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.

Others beg, from time to time a number offer sex, earning up to 500 rupees
for an hour or so with a man, under a bridge or in a room rented at a
roadside hotel. “Yes, I sometimes offer a massage but only when I need money and haven’t eaten a meal for a few days,”
Munir, aged around 11 told in a depressed voice. Munir begs near the building of Radio Pakistan, which has ironically
become a hub for runaway children, petty criminals and drug addicts. The
fact that he is good-looking – fair, with gleaming green eyes – makes him
especially likely to be approached for sex, but he insists, “I can fend
for myself. I have a knife to scare people away.”

These children are also being drawn into a
life of petty crime by those running pick-pocketing or drug-pushing
mafias. “We know such things are wrong, but sometimes the men threaten us
to join. They also offer money, regular food and protection,” Aqil, aged
around 14, says. many of the children suffer deep psychological problems, sometimes cutting themselves
with razors, alongside skin infections, sexually transmitted diseases and
problems arising from glue addiction. “Many of the children suffer respiratory problems or stomach complaints
because of this addiction,” said Dr.Sonia Qureshi of Agha Khan Hospital. She adds, “Every day a child contracts HIV and hundreds of children under 15 are dying each year due to AIDS. Street children are at risk from HIV/AIDS because they are vulnerable to sexual abuse, unprotected sex, early sexual initiation, and injecting drugs.”

Many of us come across these children daily but do we ever wonder how they end up on the street. An important question is what role an individual can play to help these children. These are just few stories out of thousands taking shape daily on the streets of Karachi, giving it an ugly look, crying at our social apathy and inability to take care of these flowers of 21st century.