to their parents and stay there but come to think of it what would make a child run away from home to the extent that they are willing to leave under bridges ,or just anywhere that looks like a place they can stay or live, in the streets. This issues of streets kids needs to be addressed from the roots. In as much as some of those street kids do surely have parents ,think of what would make a child run away from home and prefer eating from trash bins ,beg all around the city for food and water, prefers to be in an environment where they can be abused and sleep outside even in the cold season. This surely shows us that its possible that there is a bigger problem where they are running from .Thinking of it critically ,a normal parent cannot be at peace or allow her 8 year old child to go to the streets and fend for him or herself ,that's cruel. A child that you bring in this world is your responsibility and you have to do everything to protect this child. Which clearly shows that most of these street kids are either born from parents who are also vulnerable and can barely look after themselves worse their child.
A Girl child on the streets? Imagine, if a grown up woman who is able to speak and stand up for herself can still get sexually harassed by different men in higher positions and by physically strong men as they seek for different opportunities .Now Imagine a girl child in the streets with boys/men who are also considered as street kids or men who have literally grown up in the streets. These are men or boys who would literally attack you, beat you up and steal from you if you happened to pass in those areas they hang around in the evenings without mercy or fear. Of course you may say what about the street young boys, yes they need help too but their vulnerability can not be compared to that of the small girls in the streets .This is because not only are they vulnerable to fellow street kids of the opposite sex but also to other older men who are normal citizen.
How can we be so sure that once those small girls sleep in the streets, the street kids of the opposite sex wont sneak up on them and forcefully have unprotected sex with them or just willingly give themselves away to the older street kids of the opposite sex so that they are able to protect them from been forced to have sex with any other street kid of the opposite sex who feel like having sex with them. A street kid male or female who can barely fend for him or herself does not care about protective measures used when having sex and maybe has never even had an opportunity to learn about these things, and for the fact that these kids are coming from different homes they don't even know their HIV/AIDS statuses. So apart from unwanted pregnancies of kids who are even more vulnerable than their parents ,these kids will also have sexually transmitted diseases which they cant even track the origins. Which also increases the number of street kids in the country of which the country is trying to reduce. Some of these kids get to be adopted but some of these street girls hide their babies so that they keep them for themselves.
To reduce the number of street kids there is need to remove the girl child from the streets. Many people will also say most of these street kids usually go back to the streets when they are taken out of the streets but this is another issue that we as citizen/organizations are not looking at critically. These kids are not like every other kid who has grown up with parents and has been shown love. These are kids that have been neglected, rejected, who want to belong more than anything and definitely picked up certain habits on the streets to help them survive the hard life they were living in the streets.
Take for instance the colorless liquid that these street kids usually sniff also referred to as 'glue' by street kids. I took some time to ask a group of young female street kids why the they held the liquid so dear to extent that even when I took them out to have food they would not leave those colorless liquid in bottles ,and they gladly explained that it is important to them because when they are hungry and they get to sniff the same liquid they feel like they have eaten, when its cold and they have to sleep outside in the cold the liquid helps them feel warm ,and they also mentioned that that liquid also gives appetite. Which to me looked like a drug that they use to manipulate reality to what they want to feel And the level at which they sniff this liquid its possible these kids are probably addicted to it.
Not only ,do we need take street kids from the streets ,the kids clearly need intense therapy and psychological counseling. Let us unite as a country to help out these young boys and girls because some of them just need the right counseling and they will be better citizens .Taking a street kid out of the streets and not helping them deal with what they have been through and expect them to turn out fine is like using salt when baking a cake but still expect the cake to be sweet ,I mean the content inside is messed up. Let us not wait for later this problem needs so solutions and action now. Which will also reduce the crime rate in Zambia.
-Samantha Lungu 31/10/2023
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