One in a hundred million
On Monday I heard Kristin and Chi Huang speak about their project helping Bolivian street children. I am haunted by the statistics that Chi presented–an estimated 170 million children living on the streets worldwide, suffering from all types of abuse (physical, sexual, prostitution, sniffing paint thinner, etc).
Kristin and Chi are doing wonderful work building homes and hiring staff to create a family structure for some of the children. It was so encouraging to see what they have accomplished, transforming some of the children’s lives. At the same time, it was incredibly depressing to realize the magnitude of the problem, and to hear the estimation that the number of street children is expected to increase to 250 million in the near future, with increasing urbanization and with current street children having more children.
I remember the first time I saw children living on the streets, I was in 4th grade, and our family was visiting Mexico City. At the time I felt how deeply unfair it was that they were begging and I was going to a fancy restaurant with my family, but I felt helpless to do anything about it.
Bolivian Street Children Project The website for their project (the info is a little out-of-date, but the project is very active).
An article where Dr. Chi Huang describes their work.