Street Children

In Yaoundé, political capital of Cameroon, as well as in other big cities in the country there are thousands of children and young people who wander and live in the streets. It is difficult to count them but they can be found everywhere: main streets such as Avenue Kennedy, Poste Centrale, Warda, around cinemas, bars, churches, mosques....

There are no official statistics about the amount of children and teenagers but estimations are that there could be more than 1.500 children in a city of one million inhabitants

Most of them come from all regions of the country. In Yaoundé however the majority come from the northern regions. The entrance gate is normally Yaoundé Central Station where they find other more experienced street children , often becoming initiated into a new life of crime, drug addiction and alcoholism. .

This social phenomenon is a fact in all the populated areas of Cameroon but it is much more prevalent in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé. Young people escape rural areas attracted by the illusion of prosperity and modernity of the city..

In Cameroon 52% of the population is under 20 years old. In rural areas a family usually has many children, so it becomes clear that they will not be able to ensure education and health for all of them.

Their lack of access to education and other basic services makes it difficult to leave the circle of poverty. Facing this situation, and in many cases coming from broken families, these children find a way of life in the streets.

Convention for Children’s http://www.unhcr.org