Tanzanian Street Children

The life of young boys in Tanzania is not always easy: if their mother remarries, the new father doesn't want other males in the house so they are forced to run away from home, usually at a very young age; or if their mother dies and they have to live with other relatives they are usually subjected to such physical violence that they willfully become "Street Children". These boys try to reach big cities where it's easier to beg for money or food, walking hundreds of kilometres and passing through many dangers. In Mwanza, a big city in Tanzania, there's a centre, where these boys are welcomed, and where I did service in these months. I see the concept of "Street" in the lives of these children that had to spend a period of their lives there and learned how to take care of themselves, and I wanted to report, through photography, what's behind the child that begs on the streets. The most important characteristic that can be observed by spending time with them is the big emotional contrast that comes with leaving home at a young age: on one hand the need to be children, play with others, and be carefree; but, on the other hand, there are the strong negative emotions that they still don't know how to cope with, so they usually suddendly change from being playful to being violent with each other. "Mimi napenda Mungu kuliko mama yangu, Mungu ananilinda, sio mama" Fediliki, 11 "I love God more than my mother, God watches over me, my mother doesn't"