Street Children in Karachi

Miserable, depressing and retarded faces with no hopes in eyes for future, people hate talking and ill-treat them, but they are still considered part of the city. These are our street children. Living under the sun and bearing rough streets of Karachi, Ali accepts the reality of life. “I live under the bridge with my friends” his dusty black-hair and dirty dress tell a story of abondation by his family.

And his is not alone. Thousands of children are spending their lives on streets in Karachi. They have no shelter on their heads. Either begging or earning little money, they are living a despondent life. Some children are part of organized gangs that beg, sing and perform, clean trains, pick pockets, steal or peddle drugs. Almost half are self-employed. They sell flowers or other goods, work as rag pickers, at tea stalls, as porters and loaders, on catering assignments, as hawkers or other kinds of casual work. Some washing dishes in hotels, others collect waste material, selling newspaper or tea, or by selling cheap items. Most work long hours – 10 to 12 hours a day. “I am not afraid of living on streets. I sell flowers and I will go to school one day. I want to become a teacher”, said ten- years old Ambreen who is not even wearing slippers.

Street children are subject to hunger, malnutrition, neglect, physical and sexual abuse and exploitation, violence, poverty, substance abuse and addiction, theft and police brutality. They have virtually no rights and are systematically denied access to education and adequate health care as a result of structural barriers and discrimination. Many of them have never experienced and will never know what it means to have a shelter and loving family to come home to.

The ever growing number of street children in Karachi is a serious issue. According to an estimate there are about 14-15 thousand in Karachi and growing. Almost all of them are living in worst living conditions.  Street children live in abandoned buildings, containers, automobiles, parks or on the street itself. They are earning so little that can hardly earn bread even once a day. The situation with regard to street children is getting worse day by day.

The number of street children is increasing with each day passing. “I left home when I was 10,” says Nasir, now nearly 13. He has never since visited his parents, who live in a village near Sheikhupura, which is far away from Karachi. Hafeez says his father is a drug addict “and I
just couldn’t take the constant beatings any more”. His best friend,
Haneef, is also aged 13. He left home too because “my father married again and
threw my own mother out of the house. My stepmother was always abusing me
and sometime cuffed me around the head.” Hanif hitched lifts in trucks
until he reached Karachi.