As a global community, people are becoming more aware of the necessity of addressing the needs of each and every child at risk. Of particular interest in this study are children living on the streets – a visible manifestation of a fragmented socioeconomic and political society. The phenomenon of children living on the streets is experienced both here in South Africa and internationally as a psychosocial–educational challenge (Le Roux
According to Rydberg (
Schimmel (
According to De Vries (
According to Van Blerk (
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Children are often the most affected by adverse circumstances because of their relative immaturity and their lack of social power (Boyden & Mann
In previous research (Moolla, Myburgh & Poggenpoel
Children living on the streets of Johannesburg are confronted with challenges mostly related to survival. These challenges are on intra- as well as interpersonal levels. Children living on the streets seemingly experience harsh realities of constantly being on the alert. However, very little research is available concerning the lived experiences of children living on the streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Thus, against the above background, the following research question was formulated: ‘What are the lived experiences of children living on the streets of Johannesburg?’
In accordance with this research question, the aim of this research was to explore and describe the lived experiences of children living on the streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg.
A qualitative design was chosen for this study to explore and describe how children living on the streets make sense of their lived-experiences on the street both as individuals and also their shared meanings with other children living on the streets.
The population for this study consisted of adolescents living on the street who visited a temporary shelter in Hillbrow frequently. The gatekeepers in this shelter were social workers who looked after the wellbeing of the children living on the streets. Purposive sampling (Burns & Grove
The eligible participants were invited to draw a picture depicting their life on the street. These drawings done by the children living on the streets were utilised as the point of departure for in-depth phenomenological interviews conducted with the participants (Moolla
Follow-up questions to facilitate the interview (Creswell
All the interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed using Tesch’s open coding (Creswell
The sample consisted of 14 male children, living on the streets for more than 3 years, who were 8 to 17 years of age.
Five major themes were identified as reflecting the daily lived experiences of children living on the streets (Moolla
Theme 1: Experiences of being a street child is a way of life.
Theme 2: Children living on the streets experience that they are exposed to risks and threats of life in all contexts of their daily living on the street.
Theme 3: Children living on the streets exhibit various emotional responses to their daily lived experiences.
Theme 4: Children living on the streets develop various coping strategies against the harsh environment.
Theme 5: Children living on the streets show resilience by striving for autonomy.
These themes are now discussed, with relevant quotations from the interviews.
Being a street child is a way of life. It is the only reality with no alternative lifestyle in mind. Children living on the streets choose to live an autonomous and nomadic life on the street rather than being neglected in the family-of-origin context. A variety of family-of-origin factors contribute to the child leaving home. These factors include: being physically assaulted by caregivers who often abuse alcohol; being blamed for no reason; poverty; abandonment and rejection by parents and other family members; and becoming orphans.
Even though living on the street is also associated with a lack or avoidance of formal schooling, many children living on the streets in this study were actually literate but had not completed their school education.
These children experience autonomy and self-reliance that stems from living on the streets. One child living on the street said:
‘It is better to be on the street … because I can get food … because I am begging … then I can get money for food … it is better this way … It is better on the street because I can make my own money by begging … and buy what I want … food … and it makes me happy to have money.’ (Participant 5, 8 years old)
They take responsibility for their lives and view living on the street as being better than being neglected by family. A participant said:
‘So this place was not too good for us because like my father he like to drink you see … stuff like this …
To attend formal schooling is seen as a stumbling block as they are ‘acting’ older than their actual age. They do not want to be treated as children anymore. As one said:
‘But when you go to school … they are treating you like a small boy. Yes … when I was staying with my grandmother…but they are treating you badly in school. So I left … they are treating us like small children.’ (Participant 2, 11 years old)
Children living on the streets are frequently exposed to physical assault, threats and verbal abuse by other groups of children living on the streets; the general public and the police. Older, bigger and more experienced children living on the streets often exert dominance over younger children.
Police harassment and assault is a serious hazard to these children. This highlights the powerless position in society of children living on the streets. A participant explained:
‘Also, sometimes the police they are coming to take us and they are saying … hey boys come here … they just take you somewhere but you can’t trust them because the police they used to beat us.’ (Participant 7, 12 years old)
Children living on the streets are exploited by various individuals who offer them money in exchange for criminal or sexual favours. As one participant said:
‘Then those people they come, they say how much? Then maybe sometimes I say twenty rand … and then the other one they come they say … I don’t have twenty, I just only got fifteen rand. I say okay … I do it because I want money you see. That’s why I leave it because I didn’t feel nice because sometimes you get the one that got lot big dick you see.’ (Participant 10, 15 years old)
Children living on the streets are also constantly exposed to harsh environmental conditions without shelter. The inability to maintain personal hygiene is another significant discomfort of living on the street and the outcome of this is the onset of dermatological conditions. The following participant said:
‘Then we sleep in the pipe there.
Begging as a source of income is frequently supplemented with stealing to obtain money which indicates that children living on the streets engage in this criminal behaviour to support their drug use, not so much to meet their needs for food. Drug addiction is an important factor that prevents children living on the streets from escaping their context and to choose in favour of a better life. A participant said:
‘When they are smoking the glue, they feeling good like they can do anything, like they are in a cartoon. They are feeling like everything is not real … so they are feeling like they are in a cartoon, they feel brave. They feel like they can do whatever they want to. It can be that they can kill people and it will feel like not real.’ (Participant 13, 17 years old)
Children living on the streets exhibit various emotional responses to their daily life experiences, which impact on them in many different ways.
The children living on the streets in this study experience a deep sadness, a longing for physical safety, maternal nurturing and care; and also a sense of identity and personal worth. Being dehumanised and subjected to the coercive powers and physical abuse by police and other children living on the streets, abandonment by significant others, seeking medical help; and being exploited for sexual favours also leads to fear, anxiety, misery and survival despair in children living on the streets. Participants said:
‘I run away every time because I am scared. They want our money, they are making us scared. We give them the money because they are scaring us.’ (Participant 1, 10 years old)
‘Yes, we are not feeling well. We are feeling very bad, too much bullying. I am feeling very terrible. Sometimes they getting mad, I feel bad. They are also forcing me to smoke. I am looking for some shelter all the time because I am scared.’ (Participant 14, 15 years old)
‘They are treating me like a slave. Whenever they buy something, then they want you to hold it, then they give you nothing, they shout and chase you.’ (Participant 12, 16 years old)
Participants showed deep care and concern for the plight of other children living on the streets. Children living on the streets also feel upset when they witness other children living on the streets – even the ‘bad boys’ – getting hurt. One said:
‘I always run away if I see the people is getting hurt because I don’t want to see that. I feel very bad and upset …’ (Participant 9, 12 years old)
Living on the street sensitises children living on the streets to the plight of other children living on the streets. It is a form of survivorship to be actively involved in helping other children living on the streets. Another participant stated:
‘You must help these children … they smoke glue.’ (Participant 6, 14 years old)
It was also noted that there was an indication of suicide ideation – a subtle expression of wishing to die and escape from the difficult life on the street by being reunited with a significant family member. A participant said:
‘I want to follow my father then … but he is gone too far …’ (Participant 12, 16 years old)
This indication of suicide ideation is likely a result of a sense of abandonment, social isolation and lack of social support in the lives of these children living on the streets. Another participant said:
‘It was very bad and I had nobody to help me … I wanted to die …’ (Participant 13, 17 years old)
Children living on the streets display various defense mechanisms against the harsh environment, which include sublimation, suppression and displacement (Sadock, Sadock & Ruiz
‘The gratification of an impulse whose goal is retained but whose aim is changed from a socially objectionable one to a socially valued one.’ (Sadock, Sadock & Ruiz
Children living on the streets’ frequent relocations expose them to significant risks and their lives are thus characterised by recurrent running away and hiding, either from their homes of origin or from personal risks, dangers and threats on the street. A participant explained:
‘Then I run away whenever I see the police car … I run away every time because I am scared and when you are small then you get bullied by the big boys, so I run away and hide.’ (Participant 13, 17 years old)
In addition, life on the street also meets children living on the streets’ primary need for social interactions and for belonging to a significant group. One advantage of friendships is social networking with other children living on the streets that may provide access to resources that addresses their primary needs and personal protection against the risks of physical assault. Another participant stated:
‘I was staying with another friend of mine who was older than them. They were scared of him you see. If they try anything like that I just tell him … he go beat them. He used to be a friend of mine … a good friend of mine … he used to help me a lot.’ (Participant 10, 15 years old)
‘A “conscious” or semiconscious decision to postpone attention to a conscious impulse or conflict.’ (Sadock et al.
Drug use allows children living on the streets to temporarily escape into a fantasy world where everything is good and where the longing for being in meaningful relationships is inhibited. Children living on the streets have to be innovative and devise ways to meet their primary food needs since they are responsible for their own wellbeing:
Begging from the general public is also often supplemented with stealing to obtain money. Participants shared the following:
‘Those friends if they want food they go out to like a Shoprite they ask food. Others go to Pick & Pay and ask there, others go to the dustbin. They do all those stuff … something like that.’ (Participant 8, 16 years old)
‘If you didn’t smoke the drugs you feel lonely … you feel like we are sick you see. You feel cold even if there is a fire you feel cold … cold. It’s the Taiwan … It’s a heroin … glue …’ (Participant 12, 16 years old)
Drug-using children use their money to buy drugs, whilst they meet their need for food by searching refuse bins:
‘If you didn’t smoke the drugs you feel lonely … you feel like you are sick. You feel cold even if there is a fire … It’s the Taiwan … It’s heroin … glue …’ (Participant 12, 16 years old)
‘… [
‘A purposeful, unconscious shifting of affective investment from one object to another in the interest of solving a conflict.’ (Sadock et al.
Citizens from other African countries are viewed as being the primary offenders of organised crime groups that recruit children living on the streets. It is difficult to verify the factual correctness of this statement. However, it may be seen as a form of xenophobia. Participants shared:
‘The Nigerians … they are buying the stolen things from everyone.’ (Participant 10, 15 years old)
‘Too many people you see … Somali and Nigerians … [
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Children living on the streets striving to be free often display defiance and perseverance against the coercive power of other groups. This is a striving for personal autonomy and perhaps also a striving to be a ‘good’ person who is not involved in criminal behaviour, despite everyday survival challenges. It also seems as though the participants in this study were not actively forced to leave home, but rather decided autonomously to leave and live on the streets. This possibly explains their assertive behaviour and sense of autonomy in their current context. Life on the street is regarded as a better lifestyle and choice than living in a difficult and abusive family context.
These children living on the streets showed a determination to leave and to escape their difficult and abusive family context. One participant said:
‘My stepfather was shouting and screaming then beating me, so I left. My mother and my stepfather … they come there to fetch me. Then I run away again and then he is beating me up again for running away. I feel happy … I am happy now … I am far away now from home.’ (Participant 3, 13 years old)
Children living on the streets in this study understood that certain actions have clear negative consequences that should be avoided by doing the ‘good’ thing. Refusing a verbal demand by the ‘
‘I am not smoking anything … not dagga and not cigarettes. I was always staying separate because the others. They were smoking … they are also forcing me to smoke but I said I do not want to smoke. I never smoked … I don’t want to start now.’ (Participant 6, 14 years old)
‘I destroy all those things to come here to Twilight to do these beads. So I want my life to be changed … I want to do something that’s going to be nice for me.’ (Participant 14, 15 years old)
Ethical clearance for this research (clearance number 254/14/09/2009) was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of a Faculty of Education at this university. Ethical measures, such as autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice, were adhered to during the research process (Dhai & McQuoid-Mason
In order to ensure the validity and reliability of this research, use was made of Guba’s (Lincoln & Guba
Other authors support the finding that street children experience being on the street as a way of life. McAlpine et al. (
More than 50% of children living on the streets report being threatened regularly with weapons, attacked physically and abused, both verbally and sexually, on the streets in order to commit crimes to get money, drugs and alcohol. If they are prostituting from the street, they are likely to be addicted, involved with a pimp and become more susceptible to arrest – all factors that quickly exacerbate their homelessness. ‘As their addiction begins to take over, they make less money and the money they have goes for drugs’ (Boyer
Children living on the streets exhibit various emotional responses to their daily lived experiences, including the experience of negative emotions and suicidal ideation. Research indicates that children living on the streets are more vulnerable to impaired psychological health than any other group of children (Tudorić-Ghemo
In a study conducted by Schimmel (
Children living on the streets develop various coping strategies against the harsh environment, including sublimation, suppression and displacement. According to Van Blerk (
According to a study by Tudorić-Ghemo (
Valji (
[
Children living on the streets show resilience by striving for autonomy. Children are often treated like outlaws by local authorities once they are on the streets. The migration to the street may in fact suggest an act of personal resilience. These children believe that ‘they have a better chance to further their own lives and livelihood in positive ways by leaving home prematurely’ (McAlpine et al.
A once-off study may not be sufficient enough to obtain an in-depth understanding of how it is for children to live on the streets.
More shelters should be made available for children living on the streets. A professional nurse also needs to be part of the team so that the children can receive health and mental health promotion information as well as support from adults. The support from adults should be to assist children living on the street to manage stress and to cope with their traumatic experiences of living on the street. The adults should also explore with these children possible other ways of living than living on the street.
Street life exposes children to a variety of experiences which can disrupt their world-view and image of reality. Interactions with the general public, the authorities and other children living on the streets, range from positive to negative. These ambiguous experiences lead to feelings of confusion, despair, helplessness and suicide ideation in children living on the streets.
A striving for autonomy is clearly depicted as children living on the streets strive to be free from abusive guardians and from the coercive power of other children living on the streets groups. It includes acts of defiance and perseverance against the coercive power of these individuals and groups. Ultimately, this indicates an attitude of hope and being a survivor rather than a victim of circumstances. The children living on the streets in this research strive to lead a morally good life which involves the ability to distinguish between good and bad actions. There is clearly the ability to appreciate cause and effect linked to criminal behaviour and negative outcomes.
Children living on the streets make a choice to engage in processes of mobility, which impacts on their actual identity. This mobility affords them a number of opportunities that enhance their survival strategies and resilience on the street. They are able to tap into a range of resources on-street and off-street locations at different times, enabled by their fluid identities.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
A.M. (University of Johannesburg) conducted the research and wrote the draft manuscript. C.M. (University of Johannesburg) and M.P. (University of Johannesburg) revised and edited the manuscript continuously.