By SYLVESTER MWALE –

THERE is little dispute, if any, that despite several efforts by the Government, the number of street children in Lusaka and other urban centres has continued to rise. The environment in which they live has become volatile and deteriorating.
The advent of HIV and AIDS coupled with the seemingly breakdown of extended families have just worsened the situation with the lives of many children changing within a blink of an eye after the death of their parent.
According to UNICEF, Zambia has an estimated 20,000 children that are working or living on the street with most of them particularly vulnerable to victimization, exploitation, and the abuse of their civil and economic rights.
While the number is certainly alarming, there is even a greater concern with the poor environment in which these children live.
“It is a terrible environment one cannot imagine it,” said James Banda, a street children’s rights activist popularly known as Red Linso in music cycles. “You look at them (street children) you can easily tell they are desperate because they don’t know where the food will come from.”
This is hardly an exaggeration of the situation. A stroll in any street of Lusaka particularly the urban district business is always a revelation of the deeply rooted problem of the street kids.
In many cases, the children do not only appear somnolent but also inebriated as a result of different substances they consume to cope with the harsh realities of street life.
They eat whatever the street can offer.  In many cases, drainages, corridors and vehicle car parks have acted as sanctuary for the children on the street.
Mr Banda, who has been dealing with street children for about four years now, says there was need to find a lasting solution to the problem of street children because taking them for skills training in Zambia National Service camps has done very little to change the situation as most of them still find their way back on the streets.
It is against this background that the Young Men Christian Association of Zambia (Zambia YMCA) recently called for a conference on street children aimed at coming up with sustainable solutions to street children phenomenon.
The gathering was the first of its kind.
The main purpose of the one-day event was to enable stakeholders to share knowledge and ideas on how best to deal with the challenge.
The event also sought to strengthen collaboration among stakeholders working to advance the welfare of street children and to identify practices and approaches that respond to the various needs of children living or working on the street, collectively known as street children.
The conference attracted representatives from the Ministry Community Development, Mother and Child Health, which has played a critical role in, among others the reintegration of street children.
The conference also brought together civil society organisations, orphanages and drop in centres as well as the media.
Speaking when she graced the conference, Zambia YMCA president Rachel Kabesha said the association was concerned with the high number of children on the streets of Lusaka.
“The causes of this phenomenon are varied, but are often related to domestic, economic, or social disruption; including, but not limited to, poverty, breakdown of homes or families, physical or emotional abuse and domestic violence,” she said.
Largely due to the threats of profound poverty and HIV and AIDS, children in Zambia are at greater risk of social exclusion and exploitation than ever before.
The country has about 1.2 million orphans under the age 15 – 800,000 of those are affected by HIV and AIDS, according UNICEF.
The YMCA apparently established the street children project in 2009, with the aim of improving the quality of life of children and young people living and working on the streets of Lusaka.
“Embarking on the street children project has been a worthwhile undertaking,” Ms Kabesha said.
“The project does not only respond to the needs of children living and working on the street but also offers support to children that are at risk of going on to the street by providing them with educational support in the form of books and school fees.”
Poverty, lack of access to education, and unemployment have been identified as the major causes of children on the streets with lack of food and money promoting the children to abandon their homes.
One street child told the Sunday Times during the week that lack of food at home pushed him to the street. He explained that the situation become so dire prompting him to seek means of survival on the street.
“I come here to ask for food from people because there is nothing at home,” said the child who claims to have abandoned his grandparents after the death of his mother.
“But it is not always easy, because sometimes people beat us and insult, although others are able to give us food, although most of the things we eat is just taken in the street.”

•DELEGATES to the first ever conference on street children in Zambia take part in group discussions at New Government Complex. The participants were drawn from different organisations including Government.

Undeniably, street kids live in a volatile environment and have been susceptible to various forms of abuse, including physical and sexual harassment, leaving them at even higher risk of contracting HIV virus.
While the advent of HIV and AIDS is seen by many as the major cause of increased number of kids on the street, the breakdown of extended families has even fuelled the scourge.
While increased vulnerability to HIV and AIDS is a consequence of life on the streets for many children, HIV and AIDS has made children remain on the streets.
Many children who are abandoned come from families affected by HIV and AIDS or are HIV positive themselves, making their life on the street even more misserable.
In its position paper, Zambia the YMCA says communities have also shunned the children of parents who have been taken to prison, for example for the murder of a spouse.
“Without any state support, children are left to their own devices and move to the streets,” it stated. “(Additionally), the stigmatisation of parents living with HIV/AIDS, and their children, has also caused problems for those children, particularly when their parents become ill and die.”
“Discrimination against girls and young women in all situations is a major factor we have identified as YMCA that adversely contribute to the increase of female street children.”
The high levels of poverty have also forced some parents to turn their children into breadwinners by sending them onto the street to beg for food and money.
Despite identifying the various challenges affecting street kids in Lusaka, there is seemingly uncoordinated effort between various stakeholders in addressing the problems of street kids.
The project by YMCA is highly appreciated and should be emulated by other NGOs especially with the current situation where the number of kids on the street is not reducing.
There is need to ensure that those involved in programmes of addressing the issue of street kids have proper coordination and cooperation that will have a bigger impact than the current measures.
Perhaps the first measure should be going on the ground at family level to build the capacity of extended families so that they are able to take care of the children of their relatives instead of allowing the kids to be on the streets.
The death of a parent should not be the end of the world for a child.
Children should be more comfortable live with their uncles, aunties, brothers, cousins etc rather than finding peace on the street.
Additionally, appropriate punishment should be melted out on irresponsible parents who have set loose their children on the street even when there is capacity to take care of them.