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As a proof to adaptation in the street, the street child has developed their own system of
communication and living in those hazardous conditions that is fast and informal. They
know the streets and their rules to steal, that of shoes without laces, the rule of sniffing
glue, of sexual abuse, the law of the strongest in which the strongest is the leader. They
know about the violence in all relationships, even the most fraternal ones, between gang
members. They know the violence of friendships and of total trust. They know about the
situation with transient beings and night, situations where one is afraid and one tries to
avoid. They also know that the police are easily corrupted and can accept bribes and be
easily corrupt. Sam Zinnah on the Plight of Liberia’s Street Children (November 8, 2008)
stress that Monrovia street children can be placed in two major groups; working street
children and children that live on the streets.
Working street children comprises of those who leave home in the morning to sell and
the return home in the evening. These children are in many instances sent by their parents
or relatives to earn money to help with the running of the home.
The second category of street children is the children that live in the streets. This category
comprise of those who live in the streets. They do some contracts of fetching water or
washing dishes and carrying short distance loads for people, most of them are mentally
not stable; they steal and are involved in other forms of hustle. They sleep in unfinished
buildings, markets stalls, old and abandon cars, soccer pitches and just any available
places they can find regardless of it safety. For all reasons street kids are most fragile and
subtle, the most submerged in the urgency of life.
The child that is found from very early age on the street, start by becoming familiar and
perhaps even controlling small territories where he can feel relatively secure, even being
alone. From the time he joins a gang, the size of his territory expands or deepens since he
is dealing with avenues and streets which he will work non –stops with his new friends
and his gangs. Usually the adaptation centres for the street kids are bus stops, train
stations, market places, as well as places around bars and dilapidated buildings. They are
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