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The Children...

Talbot Centre Children
Children from The Talbot Centre


The street children of Nepal

They are there, but most of us don't care to notice them. Ragtag bands of children sleeping in alleyways, on waste ground or on rubbish dumps. They survive by begging, collecting plastic, sorting through stinking rubbish to find a kilo which earns them 5 rupees (about 3 pence) and when they have no money they pick-out discarded food from the rubbish - a quick wipe over before they eat it - they can't afford to be fussy, it might be the only food they have all day.

Many of the children are runaways from slave-like conditions in carpet factories or from abusive or broken homes.  They suffer from disease, malnutrition and neglect. According to a UN repot there are thought to be 30,000 street children and between 40,000 to 50,000 children living in homes throughout Nepal.

By targeting schools across the country, the Maoists have both directly and indirectly affected the lives of millions of Nepali children. One of the undocumented aspects of the conflict is the growing number of internally displaced families. This has increased the number of children in the district headquarters, townships and the Katmandu Valley who have lost the traditional village support mechanisms.


Sleeping childrenxxxSleeping Street Children
Sleeping children on the streets

Children on their way to schoolxxxKids going to school
Children on their way to school


Some facts about street children in Nepal

  • The ages of children coming onto the street are getting younger, with some only 4 years old.
  • The children come from all areas of Nepal.
  • Gender ratio: 98% Male 2% Female
  • Those with no parents: 10%
  • Those with one parent: 70%

Reasons for living on the street include:

  • Poverty: families unable to provide basic needs of the child.
  • Families displaced from their villages during the recently ended 11 year armed insurgency by Maoist rebels.
  • Orphaned or abandoned.
  • Sent to work in Kathmandu by family/guardians.
  • Runaway from home due to abuse from family caused by alcoholism, poverty, family breakdown.
  • Brought to Kathmandu (for a fee) by traffickers; offering families the chance to have the child admitted into private boarding school, instead they are abandoned in unfit homes where they are abused and half-starved or the child disappears completely.
  • There is also concern that some children may have been sold for human organ transplant. 

Drug/Solvent abuse:

  • The majority of street children, from 4 year old upwards, sniff glue (Dendrite). The reasons given are: peer pressure, staves off hunger, gives relief from stress/problems faced living on the street.
  • A large percentage of street children; particularly those who have been on the street for some time, use intravenous drugs.
  • Many of the street children are infected with HIV/Hepatitis virus.

Sexual and physical abuse:

  • Because of their vulnerable situation; the majority of street children will suffer some form of sexual/physical abuse.
  • Abusers can be any or all of the following:
    ---Peer group members.
    ---Adults living on the street.
    ---Members of the general public.
    ---Members of the authority i.e. police, army.
    ---Foreign paedophiles visiting Nepal due to the lack of law enforcement for sexual abuse against ---------children.

Residential care for street children:

Apart from referral to concerned NGO’s; there is no government provision for caring for street children, as indeed there isn’t for any child-in-need in Nepal. There are only two organisations; CWIN & CPCS, which provide accommodation for street children in Kathmandu valley. They run rehabilitation centres; transit and permanent residential homes. However, the numbers of children living on the streets far exceeds places available in these organisations.

Many established NGO’s/INGO’s; working in the child welfare sector, do not admit street children into their residential homes due to some of the following reasons:

  • Lack of funding.
  • Funding for ‘specific projects’ only.
  • Lack of trained social workers/child psychologists needed to rehabilitate street children.
  • Disruptive nature of street children when placed in a residential setting.
  • Drug/solvent/alcohol addiction amongst street children.