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Article: On the street of broken dreams. (street children) (The Best Mankind Has To Give)
- Article from:
- UN Chronicle
- Article date:
- September 1, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 United Nations Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On the street of broken dreams
Pedro never wanted to be a shoeshine boy. He dreamt of becoming a doctor, but his family did not have enough money to feed him, let alone educate him. He left school at the age of eight to work on the street and soon ended up living there. Now 12, Pedro shines shoes in the daytime and sleeps in a park with other street kids at night. He does not think about becoming a doctor anymore; he concentrates on survival.
Pedro is not alone. Although no firm statistics are available, the 1989 UNICEF annual report estimates that as many as 100 million children live on the streets of the world's big cities.
Their number has ...