On my way out with my mum one day, I saw some children begging on the streets. I always see children begging but on this particular day, they were so close to us, and I felt bad for them. So, I pleaded with mum to give them something. She didn’t’ want to at first, but I really begged her because I felt so sad for them. Mum told me this: “They all have the right to live a good and healthy life but most people don’t even share the little they have with them because some of them may even be faking it. She added that because of this, we always have to be careful when giving to these street children. While on our way, I thought much of what she said, and I kept asking what child rights are.
The big question – What are rights? Rights are moral or legal entitlements to do something. Child rights, therefore, are a subset of human rights focused on children (minors). For example, in the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child, Article 2 focuses on no discrimination, Article13 focusses on sharing thoughts freely, and Article16 talks about the right to privacy. When you look at the whole document, you realise that not everyone knows their right. We, as children, must be educated on our rights as humans. This is because we have many rights.
Who is a child?
A child is any person under the age of 18, no matter their gender, ethnicity or religion.
Fun fact: Someone could be seventeen years old and still be a child. Also, eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds are still considered teenagers.
Why I think children are on the street
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They were born into a family that already lives on the street
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Their parents died and they have to beg from the community
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Their family is poor and cannot afford child support so the children have to beg for money
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The government may not have child protection programmes.
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The children are being abused by their parents and are forced to run away
Dangers of children living on the street
The problem of street children is very important to our community for many reasons. Immediate dangers of being on the street include dying of hunger – not being given enough food, being hit by a car or other vehicles. Street children can also be kidnapped or made to do other bad things that can harm people in the community.
Future dangers of not having any education, not having a good education, stopping school at a point in school life – from primary school to Senior High School. This leads to not having a job or not having a well-paying job, further leading to no money or not enough money to pay rent or pay for the daily bills and family care. These people can be tempted to steal from others and engage in other criminal activities. They can even end up in jail.
How can we help solve the street children problem
Globally, it will be quite a difficult task to end the problem of street children. However, my focus in this article is how we can help in the community. We can do that by:
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Giving food and money out to the poor.
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Giving items or money to charities – depending on what the charities need.
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Starting a fund raising like Gofundme page for any street children in your area.
