I try to look behind just in case it’s a thief trying to open my bag then I see a thin looking frail ‘chokoraa’ street child (name withheld) trying his best to reach me.

“Aunty, aunty nibuyie chai tafadhali” (Aunty, aunty, buy me tea please) Said the child. “Imagine kutoka jana sijakula kitu, staki pesa, tafadhali twende tu pale kwa hoteli unibuyie chai,” (Imagine from yesterday I have not eaten anything, I do not want cash, please let us just go to a hotel so that u may buy me tea) the child continued.

Passersby try to look at me to see what I am going to do to the child, I look into my bag to see if I can find something to help the child who is almost collapsing, probably due to sniffing too much glue and staying with an empty stomach.

By luck; considering the current economic turmoil that has gripped the world, I find some money which I give the child, he thanks me and runs to the nearby hotel to find some tea. I get confused and wonder whether I did the right thing by giving him money to buy tea, which probably he has not had in days. Seated in ‘matatu’ commuter bus as I head to the office, I keep thinking about what had just taken place. So many questions run through my mind….first, did I do the right thing by giving money to a street child?, If no, what could have I done rather than giving out money, Second, how many street children are out there asking for money from people daily?.

The questions are endless since the more I argue within me the more I get confused. Besides the roads I see the same images of street children sitting besides the roads, some playing cards, others waiting to try their luck by choosing the people to beg. I soon reach town and it’s the same images of street children I major streets, still begging for cash.

I reach the office and it leaves me wondering whether these children have their families since it is not molecular biology they came out of nowhere. That aside, why would someone leave his/ her child run away from home to go live in the streets?, what is so interesting in the streets that these children do not want to leave and go back to their homes?

In 2003 When President Kibaki took over power from the long serving President Moi, he promised to reduce the number of street families and children by opening Children’ homes. This did take place to some extent and for the longest time in Kenya’s history the streets did not have homeless families and Children. Many of the families were taken to care facilities and the those who were youthful were taken to the NYS (National Youth Service) whose mission is “to mould the youth into a pool of disciplined and organized manpower, through participation in socio-economic development activities and vocational training” to get trainings on various skills like developing skilled manpower and responsible society by providing technical training to street youth and youth in general, training officers who can handle street youth and providing training machines plants, vehicles for driving school and communication equipment.

However, as time went by, the Kenyan streets began witnessing the re emergence of street children and families. Some of them complaining that they were not given proper care at the homes they were taken to. Each and every day, there is an addition of street children ‘chokoraa’ as they are commonly known to the Kenyan streets.

The United Nations has defined the term ‘street children’ to include “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.”

Street children are also divided into two groups: those who live IN the street (spend all their time in the street), and those who live ON the street (those who return home at night).

Meanwhile, The Cradle and The Undugu Society of Kenya - two organizations working to improve the life of children and youth - divide Kenyan street children into four categories.

The first is children who work and live on the street full-time, living in groups in temporary shelters or dark alleys.

The second category is children who work on the streets by day but go home to their families in the evenings. This category constitutes the majority of street children in the country.

The third category is children who are on the streets occasionally, such as in the evenings, weekends, and during school holidays.

The fourth category is known as “street families”, children whose parents are also on the streets.

After taking a deep thought about the whole street children issue, I took to the streets look for different street children to find the reason behind them being in town. I meet Mike (name changed due to the interviewee’s request).

‘Mi nilikuja tao juu babangu alidedi na madhe hakuwa anajiweza,hakukuwa na food poa home, matimes ilibidi tulale njaa. Hiyo maisha ilikuwa ngumu ikabidi nijipange.” Meaning ‘‘I came to town after my father died and my mum could not take care of us, there was no good food at home, at times we had to sleep on empty stomachs. That life was hard so I had to take care of myself.” This begs the question, is a ten year old child able to take care of himself?

Omosh, as he prefers to be called is another street child. He tells me that he came all the way from Homabay County. After spending sleepless nights on the roadside he finally reached Nairobi, which he considers the best town he has ever seen.

“Huku mtaani ni kupoa jo, atleast siwezi lala njaa, home nilikuwa nalala sare, matimes hata siku tatu zikifuatana”…. “Here at the streets it’s even better, at least I do not sleep hungry, at home I used to sleep hungry even for three consecutive days” He tells me.

In the past decade, the number of street children has increased in many African countries due to deepening poverty.  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.

According to expert’s estimation, there are 250,000-300,000 children living and working on the streets of Kenya with more than 60,000 of them in Nairobi. Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, and Mombasa, on the coast, also have large populations of street children.

Street children face endless cruelties. Their rights have been violated many times by the adults who were supposed to protect them. What bothers most is some parents also send their children to the streets to collect money from the passersby in order to provide basic needs to their family members. In many cases these children are subject to sexual exploitation in return for food or clothes. Often, police detain and beat them without reason; some of them develop the habit of snatching people’s purses and end up being beaten to death by the angry public.

Without even blaming the government, why should parents send their young ones to the street to provide for the family? It is high time the country gets together in undoing the damage of presence of street children and families which has characterized the image of our Kenyan streets.

What happened to the rights of children or is it the current economic situation that makes the parents forego their parental duties and send their children to the streets? The Convention on the Rights of the Child advocates for the protection of children’s rights, it also advocates for helping meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

The articles of the Convention, in addition to laying the foundational principles from which all rights must be achieved, call for the provision of specific resources, skills and contributions necessary to ensure the survival and development of children to their maximum capability. The articles also require the creation of means to protect children from neglect, exploitation and abuse.

As Kenya is about to go for another election come 2012, it’s high time parents, stakeholders and the community at large come together to ensure that there are no more street children and families in our Kenyan streets. I felt so bad when s friend of mine from Nigeria asked me why there are so many street children in our streets, saying that every street he passed by he sees a group of dirty kids, sniffing gum and asking for money.

Kenyan’s should be happy about their country, to achieve this we have to reduce the activities that will reduce pain and suffering of fellow Kenyans.