New book explores hidden life of Lusaka street children

A lot of street children living in Zambia's capital Lusaka have family and often start off on the streets as "part-timers", a new book on the topic by American anthropologist Chris Lockhart says.

"Sometimes they spend their days on the street but their nights back at home", he told the BBC's Newsday programme. But they are sometimes sent to the streets by their parents due to rampant poverty.

"They have to pull them out of schools and have them work on the streets", Mr Lockhart said.

The plan is usually for the children to re-enter education, but in many cases this never happens, he continued.

"They steal, they beg, they sell glue and other drugs, they get connected in with gangs who are into petty theft and other things like that, some informal work does take place."

His new book, titled Walking the Bowl, took five years to write and was compiled through researchers who embedded themselves into Lusaka street culture.

It is difficult to estimate how many street children there are in Africa, but many of them are at risk of becoming victims of violence and "turn up dead and murdered almost everyday", Mr Lockhart explained.

His book was co-authored alongside former Zambian street child and social worker, Daniel Mulilo Chama.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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