Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Uganda.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Uganda. Some of these
links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated
or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity
or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how some
manage to leave the street. Perhaps
your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the public and how
they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each other. Would you like to write about market
children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Uganda: Forced Onto
the Streets to Please the Men Katarzyna Heath, The New
Vision, Kampala, 9 September 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/uganda-forced-onto-the-streets-to-please-the-men/ [accessed 9 January
2017] The day of the street
children starts early, as early as 4:00am. They wake and walk the three to
four 4km from the village to Jinja town. The
children are divided into groups, each entrusted with a task for the
day. This can be anything from rooting
through the garbage skips, visiting the abattoir for meat left overs,
collecting firewood and charcoal or scrap metal to sell. They are also
expected to return with money, leading to their daily street begging that we
are all witness to. However, we are not
witness to the beating they receive when return home empty-handed because no
kind uncle has flicked them a grubby coin or two. At around 8:00pm the children return home
and hand in their day's earnings and gatherings. They will get a small meal
if they are lucky and then go to bed, ready to start the whole onslaught the
next day. Some children do
not even have a family to return to; classed as 'fulltime' they are runaways
and occupy the streets twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Hard Life for African Street Children Catherine Lyst, BBC Scotland news website, 31 May 2007 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6707219.stm [accessed 2 August
2011] A missionary with
the African Inland Mission, she has most recently been working with Dwelling
Places, which helps street children, abandoned babies and high risk slum
families. Many of them have HIV or have lost parents to Aids. "Many suffer
from depravity, disease, hunger and abuse. We see newborns to teenagers and
families headed by children." Marsali
has witnessed five-year-olds living alone on the street and has even seen
teenage girls who have spent their whole life on the streets having their own
babies while homeless. She has also come across numerous abandoned
babies. They have been found on the street, in dustbins, tied up in plastic
bags and found in pit latrines and swamps. ***
ARCHIVES *** With COVID-19 in
Uganda, street children can not access clean water,
have no money to buy soap or santizers Andrew Masinde, New vision, Kampala, 5 April 2020 www.newvision.co.ug/news/1517550/covid-19-street-children-safe [accessed 7 February
2023] It was common to
find groups of street children sitting on verandahs around most parts of the
city waiting for traffic to stop vehicles and they start begging. Some just
stay around looking at passers-by hoping that they will give them something
to eat. For some, they survive through
searching in garbage bins for food while others survive by pick-pocketing
unsuspecting persons. Some trade in illegal drugs and steal valuables from
people's houses; among other life-threatening means. Moving on the
streets of Kampala, one would wonder whether the city has ever had any street
child. No child is spotted on the verandas, streets, garbage bins or anywhere
around the malls. However, after
proceeding to some of their hideouts, many are seen stranded wondering how
they will survive the following day. A survey conducted
in the districts of Kampala, Jinja, Iganga and Mbale indicated that
there are over 30, 000 street children. The survey further indicated that in
Kampala alone, there are 15, 000 street children. "They cannot access basic health
services because they are looked at as outcasts. Imagine if one got infected with COVID-19
where would they go. They have no means of communication, no identifications,
no mean of transport among others. This means they will be stranded hence
risk spreading the disease," he said. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or download PDF at www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] UGANDA LACK OF
ACCOUNTABILITY
- On the streets, homeless adults and older children harass, beat, sexually abuse,
force drugs upon, and exploit street children, often with impunity as police
neglect to investigate crimes against them. Street kids
torture: Police responds to HRW report Fred Enanga, Press and Public Relations Officer of Uganda
Police, 2 Aug 2014 www.newvision.co.ug/news/658310-street-kids-torture-police-responds-to-hrw-report.html [accessed 3 August
2014] The children while
on the streets include those who maintain good family ties and often return
home in the evening, with loose family contacts and occasionally return home,
those completely detached from their families and live in gangs in temporary
makeshift shelters, and then children of street families permanently on the
streets. These regard the streets as a “residential estate” and form gangs
for physical and emotional support, identity, security, and relief from life
and anxieties within their groups. During the day many
of these children engage in a variety of activities like, carrying luggage,
picking waste, begging, working in markets, loading/offloading, and stealing.
Some work as taxi-touts, while others in restaurants, washing dishes and
related chores. The majority of them however, scavenge for waste materials
like scrap metal, plastic bottles, rubber materials that they sell to dealers. The boys in
particular seem to be high on drugs, aviation fuel or glue vapor most of the
time and many of them suffer infected wounds from broken glass and dirty
tins/ metals. The street girls are also visible during day; most of them work
as house girls or prostitutes and play a role of “wives” at night to street
boys who consider themselves husbands. They are further exposed to multiple
hazards like exposure to sexual abuse, poor sanitation and health conditions,
crime, child labor, drug abuse, and child prostitution. The HRW focuses on
the violation of Human Rights rather than the growing problem of children
roaming the streets especially at night. They carry dangerous weapons like
hand knives, metallic prick, iron bars, and have formed gangs and
neighborhood cliques that control the city suburbs at night. They loot
laptops, cell phones, wallets from persons and vandalize cars; sexually
assault women isolated at night, and in extreme cases participated in Murder.
Number of children
born on Kampala streets on increase UGPulse News, Sept. 27,
2010 www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Number+of+children+born+on+Kampala+streets+on+increase+&ID=15840 [accessed 3 August
2011] The number of
children born on Kampala streets keeps on increasing every month. The number
of child mothers is also on increase in Kampala. At least over 10 pregnant mothers are
picked from the streets of Kampala every month according to child rights
activists. The Managing
Director of Dwelling places Rita Nkemba says many
young girls ran away from their parents and come to beg on the streets of
Kampala. She says these girls’ later
gets pregnant on the streets yet they are unable to attend antenatal care. Nkemba says most of them are picked by good Samaritans
and taken to Dwelling Places where they safely deliver healthy babies. Street children a
challenge to city authorities UGPulse News, May 4, 2010 www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Street+children+a+challenge+to+city+authorities&ID=9960 [accessed 3 August
2011] The increasing
number of street children in the city center is becoming unmanageable for
Kampala City Council. The Deputy
Speaker of Kampala Central Division, Nabisere Asia
Rizzo says the number of street children on Kampala streets is increasing on
a fast rate. She says 16 new street
children come to Kampala streets every day, which made efforts by KCC to
round up children and take them to Kampiringisa
site to go unnoticed. Child Restoration
Outreach Gives New Hope to Uganda's Street Children Samuel Wamuttu, UGPulse, February 21,
2009 www.ugpulse.com/people/child-restoration-outreach-gives-new-hope-to-uganda-s-street-children/1042/ug.aspx [accessed 3 August
2011] Opolot's father death meant
his poor mother could hardly look after their five children. There was no
food and the family of six were often ridden with sickness as their only
shelter was a tiny grass thatched hut on the verge of collapsing. At that point I
went to the streets with the hope that things would be much better than at
home," says Opolot, now 26. It was1992 and he
was just 10 years old. "I was wrong. Life instead proved much more
dangerous than I had thought." Wounded and
fearless despite his small frame, his body dotted with all sorts of rashes,
tattered clothes, Opolot roamed the streets
ransacking heaps of garbage in search of a hard to find daily meal. At night,
he and his fellow street children would retire to boxes they used as
beddings, to coil themselves along shop verandahs. It was at such times that
the police would pounce on them in the wee hours of the night during their
routine operations, making the street children to scamper in all directions. "We were often
awakened by mean loud voices. They hit us with sticks sending us in disarray.
Some of my friends would sustain serious injuries from the caning. 100 Karimojong street kids rounded up Eddie Ssejjoba, The New Vision, 13th January, 2009 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/667984 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1229089/100-karimojong-street-kids-rounded [accessed 9 January
2017] Over 100 Karimojong street children were on Monday night
rounded-up by the Police in Kampala and taken to Kampiringisa
Rehabilitation Centre in Mpigi district. The
children’s mothers and elderly women were arrested as they tried to save
them. “These children
have been giving a bad image to the country because they at times snatch
items like phones, bags and money from cars and taxis, especially in traffic
jams,” he said. Tanui
expressed concern that the number of street children was increasing in the
city. “When we would pick the young
ones, their guardians would dash out of their hideout to protect them,” he
said. Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said the operation would continue until the
city is rid of street children. It is time we
focused on street children David Muwonge, The New Vision, 14th September, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/649570 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1181186/focused-street-children [accessed 9 January
2017] The Government
seemed to have found a solution for street children during CHOGM but this was
short-lived. Research by the US Bureau for Labour
Affairs indicates that about 5,000 children in Uganda beg, wash cars,
scavenge, work as commercial sex workers and sell small items on the streets
of Kampala. The number of street children has been rising steadily for the
last five years. The majority of
these homeless children are from Karamoja. The main
causes of children’s problems today are armed conflict, diseases, lack of
education, abusive parents or guardians, inadequate services and entrenched
poverty. Commercial
buildings have more destitutes on the verandas than
night watchmen. The young boys and girls break loose from hiding at 7:00pm to
assemble on Bombo, Wilson and Entebbe roads. The
city is no longer safe. Murder and rape cases are bound to increase because
of these drug-sniffing children who will be adults soon. In addition, tall,
dark complexioned women with African bangles and anklets loiter the streets.
They stretch their hands out to ask for a penny and younger girls aged 3-17
years lead in the quest for handouts. They run up and about the streets
seeking for attention from the pedestrians and drivers while crying out “uncle,
auntie,” whom they believe will provide for the day’s meal. Uganda: HIV and
Children Driven to Tears at School Fred Ouma, The New Vision, Kampala, 9 September 2008 allafrica.com/stories/200809100164.html [partially accessed 3
August 2011 - access restricted] An estimated half
of Uganda's 1.8 million orphans have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.
Ugandan communities have traditionally absorbed orphans within the extended
family system, and one in four households fosters at least one orphan. However, many of
these extended familial caregivers are overburdened and there are growing
numbers of child-headed households and an increase in child labour, street children, abandoned children and school
dropouts. Kabale district gets Land
Bill deal Darious Magara, The New
Vision, 15th August, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/644713 [accessed 3 August
2011] She blamed some
parents for the misbehaviour among youths. She lamented
that most youth are poorly brought up, leading some to indulge in drug abuse
and other anti-social behaviour. Bbumba said some
of these cases were responsible for fires in schools. She advised parents to
live exemplary lives to raise responsible children. The Kabale
Resident District Commissioner, Cox Nyakairu, said
child offenders and street children
were not only posing a security threat but are a big social problem to the
district. The Chief Administrative
Officer, Joseph Mukasa appealed to the ministry to
establish mitigating measures and programmes that
prevent children from committing crimes. Sh250m for street
kids project The New Vision, 25th
July, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/641159 [accessed 3 August
2011] The Government has
provided sh250m for the removal of about 2,000 children from the streets of
Kampala, reports Milton Olupot. State minister for youth and children
affairs Maj. James Kinobe on Thursday said there
would be constant surveillance to ensure that all street children are removed
from urban centres.
There are about 10,000 street children countrywide, but the minister
said due to budget constraints, children on Kampala’s streets would be
removed first and when the resources are availed, other towns would also be
cleared. Uganda: Don't Sweep
Street Kid Problem Under Carpet Martyn Drakard, The Observer (Kampala), 16 July 2008 allafrica.com/stories/200807171069.html [accessed 3 August
2011] Lira's street kids are
mainly but not exclusively boys, as happens everywhere. Girls are at
particular risk, and invariably end up as prostitutes. Perhaps surprisingly,
most are not orphans, but have run away from a dysfunctional household in the
village, or have come to town in search of food. They live under tarpaulin or
in bushes or any warm hiding-place they can find; they are not fussy about
where they sleep. They are not hooked onto glue, as their Kenyan counterparts
are, and which is deadly, but use bhang (marijuana), which reaches them from
Somalia, via Moroto. They fight each
other. They go on patrol at night, and it's wise to keep away from parts of
the centre of the town. Their ages range from nine
to 16, but most are around 10 to 12. They are not
necessarily dangerous. They are insecure, but generally respond to genuine
interest and kindness. They need someone to listen to them and, most of all,
they need the affection they don't find at home, and which they look for in
the gang. Better to give them food than money, with which they can buy bhang.
Obviously they don't attend school. Police round up
street children Chris Ocowun, The New Vision, 10th July, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/638459 [accessed 3 August
2011] Former night commuters,
who had become street children in Gulu town, are
being rounded-up by the Police. They
were reunited with their parents by the probation and welfare department,
Save the Children in Uganda and Noah’s Ark Children Ministries. Samuel Ouma, an
assistant probation officer, said 30 children had been reunited in Pader, Kitgum, Pakwach, Amuru and Lira
districts this month. He added that
the number of street children had reduced from 287 to 50. “We found them near
Gulu Public Primary School. They will be taken back
to their parents. If they come back to the streets, their parents will be
punished,” he warned. Kilama noted that the majority of the street children had
become thieves. Night commuters are
children who go and sleep at shelters in the towns of northern Uganda for
fear of abduction by the LRA rebels.
Their numbers had soared to over 40,000 at the peak of the insurgency
in 2003 but they are no more following the closure of commuter centres and the return of relative peace in the north. 10 Million Orphans Tom Masland & Rod Nordland,
Newsweek Magazine, Jan 16, 2000 www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2000/01/16/10-million-orphans.html [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newsweek.com/10-million-orphans-158625 [accessed 9 January
2017] Bernadette Nakayima, 70, lives in Uganda's Masaka
district, where 110,000 of the 342,000 children are orphans. Nakayima lost every one of her 11 children to AIDS.
"All these left me with 35 grandchildren to look after," she says.
"I was a woman struck with sorrow beyond tears." But she is not
alone: one out of every four families in Uganda is now caring for an AIDS
orphan, says Pelucy Ntambirweki
of the Ugandan Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO). Address domestic
violence to check street children Robert Kashaija, The New Vision, 5th June, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/631943 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1188404/address-domestic-violence-check-street-children [accessed 9 January
2017] Uganda is said to
have the highest number of orphans in the world. A-quarter of all homesteads
have an orphan who lost both parents to AIDS.
The US Bureau for Labour Affairs estimates
that 5,000 children in Uganda beg, wash cars, scavenge, work as commercial
sex and sell small items on the streets of Kampala. The number of street
children has been rising steadily for the last five years. Uganda: NRM Has
Brought Robust Growth in Street People James Abola, The Monitor, 18 May 2008 allafrica.com/stories/200805190632.html [partially accessed
3 August 2011 - access restricted] Having lived and
worked in Kampala for a fairly long time, I will be the first to admit that
street children are to some extent one of the key defining features of
Kampala. The pull factors
for leaving home and going to live on the streets include the excitement and
glamour of living in a city; hope of raising living standard; financial
wellbeing. The social worker told me
that it is particularly difficult to convince families to get off the street
because the amount of money that street people make from begging is usually a
lot higher than what they can make from entry level vocations. Children warn
profiteers from war Bill Oketch, The New Vision, 30th March, 2008 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/619451 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1193279/children-warn-profiteers-war [accessed 9 January
2017] “If Joseph Kony,
the leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) denounces rebellion, we
shall all abandon the street, go back home and start living normal lives” Stolen childhood Eve Mashoo, The East African, 25 February 2008 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2008/02/24/stolen-childhood-2/ [accessed 9 January
2017] About one in four
Ugandan households have two or more orphans. The responsibility of raising
these children is not easy and even providing them with basic necessities
does not come that cheap. With the development of anti-retroviral drugs
(ARVs) people living with HIV have managed to stay healthy longer, but not
everyone can afford the life-prolonging drugs. According to some estimates,
less than half of the 300,000 Ugandans in need of ARVs have regular access to
them. Without a source of income, children are particularly vulnerable. Many of these children have turned up in
the streets of Kampala, to try and eke out a living by begging, doing menial
jobs or stealing. The lucky few have been taken in by charities and foster
families. But those without
assistance of any kind are a disturbing majority. Isabirye Hassan,
a councillor in Kampala City Council, says the
capital’s streets have been taken over by street children who engage in
crimes like pickpocketing and prostitution.
Once in a while the city council rounds up street children and takes
them to Kampiringisa rehabilitation centre where they receive training and counselling.
However, with a high unemployment rate in the country, many of them return to
the streets soon after they are discharged. Uganda: Busia Leaders Team Up to Address Sex Trade, Street
Children Patrick Jaramogi, The New Vision, Kampala, 23 January 2008 allafrica.com/stories/200801240017.html [partially accessed
3 August 2011 - access restricted] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1197571/busia-leaders-team-address-sex-trade-street-children [accessed 9 January
2017] The influx of
Kenyan refugees following the election violence has fuelled
sex trade among under age girls in the
district. The Ugandan girls aged
between 11-18 years are a big attraction to many. "They charge as low
sh500 for sex per hour," said a resident. The looming sex trade coupled
with the influx of street children has prompted the Government and Busia district leaders to seek solutions to avert what
they described as "a looming crisis". Busia district
probation officer, Julius Ogalo said there are at
least 400 street children in the municipality alone."Most
of these street children are Karimojongs who come
to engage in petty business and smuggling along the border," he said. – sccp A Canadian 'mother'
for six Ugandan kids The Vancouver Sun,
January 10, 2008 www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=65369b70-007c-4cdc-bd7c-7668955bdfb6 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20080111/281840049342349 [accessed 9 January
2017] She learned the six
unrelated children had been living on the street, begging as a group for six months.
Only one of them had a living parent, a mother whom Travers later helped
locate, while the rest of them were alone. And she learned that the children
didn't want to be separated, something they faced if they went to one of the
shelters in the area. Grim Future for War
Orphans Caroline Ayugi - International Justice - International Criminal
Court ICC, Asia Child Rights ACR Issue 143, 25 Feb 2008 iwpr.net/global-voices/grim-future-war-orphans [accessed 2 August
2011] Orphans still
living in refugee camps, where they often struggle to get by, are worried
about what will happen to them when they eventually have to leave. Scovia Akello, 16, sitting in front of her dingy hut at Koch
Goma refugee camp in Amuru, said she was concerned
about what she could feed her hungry brothers and sisters. "There is no
food and I don't have money. I don't know what we shall eat today. I have
four other sisters, and seeing them hungry [plays on] my nerves even
more." Akello
does not know where she and her sisters will go once the refugee camp where
she lives finally closes. She knows little about her home village or her
relatives. "My mother once said
our village is in Olwiyo, but I don't know where
the village is. I don't even know anyone there, not even where our home was
once located,” said Akello. – sccp Uganda: True Vine
Ministries Gives Street Children Lifeline John A. Emojong, Tororo, The Monitor
(Kampala), 27 October 2007 [accessed 9 January
2017] One of the recent
projects undertaken by the organisation was the
rehabilitation and return of street children to school under a programme managed by Smile Africa Ministries, a Tororo based Christian Organisation. The Executive Director, Smile Africa
Ministries, Pastor Ruth Kawa said at least 293 children had been picked from
the streets and rehabilitated before being sent back to school. Let us reach out to
the suffering street kids Jennipher Taber, The New
Vision, 16th August, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/581722 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1158846/us-reach-suffering-street-kids [accessed 9 January 2017] Hauling water,
firewood, eating from garbage bins on the streets and sniffing glue, such is
the life of a street child in Kampala. No chance for an education, no escape
from the cycle of poverty, no hope and (oftentimes) no parents. Who is
working on behalf of this child? NGOs
do a lot of work with orphans and HIV positive children, but there seems to
be a much smaller number working with street children to deal with the root
cause of the phenomena. Uganda: Beggars,
Street Children a Burden in the City Andrew Nkurunziza, The Monitor (Kampala), 19 July 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/uganda-beggars-street-children-a-burden-in-the-city/ [accessed 9 January
2017] Over the years the
number of beggars and street children on Kampala streets has grown
tremendously. Most of these
unprivileged people come from upcountry in hope of better life in the city
but end up on the streets. The beggars and
street children are common on Kampala Road, the Constitution Square, the
traffic lights in Wandegeya and Shoprite Super and
near Sheraton Hotel. They are mainly
children aged 3-18, disabled and surprisingly able bodied adults. There are
physically handicapped beggars and those afflicted by leprosy. Others are mothers
who strategically place their children to beg as they monitor from a far. The
other group is of young boys and girls aged 10-15. These are lone rangers
commonly referred to as street children and to compliment begging, they
engage in petty theft. Who is Luring Karimojong Children Back to Streets? Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa & Robert Mwanje,
Kampala, The Monitor (Kampala), 28 June 2007 [accessed 9 January
2017] The number of
street children in Kampala had reduced in the past five months but it seems
they are returning. The government and
KCC recently launched a campaign to take street children and beggars off the streets
in preparation for the Chogm in Kampala in
November. However, the process has not been without hurdles. But what lures the
children back to the streets? People who act as
Good Samaritans and donate money and food to the children have apparently frustrated
efforts to relocate them. Last year, KCC
promised to pass a by-law criminalalising the
giving of money or other items to street children but the law is yet to come. Jinja urges govt over street children Charles Kakamwa, The New Vision, 17th June, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/571041 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1162953/jinja-urges-govt-street-children [accessed 9 January
2017] Muzusa was responding to
complaints raised by the business community about the street children. “They consume alcoholic substances, move
with sharp objects such as knives and threaten us but the Police and leaders
in the town are doing nothing about this problem,” said Francis Katumba, the Napier Market traders’ chairperson. Muzusa however
blamed the business community saying some encourage children to remain on the
streets by employing them. Children's
Activities Child Restoration
Outreach (CRO) Uganda At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP - CRO believes
that through formal education, street children will be able to live an
independent life, support their families and also contribute to the
development of their communities. CRO supports
children in school by paying school fees and uniforms. Parents/ Guardians are
encouraged to provide books, pens and pencils. VOCATIONAL SKILLS - The older street
children who are not able to join formal schools are attached to local
artisans to train on the job in skills of their choice for a period of one
year. CRO pays the trainer's fees and
training material. Regular monitoring of the training is done to ensure
children attend the trainings. At the end of the training, the trainees are
supported with starter-up tools to enable them become productive and
independent. News in brief... The New Vision, 30th
April, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/219/562659 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1165979/news-brief [accessed 9 January
2017] [scroll down] FORMER STREET KIDS
GRADUATE
- Over 150 former street children graduated on Friday after being
rehabilitated and trained in vocational skills by Friends of Children
Association, a charity. “As a way of empowering these youths economically and
making them self reliant, we trained them in
motorcycle mechanics, motor mechanics, hairdressing, tailoring, carpentry,
and welding for a period of one year,” said Namara Sabakaki, the charity’s programme
manager, at the mayor’s gardens. The children were mainly picked from the
slums of Katwe, Kisenyi, Kasubi in Kampala and Ggulu
ward in Mukono district. She thanked the other
partners like Solidarity Foundation and the World Food programme. Sh2.16b sought for
child protection Chris Ocowun, The New Vision, 22nd April, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/561164 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1166521/sh216b-sought-child-protection [accessed 9 January
2017] The district child
protection coordinator, Joseph Kilama, urged
charities to address the problem of street children. “We never had street kids before but today,
they are over 60. Some of them have guns, while others have cocaine.” Bringing a rare
smile to sick, homeless kids Mary Anne Ross, The Sentinel,
Spotswood, March 15, 2007 eb.gmnews.com/news/2007-03-15/Front_Page/103.html [accessed 3 August
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/bringing-a-rare-smile-to-sick-homeless-kids/ [accessed 9 January
2017] The group traveled
around the country, visiting orphanages, setting up one-day medical clinics
and working with the children who fend for themselves in the slums of the
capital city, Kampala. The first orphanage
they visited was the Sanyus baby home. "The babies brought there were found
on the road, or in latrine pits or outside the hospital," Pokrywa said. Conditions were not what one would expect
in the United States. "There were
about 50 babies and toddlers. The floors were filthy. None of the children
had shoes and most did not have diapers," she said. The 12 volunteers
spent the day taking care of the children - holding them, feeding them,
bathing them. "They seemed starved for a human touch. They just clung to
us," Pokrywa said. Ridding Kampala
City of Karimojong Street Children Ben Simon, Moroto, The Monitor (Kampala), March 4, 2007 [accessed 9 January
2017] An estimated 700 Karimojong, primarily women and children, who had been
begging on the city streets of Kampala have now been returned to Moroto. A group of 395 travelled on February 14 and the
rest travelled Wednesday. There is no
easy answer to explain how and why these people ended in Kampala. Clearly the region’s entrenched problems -
food insecurity, a culture of violence and a harsh climate - made leaving the
least bad option. Summit displaces
Uganda street children Sarah Grainger, BBC
News, Kampala, 21 February 2007 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6378969.stm [accessed 3 August
2011] STREET LIFE - One of them is
10-year-old Nabale Amuye. She came to Kampala with her aunt three
months ago to make some money. But her
aunt left her there. "I ate
leftovers from the market like the potatoes that fell down and nobody
noticed. And I lived in a house with
eight other people," she says. Soroti street kids
rounded up John Omoding and Salume Among, The
New Vision, 15th February, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/549348 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1170884/soroti-street-kids-rounded [accessed 9 January
2017] Following a public
outcry, the Police in Soroti have rounded up over
20 street children. The district Police commander, Sam Musisi,
said they were found on verandas and corridors where the majority of them
sleep. “The public has been accusing
them of gang raping women, snatching phones and beating people at night.” Should prostitution
be legalised? Emmanuel Kihaule, The Guardian, Kampala, 12 Feb 2007 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] `50,000/- For a lover` read posters that are
found almost all over Kampala city in Uganda. The posters are allegedly put
by prostitutes at night with the help of street children in their attempts to
get `customers`. NGO protests K’jong street kids relocation Harriette Onyalla, The New Vision, 8th February, 2007 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/547988 [accessed 3 August
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/p557/ [accessed 9 January
2017] Recently, about
1,000 karimojong children and women were forcefully
taken to Kampiringisa Remand Home in Mpigi district to await transportation back to Karamoja. In a statement, the
charity said the Government should get the consent of the children before forcing
them off the streets. “We note with
great concern how the rights of these children are seriously compromised in
the present actions taken by the authorities.” It said the relocation should be done in
consultation and with the participation of the children involved. The Dawn of Peace Masumba David, Antiwar.com,
January 29, 2007 www.antiwar.com/orig/mdavid.php?articleid=10419 [accessed 3 August
2011] The war between the
LRA and the Ugandan government ended in 2006, yet many Ugandans still live
homeless, naked, and traumatized by the war. Many beggars on the streets of
Kampala are from northern Uganda with little hope of survival on the harsh,
polluted streets, where no one pays any attention to them. Children run up to
you in the street and say "Uncle, mpako ku sente" ("Uncle,
give me some money"). The money they get is taken by the stronger ones,
and the younger ones are turned into stone-hearted children with no love or
human feelings. When a fight breaks out among these homeless, displaced
people, it is savage. Many have survived from rubbish or by fellow friends in
the streets of Kampala. The street children are not the only people who have
been displaced by the war in the north of Uganda. Hawkers and old women who
sleep and sit on the streets selling sweets to passersby are from the north
of Uganda with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. The Redeemed Africa
- History The Redeemed Africa www.rezlife.org/the-redeemed-africa/ [accessed 11
Aug 2013] David Kyambadde, a Ugandan, and his wife, Aimee, an American,
took fifty street children from Kampala, Uganda, into their home and made a
family. Calling them Home Again, Uganda, because they once had homes, lost
them, and now they had a home again, the boys were rehabilitated and rejoined
society as members of a family, not “street” or “orphaned” children
privileged to be pitied. Woman MP starts
children’s project Maria Nakitto and Rehema Aanyu, The New Vision, 22nd December, 2006 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/19/539410 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1134341/woman-mp-starts-children-eur-project [accessed 10 January
2017] THE Government is
concerned by the increasing number of street children in Kampala. Gender minister Syda
Bbumba on Thursday said: “It is a growing concern
for the Government that there has been an astonishing influx of street children
and families on the streets of Kampala.” Street Children
Turn to Sex Workers Aliga Issa,
Masaka, The Monitor (Kampala), November 29, 2006 This article has
been archived by World Street Children News and may possibly still be
accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] THE majority of
street children in Masaka have turned into
prostitutes and homosexuals. The Manager of Buddukiro
Children’s Agency, Kassim Wamono
revealed during a press conference at the offices of South Buganda
Journalists Association in Masaka on Nov 20.
"Street children come from poor families and so they resort to sex trade
in towns for survival," he said. WFP denies
'encouraging' street children in Uganda Charles Kazooba, African News Dimension AND, Kampala, September
15, 2006 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/09/15/wfp-denies-encouraging-street-children-in-uganda/ [accessed 10 January
2017] The legislators
were also unhappy that the street children if not cleared off the streets
would create a negative image of Uganda prior and during the Commonwealth
Heads of State Meet to be hosted by Kampala in November next year. “WFP help us and
desist from feeding those street children, CHOGM is on the way. We are trying
to get them off the streets. But if you decide to feed them, do you think
those kids will get off the streets?” MP Edward Bwerere
Kasole wondered. It Could Be Illegal
to Donate to Street Kids Diana Lule, The New Vision (Kampala), July 17, 2006 www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1144682/illegal-donate-street-kids [accessed 10 January
2017] Kampala City
Council will soon pass a bylaw making it a criminal offence to give money and
other items to street children, the city probation officer, Dan Mujjukizi, has said.
Mujjukizi said, while the Children’s Act
2000 makes it illegal for children to be on the streets, the people who
donate money and food to them were making efforts to relocate the children
difficult. Parents blamed for
street kids Joel Ogwang, The New Vision, LUGAZI, March, 2006 www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/19/487516 [accessed 3 August
2011] www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1152508/parents-blamed-street-kids [accessed 10 January
2017] Lugazi Diocese Bishop
Mathias Sekamanya has blamed street and orphaned
children on parents. He said some
parents spent more time in bars than with their children. Sekamanya criticised parents who dressed indecently, saying they
were not exemplary. Information about
Street Children - Uganda [DOC] This report is taken
from “A Civil Society Forum for East and Southern Africa on Promoting and
Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 11- 13 February 2002, Nairobi,
Kenya At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] 51% of the
population is under 18; number of street children is estimated at 10,000;
underlying causes of children’s problems in Uganda include armed conflicts,
diseases (HIV/AIDS), lack of education, inadequate services and entrenched
poverty. Childhoods in
Uganda Being Lived in the Street Marc Lacey, The New
York Times, March 24, 2002 www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/world/childhoods-in-uganda-being-lived-in-the-street.html [accessed 3 August
2011] Aposi Lakwemwe considers himself one of the poorest people in
one of the poorest countries. All he
owns is hanging on his lanky frame, a torn T-shirt and a too-small pair of
jeans. Plus there is his slab of cardboard, which is the only thing that
separates his body at night from the cold pavement. ''Nobody's poorer than me,'' he says with a
hazy look in his eyes, the result of hours of sniffing aviation fuel. ''How
can they be? I don't have anything. I don't have a mother. I don't have a
home. I don't have anything.'' But Aposi, 16, has plenty of competition when it comes to
desperation, especially among the thousands of street children who haunt the
business district here, as others do in many African capitals, begging and
robbing their way from one day to the next. Adoption Now! - The
Work In Uganda Adoption Now At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] People think that
it is poverty and AIDS that causes Ugandan children to leave home, but the
problem goes beyond that. I have gone
to rich families and have found out that they have lost kids to the streets,
and seen that those children who have remained at home are miserable. What they seek is *Self-esteem, *Meaningful
time and conversation with someone they can trust and model, *Love, *A sense
of belonging, *A sense of importance, *A sense of family. They need all the things that they were
deprived of at home. A New Dawn, a New
Beginning in Uganda [PDF] The World Scout
Foundation, Geneva Switzerland, March 2002 www.scout.org/en/content/download/3110/29900/file/7bl_e.pdf [accessed 3 August
2011] Recruiting young
people directly from the street, Victoria and her team quickly established
the ground rules: a “Scout” contract between the kids and the team. With a letter
of Scout membership, these kids were no longer harassed by the authorities
when they were going about their daily business. With the influence of the
Scouts Association, each kid has free health referral through the government
health system. And with the sheer logistics of daily life for a “family” of
20 children and one adult, the importance of the shared responsibility using
the Scout method became clear to all. There were a couple of drop-outs early
on, but the majority have stayed. And the 20 or so kids working on the farm
now own and sell what they produce, and live and work under their own
management team. What is RYDA? [RTF] Rubaga Youth Development
Association Document 2001 www.blackdouglas.com.au/ryda/ryda2001.rtf [accessed 3 August
2011] STREET
CHILDREN
- RYDA operates one of one of the largest street children skills training in
Uganda. The program assists children to gain the skills, and supports their
need to be reintegrated successfully in the community. Upon entering the center, the children sign
a social contract. They receive food,
health care, clothing and shelter in exchange for participation in RYDA's
educational programs (formal, non-formal and vocational skills training). The children also have to work towards
reintegration. Vocational Training
Of Orphans And Street Children International Care
& Relief ICR At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] The orphans attend
vocational training workshops where funds have been spent on tools and
equipment, technical assistance, training activities and educational
materials. This means that they can gain the skills necessary to get decent
paid work and provide for themselves.
With the incentive of receiving nourishing food, regular attendance by
the children is secured. The
Baaba Project Monica Nyakake, Baaba Project Manager,
GOAL Uganda www.unicef.org/magic/bank/case044.html [accessed 3 August
2011] AIMS
& OBJECTIVES
- The goal of the project is that the street children will be able to exercise
their rights to sexual and reproductive health within an environment where
information and services are freely accessible and their rights are respected
by the community and its members. This is based on the premise that street
children with increased knowledge, skill and confidence are able to make
their own informed choices for a healthier future. The project adopts a
variety of strategies including advocacy, capacity building and peer
education to achieve this goal. Harnessing talent:
Ugandan street youth using drama to fight AIDS Kirstin Mitchell,
Juliet Oling, Tony Onen,
Monica Nyakake & Sarah Manyindo
Kihuguru, Sexual Health Exchange. (1):15-6, 2002-1 d6dev.k4health.org/popline/harnessing-talent-ugandan-street-youth-using-drama-fight-aids [ACCESS RESTRICTED –
Last accessed 15 October 2012] [accessed 10 January
2017] ABSTRACT - Through street
and community outreach, HIV prevention clubs and training workshops, an innovative
project called the Baabas takes HIV prevention
messages to street children, the local community, and local leaders. This
GOAL Uganda project seeks to reduce street children's vulnerability to
HIV/AIDS and sexual exploitation, by providing training, resources and
ongoing support to 12 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working with this
target group. At the center of the project are 140 so-called Baabas--street youth elected by their peers from
participating street children NGOs (in the local language, Luganda, a Baaba is a respected older brother or sister who advises
and guides his/her younger siblings). The Baabas
are trained in HIV/AIDS and sexual health issues, as well as participatory
teaching methods. Bethesda
International Bethesda International www.bethesdainternational.org/ [accessed 3 August
2011] Bethesda
International exists to restore and uphold hope and a future to the most
vulnerable children by providing physical, social and spiritual needs. Due to their marginalization, the most
vulnerable children, have lost all hope.
Bethesda works hand in hand with the government to support the aids
orphans, street children, abandoned, and poor children to secure a future for
them by providing education, vocational training, and meeting their basic
needs. Kids in Need: An
NGO Solution Christopher Wakiraza, Director, Kids in Need KIN, eJournal USA: Economic Perspectives, May 2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] THE
LIFE OF A STREET CHILD
- To survive, each child in the gang had to work very hard. Some provided sex
to adults for food or a pittance; others carried heavy loads, sold drugs, or
participated in organized crime. A
Future for Street Children in Uganda? Caritas Australia
Newsletter, Autumn 2001 www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/where_uganda_story.htm [accessed 3 August
2011] AKOLUMOGEN'S
STORY -
15 year old Akolumogen miserably recalls his first
days on the streets: "Food was
getting scarce each day that we began. Left alone after my parents' death, I
had to fend for my well-being. All the heads of cattle that my old Papa had
left me had dropped off one by one and now there was nothing to feed on. This prompted me to move to Kampala where I
thought I would survive with less difficulty. Adoption Now! -
Caring For Orphans And Street-Children In Uganda 02 November 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 August
2011] Uganda has an
estimated 1.7 million orphans, the highest number in the world, and 25 percent
of all households look after at least one child orphaned by either HIV/AIDS
or war. The number of street children
in Uganda has increased dramatically over the last two decades. They spend
most of their time, day and night, on the street - begging, stealing, using
drugs or prostituting themselves to survive. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005 www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/uganda.htm [accessed 2 January
2011] [4074] A 1999 study
estimated that 5,000 children beg, wash cars, scavenge, work in the
commercial sex industry, and sell small items on the streets of Kampala. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61598.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] CHILDREN
-
Approximately 35 thousand children, known as "night commuters",
traveled from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers to
avoid abduction by the LRA. In September the UN estimated that nearly 9
thousand children commuted nightly into Gulu town
and 10,847 commuted in Kitgum. During the year the
government cooperated with NGOs to establish shelters for such children in
tented dormitories and other semi-permanent structures; in other cases
children slept under balconies or on the grounds of schools, churches, and
hospitals. Conditions ranged from harsh to adequate. There were credible
reports that many displaced girls became involved in prostitution. SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [d] In urban areas children sold small items on the streets, were involved
in the commercial sex industry, worked in shops, or begged for money. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 September 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/uganda2005.html [accessed 9 March
2011] [71] The Committee
is deeply concerned at the increasing number of street children, especially
in Kampala and other major urban centers, who are victims of, inter alia,
drug abuse, sexual exploitation, harassment and victimization by members of
the police force. It is gravely concerned at the fact that society considers
such children as dangerous people and a burden for the society. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - Uganda",
http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Uganda.htm, [accessed <date>] |
