On the streets of Lusaka

4 November 2011

Zambia is one of the most urbanised countries in Africa, with 40 per cent of its population living in cities – including an estimated 75,000 to 125,000 children and young people who live on the streets. As poverty deepens and AIDS continues to claim the lives of countless parents, many children and young people have been forced to live, work and sleep on the streets in a highly dangerous and inhospitable environment that exposes them to starvation, sexual and physical abuse, and alcohol and drug dependency.

Street children and young people are provided with nutritional meals at the YMCA in Lusaka, Zambia

Supported by Y Care International with funding from DFID and Irish Aid, the YMCA’s Support to Street Children and Young People project in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, doesn’t just provide street children and young people with basic rights such as proper meals and blankets and clothing – they also equip them with informal education and professional skills. Older street youths and young carers are taught basic business skills to enable them to start up small businesses – such as selling petrol – which will allow them to support the younger children in their care through primary school.

A group of 30 children and young people are also being trained to deliver HIV/AIDS prevention messages to their peers, while street children and young people with HIV/AIDS (or who are believed to have HIV) are being helped to reach Voluntary, Counselling and Testing (VCT) services through the YMCA’s referral network.

The project aims to help children like Leonard*, eight, who lives on the streets of Lusaka. “My father died when I was just three and my mother stayed to take care of me, my elder brother and my young sister.” When asked why he was on the street, he explained, “My mother could not manage to find food and clothes for the three of us.”

Leonard is forced to ask for food and clothes from drivers and passers-by. “You can’t eat on the street if you are not creative and brave,” he says. “My brother taught me how to survive. I never plan what to eat because on the street we don’t eat by choice but by chance. Many times we beg for food from well-to-do people. Some of them give, but most will chase you away.”

Despite his situation, Leonard has ambitions for the future, like any other child. “I want to go to school and drive a car like the people I see driving on the streets.”

With the help of Zambia YMCA, supported by Y Care International, we hope that children like Leonard will one day be able to fulfil their hopes and dreams.

Will you give a gift today and help to provide vulnerable children with the essentials they need to build a better future for themselves?

This project has been made possible thanks to funding from the Department for International Development and Irish Aid.

* Names have been changed in accordance with Y Care International’s child protection policies.