THE EXPERIENCE OF STREET CHILDREN IN THE REHABILITATION PROGRAM OF AMHARA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE OF SOUTH WOLO ZONE, DESSE CITY: THE CASE OF ADMAS STREET CHILD REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Abstract

Streetism is a socio-economic phenomenon that has existed for years. Although its cause and magnitude varies from nation to nation depending mainly on the socio-economic structures, the phenomenon is prevalent in both developed and less developed countries and is one among the social problems that has gained international attention currently. The term “streetism” and “street child” has been in popular usage since the UN declaration on the “year of the child” in 1979.The concept is vague or too broad and is not as such easy to define. This has caused controversy particularly in labeling a certain group of disadvantaged children. According to UNICEF estimates, 100 million children live and work on the streets of the cities of the world. The majority of them are in developing countries: 40 million in Latin America, 25-30 million in Asia, and 10 million in Africa. Street children are mainly boys, but the number of girls is increasing rapidlly in the last decades of this century. The phenomenon of street children is recognized as a major social problem throughout Ethiopia. A very high proportion of Ethiopia’s children live in or have experienced conditions which worldwide are recognized as pre-disposing factors to street-life involvement, namely poverty, natural disasters, family disintegration, aids, war and displacement of families. Given the basic data from UNICEF’s State of World’s Children, some 1.1 million urban children between the ages of 5 and 15, whose families live below the poverty line (UNICEF; 1992). Desse is the capital of South Wollo Zone of the Amhara National Regional State. The town has suffered the full consequences of recurrent drought, famine, and civil war for a long period of time and finally it becomes home of a multitude of acute socio-economic problems. Still today more and more people in the town are exposed to acute social and urban economic poverty. Nowadays, the phenomenon of streetism in the town of Desse has become a major social problem. According to MOLSA studies supported by UNICEF, it is estimated that the overall number of children in the street of Desse and its outdoors is around 5000 and many of them are arriving from rural areas looking for job. Thus, this paper indicated that the problem of street children was not the case that should be left to one organization. Therefore, Efforts should be made by different stakeholders, government, non -governmental organizations and community based organizations and by the public