AIDS is not the only story in Africa. There are many more topics that deserve just as much media attention, public awareness and international support. A couple months ago, I wrote a piece about political corruption in Kenya and the murder of Father John Kaiser, an American missionary priest. Indeed, Father John taught me a great deal, and each day he continues to guide and guard me. However, his voice is only one amongst many voices in Kenya that have left me with a reason to teach others about what why we need to help fellow nations in need. The other voices that ring in my ears are those of the little Kenyan streetchildren.

There are an estimated 100 million streetchildren in the world today. While in 1969 there were roughly a few hundred urban child wanderers in Kenya, currently there could be as many as 30,000 streetchildren in the capital city of Nairobi alone. There are both micro- and macro-reasons for this enormous boom of what Americans would identify as homeless children, in Kenya and other African nations.

Certainly, AIDS is one of the largest macro-issues because it is the root of the breakdown in the family which experts say is the largest push factor encouraging children to run to the streets. The extended family, traditionally Africa's only social safety net, has also been pulled apart by overpopulation, urbanization and negative Western social influences. All of these factors combined to form the most difficult to trace and intricately woven web of modernity and tradition, two words that are not antonyms but are treated as such in Western culture.

Journalists write about the soaring numbers of people infected with the HIV virus in Africa but spend so much time reflecting on statistical proof that they are unable to link it to other tragedies, such as streetchildren. When parents and caretakers die because of AIDS, the children are often stranded since the concept of urbanization and modernization has made it difficult to contact extended family members.

Urbanization has also been the cause of kids' attraction to large cities. The condensation of businessmen, Western travelers and big businesses all in one area lure Kenyan children to Nairobi and other cities. The Western values of greater personal independence and single lifestyles rather than village responsibilities have an effect on teens who are at the most impressionable age.

Whatever the cause may be, the consequences of the issue are heartbreaking for those who represent our future. Loving, intelligent and creatively gifted kids are left without the promise of a bright future because they are pulled away from education. Kids flee to the streets when they cannot afford school fees. Kids also flock the streets when their families need the additional financial support of the small pittance the kids can work for or cannot afford to feed the children enough food. Thus, even if they did not have to pay school fees, they are too needed at home and too hungry to concentrate.

Other effects include juvenile injustice in the form of abuse by police officers and prolonged detention in juvenile jails having the most unsanitary, cramped conditions. Kenyan policemen frequently sweep the streets, collecting and arresting kids who are begging or sleeping in the city. If they are not arresting them, they are bribing or beating them. They are able to get away with it because, in Kenya, "street loitering" is a federal offense, no matter how old you are.

Streetchildren are a problem that differs according to gender. Whereas boys might find themselves in a position of begging or working as parking boys for survival, girls in the same predicament engage in survival prostitution. Girls are therefore harassed by the police in more frightening ways than boys.

Sadly enough, it is the harrassment and negative adult reactions, not their hunger, that troubles streetchildren the most. Isolation and distrust cause them the greatest pain. Once, while I was in Kenya, a police officer stopped a streetboy who was walking with me and helping me carry boxes. He immediately assumed the boy was about to steal from me and chased him while swinging a baton. He forbid the boy to go near any white lady, threatening him with arrest, even after I protested and defended him. The kids invariably are accused of lying.

Ironically, as ostracized and rejected as urban child wanderers are, they collectively form the most solid sense of community of all groups in Kenya. They stand by each other through thick and thin in "three-musketeer" fashion. In contrast to much of the surrounding culture, they do not distribute themselves according to differences or tribal identity. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult to discern the various ages of their many beautiful faces. Perhaps that is why they are so warm and welcoming to all who are willing to spend time with them.

This is another true story: When malaria-infected Vincent of the streets became sick, he was near death. Each day he became worse, lying on one of the few paved sidewalks of the town of Kisumu, Kenya, growing colder, hungrier and more emaciated. After collecting enough money through work and petition, his family of fellow streetchildren carried him on their backs to the nearest hospital miles away so that he could visit a doctor. When they returned to their usual hang-out with Vincent and medication in hand, they took turns caring and nursing him in shifts until he became better.

No, they are not manipulative, stupid, dirty or mean. They are witty, smart, strong and compassionate. And as much as they have learned to care for themselves, they are only children. And they are our future no matter where they live.

Brittany Morehouse is a senior American studies and African studies double major with a minor in anthro- pology. If you have any questions regarding this topic or would like to see a video demonstration, feel free to e-mail her at Morehouse.1@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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