Nakib, taken a thrown piece of water-melon from the bank of Buriganga and this may be the only food for the day. Ten years Nakib said, One day I came here by launch from my village Barishal district (South part of Bangladesh) I never go back to my village because my father remarriage and my step-mother beat me most of the time. Many street children wander around by the bank of Buriganga. They look for a crumb of bread from launch terminal or fruit market. These homeless living at the edge of poverty are sons of this country too.

These children survive by picking things from the street, dustbins and other places. Street children have no parents. Actually they live on the street and die on it. Some of them have parents but have no contacts with them. Factors forcing children to the street are mainly poverty, broken family, running away from family, and sexual abuse. Nobody takes care of vagrant children. They live at stations, bus terminals, office premises and in parks, street sides or under the open sky. April 2009 Dhaka, Bangladesh

Photo:Monirul Alam