The boy child has lost a home in society for a while now, as Gender-based violence escalates among children, the male street child is a victim of societal vices like Rape, Child labour, Trafficking, and Physical and Psychological abuse.
Male street children are most vulnerable to Gender Violence, as they have been neglected and abandoned to protect themselves against the atrocious acts of violence they experience in their surroundings.
From an early age, many street children have been victims of rape and child labour among other vices, damaging their mental health and causing wounds that keep them in the vicious cycle of abuse.
Physically handicapped street male children, make the most of Gender violence victims who are perceived as a burden to society and paraded along the chaotic busy streets to work for their traffickers.
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BBC Africa Eye investigation exposes a trafficking Network involving poor Tanzanian handicapped children, who moved to Nairobi to begin the flesh-biting cold of the Nairobi streets.
The perpetrators successfully harbour and propel a flourished network of child trafficking in given areas of Nairobi, as smugglers are reported to be making up to $32.79 a day.
Busted on a hidden Camera, a perpetrator known as Zhenga admits how they operate, claiming that it’s a good thriving business and making out of the small boys and girls is easy as you only need to place them at points where people with money pass by.
“I’ll show you where my DPs (Disabled People) are, I live at Chege flats, I have eight disabled people, they are split between Nairobi and Mwea.
“If you are interested in starting a business, there’s no point in lying to you, you will make Ksh.4000 per day,” he narrates to an undercover investigator in Swahili.
“You are Kenyan you know the streets well, you take the kids where people with money pass by” Zhenga continued.
Pharah, a male victim trafficked from Tanzania who helps in the investigation and reveals the atrocities done to Tanzanian poor children, admits to physical abuse regularly.
“He beats me every day, mostly when he is demanding the money I have collected through the day if they don’t amount to the amount he expected.” Pharah narrates in Swahili.
It is alleged that these children are taken from their poor parents in the rural parts of Tanzania, with empty promises that they will offer them a better life and their children too.
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The Kenyan authorities have so far ordered the deportation of the individuals back to their homes in Tanzania.
“We have talked to Tanzanian authorities and agreed to round up these people and take them to their home in Tanzania,” said Nairobi police boss James Mugera.
