Over the past decade, the capital city has grown up and up and it
expanded in all directions. The number of people is increasing
everyday as well. This is a good example for how the country is
developing. Many people had moved from the rural areas and sold all
of their livestock, farms and every thing that they had.. They
settled in the capital city of Hargeisa in search of whatever
interests them and a better life after the harsh life that they
were living for many years.
Most people now understand survival techniques as a result of
their experience with difficult life. They lost their property and
their life of poverty has had a bad impact on their children.
Many children ran away from their parents and now live with the
street children..
I conducted a survey on the street children between November and
December, 2007.
The survey was quantitative and involved a sample of 50.
DATA ANALYSIS
Table 1.
Gender distribution
|
The
percentage of distribution of male and female of street
children |
|
Gender
|
Numbers |
Percentage |
|
Male |
38 |
76% |
|
Female |
12 |
24 % |
|
Total
|
50 |
100% |
The majority of street children are males
In the background, the existence of male street children were common
knowledge and was not strange. However, a surprise feature are
females joining the street children.
It is anticipated female street children will increase and possibly
outnumber males.
The age distribution indicates that most street children are
between 7 and 15 years of age, most, 36 percent, are between 13
and 15 years old 34 percent are between 7 and 9, and 30 percent
between 10 and 12 years old. (Table 2)
Table 2. AGE
DISTRIBUTION
|
Age
Group |
Numbers |
Percentage of each age group |
|
7 up to 9 |
17 |
34% |
|
10 up to 12 |
15 |
30% |
|
13 up to 15 |
18 |
36 % |
|
Total
|
50
|
100% |
Table.3.
Educational background
|
Answer/Description |
Numbers |
Percentage |
|
Yes |
14 |
28% |
|
No |
36 |
72% |
|
Total
|
50 |
100% |
In Table 3 72 percent of street children did not attended school;
28 percent attended school. They told us during the interview that
they studied but had to drop out because of hardships.
In summary, the hardened living circumstances keep the street
children away from the educational centers.
Table 4.
Accommodation
|
Classification |
Numbers |
Percentage |
|
Yes |
8 |
16% |
|
No |
42 |
84% |
|
Total
|
50 |
100% |
Most of the street children, 84 percent, said they have no shelter
while 16 percent are accommodated at teashops and other huts at
night. (Table 4)
Table 5.
Shows how street children survive.
|
Method |
Numbers |
Percentage |
|
Begging |
37 |
74% |
|
Working |
9 |
18% |
|
Miscellaneous |
2 |
6 % |
|
Others |
1 |
2 % |
|
Total |
50
|
100% |
About three quarters (74 percent) of the street kids survive by
begging; 18 percent said they do menial jobs and 8 percent have a
variety of means of survival. (Table 5)
Chart table 3
Table
6. Shows percentage distribution of drug users and alcohols
|
Drugs
usage |
Numbers |
Percentage |
|
Smoke |
23 |
46 % |
|
Chew Kat |
7 |
14 % |
|
Both cigarettes and Kat |
15 |
30 % |
|
Others alcohols |
4 |
8 % |
|
Non |
1 |
2 % |
|
Total |
50 |
100 % |
Street children smoke and chew Khat; about half of them (46 percent
said they smoke; 14 percent chew Khat; 30 percent smoke and chew
Khat while 8 percent use alcohol and two percent do not. (Table 6)
They are therefore exposed to health risks.
Conclusion and
Recommendation
The survey has shown that the majority of street children are males
at 74 percent but there is an increasing number of female street
children.
The street children’s ages range from 7 to 15 with the majority in
the 12 – 15 age ranges.
Over three quarters (78 percent) did not attend school while 28
percent are school dropouts.
The majority of the street children (84 percent ) have no
accommodation while 16 percent live in makeshift shelters mostly at
teashops.
Three quarters survive by begging for food and 98 percent are drugs
users, including chewing Khat and smoking.
The alarming increase in the number of street children, especially
females and their use of drugs requires an urgent intervention by
society to prevent the social destruction and the crimes, disease,
as well as violence against children. We have to do something to
help street children.
