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

by PhilipL.Kilbride (Author), Collette Suda (Author), EnosNjeru (Author)

New
Paperback
2001
$39.65

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.

Synopsis

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.

$39.65

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 173
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Greenwood Press
Published: 30 Sep 2001
ISBN 10: 0897898621
ISBN 13: 9780897898621
Book Overview: Gives an in-depth picture of the realities of life for the thousands of street children in Nairobi, who are only one component of the growing worldwide problem of homeless children.

Media Reviews

This 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 policymakers. -African Studies Quarterly
?This 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 policymakers.?-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.