Street Children in Kenya

Voices of Children in Search of a Childhood

Philip L. Kilbride, Collette A. Suda, Enos Njeru

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780897895293
• eBook ISBN: 9780313034152
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

As kinship relationships and support networks across family lines weaken with modernization, economic stressors take a great toll on children. Kenya, like some other nations in Africa and around the globe, has witnessed a rapid rise in street children. The street children in Nairobi come from single parent families which are mostly headed by women. Another group are AIDS orphans. This study documents how street children in Nairobi follow survival strategies including (for boys) collecting garbage, and (for girls), prostitution. Gender is emphasized throughout the book.

Although impoverished families are the most likely to produce street children, not all poor families have their children on the streets. The problem of street children is a complex one that calls for a comprehensive and coordinated policy and program for intervention at all levels and in all sectors of society. Alleviating poverty and rebuilding the family institution should be among the first steps in addressing the problem.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: Kenyan Street Children from a Local and Global Perspective
• 2. Methodology: Perspectives and Multiple Techniques
• 3. Cultural Contexts for Street Children: Family and Childhood
• 4. Nairobi: A City of Contrasts
• 5. Kenyan Voices: Focus Group and Survey Responses
• 6. Work Patterns, Occupational Spaces, and Survival Strategies
• 7. Community Life and Social Organization of Street Children
• 8. Personal Profiles
• 9. Suffering on the Streets
• 10. Applied: Multiple Strategies, Cultural Solutions, and the Way Forward
• Bibliography
• Index