Published by participants in the Certificate in Journalism programof the African Virtual University-Indiana University of Pennsylvania Partnership. |
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| Africa Star |
Street kids in Somaliland live in very bad conditions. They lack food, shelter and medicine. Most of them are under 14 years of age and spend most of their time begging, stealing and using drugs. They have no security and are easily abused by gangstsers.
Two years the street kids were estimated at 874 and scattered throughout Soalialand.
I interviewed two street kids in Hargeisa central market.
The first, a 10-year-old boy said:
My mother left me with my father and aunt, and my aunt kept
beating me all the time. I ran away. I sleep at side walks. I eat leftovers in local restaurants, I beg and what ever money I get I buy a glue to sniff.
The second, an 8 –year- old girl said:
My mother is sick and my father is dead. I beg all day until sunset
and I bring everything I get to my mother, sometimes I do not get anything and sometimes elder boys take my money away.
A senior officer from the non governmental agency,
HAVAYOCO which looks after some of the street kids, Mohamed Ali Mohamed said in reposne to questions about street kids in Hargeisa:
Today in Hargeisa there are at least 300 street kids. There are fewer girls than boys. We have 45 kids in our center and we provide assistance to 15 kids in
their homes. We give them food, education, health and all other needs.
He added: We rehabilitated a lot of kids in that way some of them are back to their homes
and others graduated from high schools and are working with us.
Mr. Mohamed also said: We get help W.F.P and CHILD AT
RISK.
The street kids in Somaliland need help from the public, government,
business, community, and social organizations.
Zahra Yusuf Abdi
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The
African Star