Glue Sniffing in Kenya

Link to the article: http://www.africanews.com/site/list_message/34861

Even though the article I chose to write about is from 2011, I can confirm that the issue of street children sniffing glue is still as prevalent today in Kenya than ever before.  The article I chose is called "KENYA: Street Kids Sniff Glue to Survive." The article talks about how there are 300,000 street children across Kenya, and some are as young as four or five years old.  In fact, some of these children were born in the streets, while others lived in homes until they were forced into the streets.  Many native Kenyans look at street children as a hinderance to their daily life, and try very hard to avoid them.  This is because the children are often dirty, smelly, and sniffing glue.

Almost every street child in Kenya sniffs glue.  The toxic fumes are addictive, and while they provide an immediate effect to the user, they are also very harmful in the long run.  The effects of huffing glue are lack of appetite, lack of sadness, and lack of coldness - very helpful effects considering most street children are cold, sad, and hungry.  When I was in Kenya, I was surrounded by almost 20 street boys in Kisii who were all sniffing glue.  I even took some of the bottles out of the boys' hands and mouth.  When I saw five year old children sniffing glue, it really made me think about my own life and how I can help these children.  I can't even imagine being a small boy, with no parents, no home, no food, and no hope for a future, trying to merely survive on the streets where nobody cares about you.

However, seeing the street children also brought into question some other topics.  For example, what is the Kenyan government doing to help these children.  The government has set up rehabilitation centers, but they do not seem to be effective as there are still so many street children.  It makes me think that the government has left much of the work to NGO's.  This can cause a problem because most outsiders are unaware of the issue of Kenyan street children and their addiction to glue.  We have been learning in class about the problems of post-colonialism governments in Africa.  How could a government which cannot keep a budget (such as Zaire's government), a government which is so corrupt, a government which destroys infrastructure, even think about helping children in the streets? Of course, Kenyan's government is not as bad as Zaire's once was, but there are common problems throughout most sub-Saharan African governments.

In the future, I will be working in Kenya and trying to help as many street children as I can.  These kids deserve to hope, dream, and live a good life just like many of us are lucky enough to do in America.  Of course, not everyone in America is fortunate enough to live a safe life, and there are many people that live in the streets.  But the lack of action by the Kenyan government compared to the steps the American government has taken to aid the homeless, along with the young ages of Kenyan street children compared to the older age of most American homeless, make me sympathize for the Kenyan street children immensely.  That is why I cannot wait to go back to Kenya and try to fix this major problem, one street child at a time.