Street Children In Kenya

Abstract

Street Children in Kenya provides an in-depth examination of the experiences of street children in Nairobi, Kenya. Drawing from participant observations, individual and focus group interviews, the authors, Kilbride, Suda, and Njeru allow readers to confront the harsh realities, suffering, and survival skills of nearly 400 of the over 40,000 homeless children in Nairobi. These children are part of the over 110,000 children described by UNICEF as "in need of special protection" (GOK/UNICEF, 1998). Reflecting the anthropological and sociological backgrounds of the scholars, the book's initial chapters introduce the methodology and background for the study, including a description of the study's setting, Nairobi, and relevant information on the communities studied. The text also provides information on social and cultural issues affecting families (e.g., the weakening of family structures due to poverty, the impact of AIDS, and government sanctioned ethnic conflicts), which have contributed to the rapid rise in the number of children living and working on the street. Even though only one chapter is solely devoted to the narratives of the children, most chapters are infused with humanizing accounts and perspectives on the children's lives. A unique contribution of the study is its methodology, which involved giving older street children cameras to document their daily life, thus greatly personalizing the book, since the children were allowed to tell their own stories. A more traditional scholarly analysis is presented in the final chapter, which addresses policy implications, particularly with regards to long-term, culturally framed solutions to this complex and growing problem.