‘Will we die of hunger?’: how Covid-19 lockdowns imperil street children

For millions of young people, coronavirus restrictions have made access to food, water and shelter even more precarious

Timothy, a teenager on the streets of Mombasa, wonders how he will eat. “Rich people can stay home … because they have a store well stocked with food,” he says. “For a survivor on the street your store is your stomach.”

However, says another, if the rumours are true and street children are arrested in the city during the Covid-19 crisis, he’d be happy to go to Shimo women’s prison, because there “you are sure to get free food, shelter and medical services”.

Isolation won’t protect them. The danger is that many people see them even more as diseased and criminal

Related: Ebola ‘leaves 12,000 orphans in Sierra Leone’ | Lisa O'Carroll

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ycoilk