Street Children in Kenya: Voices of Children in Search of a Childhood

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Description

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.

Reviews

"Street Children in Kenya provides an in-depth examination of the experences of street children in Naiobi, Kenya....[T]his book's publication is well timed then, given the urgency of this issue and the fact there is a growing number of organized initatives, as well as increased media attention....[T]his book will be of interest to researchers in several disciplines, including African studies, cultural anthropology, family sociology, education, and childhood studies, as well as to a wide array of readers, including human rights advocates, and policy-makers. The examination of the gritty everyday lives and mapping of the urban terrains or "geographies of exclusion"(Sibley, 1995) inhabited by these children make for compelling reading and calls upon the reader to take action or become more involved in advocating for the rights of all children."-African Studies Quarterly
Street Children in Kenya provides an in-depth examination of the experences of street children in Naiobi, Kenya....[T]his book's publication is well timed then, given the urgency of this issue and the fact there is a growing number of organized initatives, as well as increased media attention....[T]his book will be of interest to researchers in several disciplines, including African studies, cultural anthropology, family sociology, education, and childhood studies, as well as to a wide array of readers, including human rights advocates, and policy-makers. The examination of the gritty everyday lives and mapping of the urban terrains or "geographies of exclusion"(Sibley, 1995) inhabited by these children make for compelling reading and calls upon the reader to take action or become more involved in advocating for the rights of all children.-African Studies Quarterly

Author Bio

PHILIP KILBRIDE is Chair and Professor of Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. COLLETTE SUDA is Associate Professor of Rural Sociology and Director, Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi. ENOS NJERU is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Nairobi,Kenya.