Street children

Some people might wonder why there are so many street children in a town like Mwanza

Some argue that it is caused by White people wanting to do good and establishing orphanages etc, which results in parents sending their children there.

I think the answer is a bit more complicated than this.

Yes there are more street children in Mwanza than in a small place. But that is because in Mwanza they have a chance to survive, in a small place that would be much more difficult.

Also the world is getting smaller because of modern communications. You can see people running with a mobile phone and smartphones. 

But it has also caused problems. People get better education and have higher expectations than their parents, not only because of their schooling but also by what they see on TV and the internet. They do not want to work on the field and live in a house with no running water and no electricity. No, they want to go the city and find a job as a manager. However, these jobs are not up for grabs. 

As a result areas around the cities come into being where living conditions are possibly even worse than in rural areas, because in the rural areas at least you can grow your own food. And unemployment, especially among young people is very high. 

This in turn contributes to the problem of street children. Children who grow up in the suburbs (and that is not a good word in Tanzania) run away faster to find something better. And girls may be tempted to choose a sugar daddy, after which they are left with an unwanted pregnancy. This child is then often left with the grandparents in the country, but the chances are that it runs away to the city at some point, if only to find his mother.

Also values in society are changing, where before people where part of an extended family and everybody took care of everybody, this is now breaking up. People become more individualistic and do not want to care for the nephew, cousin, etc. Also single parent households are becoming the norm. This results in many households that are not making enough money to care for the children, and people still want many children as they are the social security network for your old age. And what we also see is that when a single parent finds a new partner, this new partner often does not care for the children of the previous partner.

In short, there are many problems playing a role and it will require combined efforts to address the issues.