Street Children
By Alford Dillet

The number of children that roam about in the city of Freetown is on the increase and it is becoming more and more alarming to the detriment of the future of this country. It is much of a surprise that although there is a ministry responsible for their welfare, Sierra Leone’s gullible leaders of tomorrow, yet less attention is being paid to the deprived tender ages.
Street children are among the most physically visible of all children, living and working on the streets of Freetown.
Yet, paradoxically, they are also among the most invisible and therefore hardest children to reach with vital services, such as education and health care and the most difficult to protect, no one seems to care at all.
The term ‘Street Children’ is problematic as it can be employed as a stigmatizing label. One of the gratest problems such children face is their demonization by main stream society as a threat and a source of criminal behaviour. From investigations conducted in the city centre at night, many of the children living and working on the street have embraced the term, considering that it offers them a sense of identity and belonging.
The umbrella description is convenient shorthand, but it should not obscure the fact that many children who live and work on the streets do so in multifarious ways and for a number of reasons and each of them is unique with their own, often strongly felt point of view.
The exact number of street children is impossible to quantity and it is likely that the number swells time after time.
Most street children are not orphans. Many are still in contact with their families and work on the street to augment the household incomes. Others have run away from home often in response to psychological, physical or sexual abuse.
The majority are made, as girls seem to endure abusive or exploitive situation at home linger. Once on the street, children become valuable to all forms of exploitation and abuse and their daily lives are likely to be far removed from the ideal childhood environed in the connection on the right of the child. The Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s .\ Fairs and those entrusted to protect sometime becomes perpetrators of cries against them.
They often find themselves in conflict with the police and other authorities. It is however worthy to note that all children have the right to grow up in a protective environment in which all elements work, individually and collectively, to secure them from violence abuse and neglect as well as from exploitation and discrimination.
There fore as we move ahead embracing the realizations of he MDGs, we must look into the plight of the generation we often called” Leaders of tomorrow” and help them to live as children new.
遊蘯在自由城裡的孩子們越來越多了，這對當地的未來造成的損傷將不可預期。而這群孩子們卻無法享受到當地政府提供的社會福利，像是受教育或是健康相關方面等服務。而這群孩子必須去面對著社會最現實的一面，去想辦法讓自己生存下去。但奇怪的是，這群孩子是擁有家人的，但是他們卻必須出外工作以增加家裡的收入。而其中有些孩子就因為受不了家中的各種虐待而逃離了那個環境。這群孩子被一直利用著去賺錢，而使得他們不能像已開發國家的孩子，能夠自由地選擇自己想要的童年生活，這對他們來講，也許是一大遺憾……。因此，我們該做的便是幫助他們去活得更像孩子一點，讓他們能在被保護的環境底下成長
資料來源：獅子山當地報紙