Malawi concerned with increase of street kids

Malawi’s director for child affairs Mc Night Kalanda said government is concerned with the rising number of street children in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

Speaking in an interview in the capital, Lilongwe recently during the launch of the report Situational Analysis of Street Children by Every Child, Kalanda said strategies have been put in place to make sure that street children do not return to the street once they are removed.

“We have several programmes including, the social cash transfer, calling home every child and village loans which are going to help us get the children back home. We know for sure that if nothing is done this problem will be with us for a very long time,” he said.

He called upon the media to help disseminate messages on dangers of begging in the streets.

Kalanda also said that there was need for a long-term approach to eradicate the problem of street children by having a consolidated policy which will include all instruments like the Child Care Protection Act and the Justice Act.

The report has revealed that most of the street kids in the city of Lilongwe are found along the Devil Street and Area 36 market.

The report also highlights that about 92.3 percent are boys and 73 percent are girls.

Every Child country director Brussels Mughogho said the findings in the report have shown that most of the street children dropped out of school because of lack of encouragement.

“We want to encourage Malawians not to give out alms to the street kids so that they should be frustrated and in the end they may just return home,” said Mughogho.

According to him 38 percent of the children survive on begging, 19 percent on touting,17 percent on picking bins and 11 percent do vending and a combination of other businesses.