News in detail...

More children being reached on the streets of Burundi June 2007

Street Action’s partner New Generation have reported on the successful development of their outreach programmes on the streets of Bujumbura and those which have been recently set up in other urban and semi-rural areas around the capital. New Generation aims to reintegrate street children and displaced children through support programmes on the streets, tracing children’s backgrounds and providing care and family re-unification.  Over the past few months more than 250 children have been provided with medical assistance and other forms of support, 18 former drug addicts (mainly former child soldiers) have been rehabilitated and returned to their communities, 24 children have been reunited with their families or placed in foster-care families, and currently 64 children and youth formally on the streets have been rescued from drugs and other related issues such as AIDS, sexual and physical abuse and hunger.  These children and young people are now in the care of New Generation and all are attending school, skills training or formal education.

A recent article on the UNICEF website reported that the civil war in Burundi has left behind over 823,000 orphans with at least 20,000 of whom are currently living on the streets’ - http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/burundi_39331.html  As a result of the 12 year conflict in the country the rural-urban exodus has been a major factor for the phenomenon of street children in Bujumbura.  Street Action reported last month that since the recent peace process in the county many people have begun to return to the smaller towns and semi-rural areas.  New Generation have discovered that this has had an immediate impact on the numbers of children living on the streets and have therefore the team have responded by setting up more outreach programmes to reach children in these areas.  Street Action will be monitoring the situation and reviewing our support for the New Generation project over the coming months.