Life in the Streets

Life on the streets is dangerous. Children face abuse, injury, disease, and death. Hand in hand with poor living conditions and malnutrition, tuberculosis is epidemic, parasites infest the majority of children, and the incidence of STDs is striking. Violence comes from all directions and in multiple forms. Many of the kids were abused in their homes, only to find abuse on the streets from older youths beating on them, strangers who rape them, and from police who cut their hair off or worse as a form of punishment. Drug abuse is common as the children seek refuge from cold, pain, and hunger in intoxication. Accidents lead to loss of limbs and loss of life.

In Latin American countries, much of the labor force is an informal one – and vulnerable children are easily exploited. They are poorly paid for jobs and often placed in dangerous situations. In need of funds to feed themselves or fuel their addictions, children – both male and female – prostitute themselves, placing themselves at risk for HIV and other STDs.

The street also leaves its mark in the form of psychological damage. In part, the damage begins before the child arrives at the street as a result of a difficult and often abusive home. Thieves by reputation and obviously unkempt, people further assault the children with their words, calling them “piranhas”. In the words of one sixteen year-old boy, “Instead of helping you, they hurt you more, they lower your self-esteem and your confidence that you can’t move on.” An 18 year-old girl described life in the street as “sad… people look at you badly, with something of disgust. When they see that you are living in the street they are afraid of you.” A study of street youth in Seattle, Washington, found that eighty three percent of street youths had been physically and/or sexually victimized after leaving home; approximately 18% of those youth met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Drug abuse further enhances the damage done by the street. Though the drug of choice varies from country to country, in Peru, it is estimated that 100% of street children inhaled glue, called by its brand name Terakol, at some point. Though not physically addictive, its side effects include the loss of personality, the inability to organize space and time, and the inability to maintain personal hygiene. Furthermore, toluene – the active ingredient in glue – can cause hearing loss, nerve damage, and organ damage. Drug abuse also leads to dangerous behaviors including aggression as the intoxicated youths test their enhanced sense of power and self-worth.

Street children are prone to physical health problem. This is in part due to drug use and risky sexual behaviors which increase the risk of drug related problems, STDs, HIV, and unplanned pregnancies. Poor hygiene and inadequate living conditions contribute to the risks of infections. Adding insult to injury, because of their inability to access health care, infections – such as tuberculosis – are left to fester. A five-year long prospective study of street youth in Montreal, Quebec, found the mortality rate of street children there to be more than eleven times that of the general youth population in Quebec. The causes of death included suicide, drug overdoses, car accidents, and infection. As the authors of the article point out, the Montreal data, while perhaps relevant to urban centers in North America, is probably not applicable to developing countries with their different social and economic environments. If nothing else, though, the study hints at the severity of the problem.