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Nabilatuk, Uganda | URN | Authorities in Nabilatuk District are struggling to contain a growing number of street children who have flooded Nabilatuk Town Council.
The children, aged between 6 and 12, have reportedly abandoned their homes and resorted to life on the streets.
Last term, the District Security Committee headed by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) rounded up over 100 street children and enrolled them in different primary schools within the town council. The children were supported with scholastic materials and free school meals.
However, some of the children sold the scholastic materials and abandoned school to return to the streets.
Our URN reporter interacted with some of the children who said they do not know the whereabouts of their fathers and were left under the care of vulnerable mothers who cannot provide basic needs. Others cited extreme poverty, especially in polygamous families, as the reason for leaving home.
When schools closed for holidays early last week, about 73 children who had endured school marched to the RDC’s office to show him their report cards before returning to the streets.
They said they have nowhere to stay during the holidays and the streets are the only place where they can find something to eat.
Linos Lotem, the Nabilatuk Resident District Commissioner, said the district is stuck with children who cannot trace their parents.
“I was impressed by their performance, but I am stuck with what next for these children,” Lotem said.
Lotem explained that the children now treat him like their father and demand financial support whenever they see him.
He revealed that he personally bought books, shoes, and other basic needs for some of them, but they later sold the items. “My intelligence found out that most of these children were abandoned by their fathers who were once deployed here as police and army officers. The officers disappeared, and the mothers don’t know their whereabouts,” Lotem said.
He said the District Security Committee has agreed to wait until the first term next year to round up the children and keep them in custody as they trace their parents to face the law.
Joachim Loduk, the LC3 Chairperson of Nabilatuk Town Council, said the issue is getting out of hand with no urgent intervention.
“We have engaged many partners, but many say the street children component is not captured in their projects. Even the district has never budgeted for street children management because of limited resources,” Loduk said.
Loduk noted that while some children have parents, they have been intentionally abandoned due to vulnerability at the household level.
He said some children are interested in education but lack support to stay in school.
Simon Achia, a shop attendant in Nabilatuk town, said that although the children are not violent, it is painful to see young children begging for food on the streets.
“Nobody cares about these children. They will be there begging, but people just ignore them. They really live a hard life,” Achia said.
Achia observed that even when forcefully returned home, the children find their way back to the streets, even during harvest season when there is food at home.
He suggested the government establish a special home where street children can stay and study instead of releasing them back to their homes during holidays.
