Abstract: | Many boys, aged between 8 and 14, come to Addis Ababa from the countryside, hoping to get a better living. They find no easy niche in Addis Ababa society - there exist not many organisations for helping new arrivals - and quickly gravitate to the delinquent and pre-delinquent street boys. They are casualties of the present system and cannot be properly helped until some elements of this are changed. Within the present government context the most fruitful policy changes seem to be action to provide facilities for education, employment and welfare in provincial capitals to stem the drift before it reaches the main capital and becomes disproportionate. Rural rehabilitation is a possibility provided boys are shown a future in the rural areas. A youth corps similar to Kenya's National Youth Brigade has never received much governmental encouragement. A start would be the provision of a budget for destitute urban youth programmes. |