IT is indisputable that despite efforts by the Government and non-governmental organisations to remove children from the streets, the number of streets kids has continued to rise.
As one of the solutions to address the problem of street kids, the Government initiated a youth skills training programme in the Zambia National Service (ZNS) camps in the late 2000s.
The camps provided a sanctuary and centres where the children acquired various skills that would enable them live a life devoid of drugs and other intoxicating substances found on the street.
Much as the measure has been successful, it has proved that it is not the lasting solution to the problem as street kids become even more prominent on the street.
With the advent of HIV/AIDS, the situation is even worse as many children have been left orphaned and poor with their survival dependant on the street.
Therefore, concerns by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) that poverty and HIV/AIDS are placing children in Zambia at greater risk of social exclusion and exploitation is correct.
Current statistics show that Zambia has an estimated 20,000 children working or living in the streets with most of them particularly vulnerable to victimisation, exploitation, and the abuse of their civil and economic rights.
Those who have come across street kids would agree with us that it is not only the number that should be worrying, but the environment in which they live.
Street kids in Lusaka, for instance, are forced to sleep in drainages due to lack of shelter. There is no timetable for eating as they are only able to eat if and when they find something from ‘good Samaritans’.
Additionally, street kids have been susceptible to various forms of abuse, including physical and sexual harassment, leaving them at even higher risk of contracting the HIV virus.
We realise that there are many factors that have led to increased kids on the streets. Apart from deaths of their parents, the breakdown of extended families has fuelled streetism.
Children can longer rely on their uncles, aunties, brothers, etc, which was the case in the past. Consequently, these children are forced to seek survival on the street.
The high levels of poverty have also forced some parents to turn their children into breadwinners by sending them onto the streets to beg for food and money.
It is against this background that there is need to support every effort aimed at addressing the problem of street kids. We feel the measure should start at the family level.
While we commend YMCA for the street kids project, we urge every organisation to start by strengthening the extended family system. The dying of a parent should not mark the end of the road of the child in any Zambian society where love and unity has been the basis of our existence.