It is hard to imagine for many in the west, a life without any form of social safety net. There is no state provision for these children only non-government organisations who do what they can. If these children do not beg, steal or rob they would literally starve to death. They have no prospect of an education and so no prospect of a job or providing for any children they may have in the future. Unless people like yourself are prepared to help, these children will have no future. Below there are a selection of pages about street children in different parts of Africa which go into more details about the challenges and dangers these children face.

It is hard to get up to date statistics for street children, because, by their very nature they are elusive and different to collect data about. As such statistics for street children are often out of date, but they do show patterns. Here are some recent street children statistics:

• A study in Ethiopia found that street children normally worked 2-3 hours a day on the streets both before and after school. Most children in Ethiopia start working the streets at around 10yrs old.

• There are approximately one million children living on the streets of Cairo, although the impact of the recent revolution there is not yet known. 82% of these children cite abuse at home for their circumstances. 30% of these children reported that they took drugs to relieve pain, hunger and violence.

• There are a reported third of a million children living on the streets of Kenya with girls often forced into prostitution earning just 30p for each client.

• Over 95% of street children in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria have been stigmatised as child witches and abandoned by their parents and forced to live on the streets.

• In South Africa most street children are aged between 13-14yrs and state they end up on the streets because of family poverty, overcrowding, abuse, neglect, family disintegration and HIV/AIDS.