Spare a Thought for the Street Children
Many times, New Year's Resolutions fall apart at this time of year - a few weeks into January, towards the middle of February. If yours has already gone to the wayside, it's not too late to make another - a new one that involves others. Maybe the responsibility of not wanting to break a promise to someone else, would make for a long lasting resolution.
During the current existing credit crunch, it is easy for us to forget about the vast amount of people in the world, who are more needy than ourselves. We're all taken up, and rightly so, with providing for our children and doing the best we can to save money in order to brace ourselves for the existing and potential economic free fall.
However, how are the people in poorer parts of the world - who've started with nothing, coping? Are they providing for their children, or are they left to live in the street?
While the occurrence of street children is not a new phenomenon, the downturn of the world's finances can leave many of them in a worse state than they already are.
Who are the street children
Far from our world of comfort and luxury, 100 to 150 millions children carry out their daily lives in the open streets. These children tend have been totally or partially abandoned by their parents and other protective adults, and scrape around for food and other necessities for themselves. They take shelter either in the streets themselves, or in abandoned buildings, containerss or vehicles.
Many street children(who are mainly under 12, and as young as 4) haveno adult supervision or care. A small number of them go home at the end of the day and contribute their ‘takings' to their family's upkeep, but the vast number of street children live permanently on the streets on their own, and are invariably subject to abuse and exploitation - and in extreme cases - even murder.
While the majority of street kids are in found in developing countries, many are found in rich states like Germany (10,000) and the USA (up to 1 million). I've personally seen street children in New Orleans
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