Voices of Youth Street Children

What does it mean to be a street kid? It is estimated that there are somewhere between million street kids around the world. These are people ranging in age from newborns, born into street families to youth to young adults. It is estimated that up to 1 billion people in the world live in the streets or in extremely poor and unreliable housing. Most of these people live in the worlds cities.

Why the street? For each person who lives on the street, there is a story as to why they are there. According to Earth Action, the majority of the world’s street kids live and work the streets with their families. Those who have fun away from home, have left for reasons that include physical, psychological or sexual violence at homes. Family breakdowns, natural disasters, political upheaval, war HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty are also reasons why children live in the street. Source:

It is hard to imagine what life on the street is like from person to person and city to city. In an attempt to explore the reality of life on the street, it is important to look at it though the eyes of those who live there. What follows is a selection of artwork and photography from youth who live on the streets.

Part One The following images are the result of a project called Home/Life taken on by the Homeless World Foundation. 121 kids from 11 cities around the world were given disposable cameras to capture their reality. The average age of the photographers was 13. The quotations beside the pictures are the photographers interpretations of their image. More information is available at

Haran, 17, New Delhi ‘These are street kids, just like I used to be. However, I feel bad seeing them playing cards. They should go to school. Big men were close to them, forcing them to beg and they didn’t allow them to leave the place.’

Sahil, 15, New Delhi ‘This is a photograph taken in the shelter where I live. I like the combination of the chessboard and the schoolbag, because life is not only about studying but also about playing.’

Krishna, 16, New Delhi ‘This boy is begging in between the cars.’

Archana, 13, New Delhi ‘This girl has run away from home. She is counting her money after a day of begging and has a child on her lap.’

Haran, 17, New Delhi ‘I see this boy every day. He has infections all over his body and people beat him because of this. He is a beggar. It was about to rain and he covered himself in plastic. People laughed when I took a picture of something so ugly.’

Haran, 17, New Delhi ‘These people survive by collecting garbage. I was impressed by how they helped each other in protecting their faces against the sunshine.’

Gautam, 10, New Delhi ‘I like the sharing of food between these two sisters and their brother. There are too many children who only think of themselves, and there are too many street children who steal food from each other.’

Gautam, 10, New Delhi ‘This man can’t move, but you can see on his face that he would like to do something other than begging.’

Amrian, 8, Jakarta ‘This is Fajar, the little brother of my friend Ragil. Fajar sings for money.’

Untung, 13, Jakarta ‘I asked why this young child had to beg. That gentleman said: “I don’t have a job, so the child will have to beg.”

Untung, 13, Jakarta ‘Darini doing the dishes. Darini is a seamstress in a factory.’

Part Two –Artwork by street children. –Available at

“That what I call a house”

“Friendship”

“This is what I call a children’s home”

Discussion.