Resilience on the Streets: Street Children and Youth in Three African Cities

Street children and youth are creative and adaptable in response to the very difficult conditions of extreme poverty and violence that characterise life on the streets. Resilience is a useful concept in considering the complex responses of street children and youth to everyday situations of risk and harm. Resilience encompasses how young people employ capabilities as well as the many negative forms of coping, for survival. Young people use local knowledge of the city, their social relationships on the streets and support from NGOs, churches and charities to manage everyday problems. Being resilient and tolerating harm is also indicative of the vulnerability of street children and youth and their powerlessness to avoid dangerous and harmful situations growing up on the streets.