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Help Grace: 14 year-old orphaned head of househould
(Family of 10)

Join our efforts to raise funds for Grace and her family. This 14 year Kenyan girl, like many in her country, must now assume responsible for the care of her siblings due the death of both parents and other relatives as a result of AIDS.

Support Grace

Support for Grace

Saturday, March 31, 2007
6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
American Legion Post # 249
2523 Martin Luther King Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46208

Tickets: $10.00 in advance or $13.00 at the door.

Country News

Kenya  Kenya
In Kenya, there are over 15,127,000 youth under age 18. It is reported that 60% of the workforce on plantations in the Central Province are children. ANPPCAN, a Kenyan non-governmental organization focusing on child issues estimated that in 1999, about 3.5 million children aged between 6 and 14 years were child laborers and a significant majority was in agriculture. Children below 10 years comprise 10% of the total child workers. Population and school enrolment figures estimate the number of child laborers in the 6-14 age group as above 3 million. A recent official study in Nyanza province found that Kisumu city had 300 male and female child prostitutes as young as eight years old. The number of Nairobi's street children is over 50,000 and the government estimates that their numbers grow at 10 % per year. These children are often involved in theft, drug trafficking, assault, trespassing, and property damage. Economic displacement and population growth continues to fuel the problem of homeless street children who often turn to crime, including drug trafficking. More than 1 million of the working children are employed in the most intolerable forms of child labor in the tourism and services sector, in plantations and mines, in domestic service, and in such urban informal sector occupations as garbage collection.


South Africa  South Africa
In South Africa, many children between the ages of 7-18 live in such adjunct poverty that they are forced to live on the streets. According to Rose (1991, p. 70), the street child phenomenon in South Africa is merely the outcome of the political system of racial segregation that has been in place since the 19408. Street children are simply described as the victims of the former policy of apartheid. It would thus be unrealistic to explain the phenomenon of South African street children in a simplistic way by ascribing it to an isolated factor such as a previous unacceptable political system. The problem should rather be explained and addressed holistically (Van Niekerk 1990), considering all social, economic, political, cultural, and educational realities. Like any other country in the world, South Africa's problems, including its street children, are unique, and must be approached as such. Although there has been progress after the Apartheid regime was dismantles, the vast majority of the people still live in substandard conditions. Widespread progress is slow. Street children often still abandoned or left home due to family violence, parental alcoholism, abuse, poverty, and personal reasons. These same conditions are what inspired the work of three women in Hartford, Connecticut, which lead to the formation of youth centers now known as Boys & Girls Clubs of America today. It needs to be noted that street children do exists and represent a worldwide phenomenon despite cultural differences. Examination of the literature also indicates that the backgrounds of street children, despite some differences, are remarkably similar. Although findings presented in a study documented by Johann LeRoux clearly make the point that conditions of South Africa street children are common among street children internationally. (Johann Le Roux, 1996).


Senegal  Senegal
Senegal has over 4,755,000 youth under age 18. 48% of children between the ages of 10-14 years are economically active. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about the number of working children, particularly those working in the informal sector. 21.8% of working children are working under slavery-like conditions. Out of the total of 88,000 domestic workers, the number of children between the ages of 6 and 18 is 33,73. Of these, 12,000 are less than 14 years old. In 1998, the specific offences of juvenile crime included 10 cases of murder (8.25% of all murders), 146 cases of serious assault (9.67% of all cases), 282 cases of all types of theft (11.98% of all cases), 120 cases of aggravated theft (12.94% of all cases), 80 cases of robbery and violent theft (19.33% of all cases), 69 cases of breaking and entering (16.66% of all cases), 57 cases of other theft (9.79% of all cases), 109 cases of fraud (6.48% of all cases), 4 cases of counterfeit currency offences. These statistics alone substantiate the need for youth services and development programs that help the country as well as protect the youth. These are the kinds of issues Boys & Girls Club programs address and do in such a way that the youth know they are cared for, empowered and taught to make wiser decisions.


Ghana  Ghana
In Ghana, there are over 9,917,000 youth under age 18 in the country. Of this number, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare estimates that 800,00 children are working countrywide. 20% of these workers are children under 10 years of age. Thousands of virgin girls are given to priests to appease the gods for crimes committed by relatives of the family in the Trokosi tradition in Ghana. A group pf college student from Tulane University conducted a research project on street children in Ghana. They reported that 81% of all children they met are illiterate or semi-literate. Most street children were amazingly self-contained. The students observed that all of the street children need food, opportunity and instruction to wash, use of toilet facilities and sufficient articles of clothing more often than they have now. Clearly, street children need a chance to become literate, a chance to work rather than beg, and the opportunity to have a safe, dry place in which to sleep. There is another need that is even more important that those already mentioned. Street children are even more vulnerable to illnesses. They are in greatest need when he or she is sick. Additionally, there have been newspaper reports of children being sold into slavery for either sexual exploitation of labor, such as 10-12 year old boys toiling in the service of fishermen in exchange for a yearly remittance to their families. These are just a few of the atrocities that impact the youth of Ghana.