Children forced on the streets by drought will be frightened, hungry and exhausted - you can help them avoid further suffering by helping us to be prepared. The worst drought in the horn of Africa for 60 years is forcing children away from their homes and to the streets. We are desperate to ensure Retrak is prepared and equipped to help as many of the children as possible. Help us to ensure that these children have a real alternative to life on the streets.
As children flee their homes to escape the famines many of them will come to the streets of the cities to find food and a new life. But these children face loneliness, malnutrition and abuse as they join the thousands of children who already live on the streets. We want to be ready to act quickly as children arrive on the streets. We will provide imediate care as well as offer them a real alternative to life on the streets. We will work to get these children back into a family environment.
Retrak provides street outreach, sports, medical care, food and shelter, counseling, education, resettlement with a childs family or foster carer and vocational training. Through these programs Retrak will enable each individual child to have a real alternative to life on the streets and help them to realize their potential and discover their worth.
For each street child that is helped we estimate that three more members of the community (parents, siblings, teachers, neighbours) will indirectly benefit from Retrak's support. There are 11,000 children living on the streets of the capital of Ethiopia and this appeal will help us respond to the increase in numbers. We want to act quickly before the children fleeing the drought get drawn into the dangers of street life.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
