Informant38

Street children
This is a shot in the dark, but maybe someone reading this might be inspired to act: the street children in Baghdad need homes and families and as far as I can tell no one is helping them. This is a society with incredibly strong family bonds in which people look after there own; ironically, it seems therefore that there is little provision for those without the protection of a family. For a host of reasons (staff fleeing to safety, squaters occupying buildings...) the war emptied many of the orphanages leaving the children wandering the increasingly dangerous streets.

Most of the street children I talk to have horrible scars from the war, or more usually from street violence. At the moment the temperature isn't a problem for rough sleepers, but I don't know how they manage to eat. Most importantly they're lacking love and education. Many seem to cluster around the hotels hoping for gifts from foreigners. As a result the security guards treat them as a nusiance and I've heard reports of them being viciously beaten and bundled into the boot of cars.
�justin's waffle 10.10.03

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