William H.A. “Billy” Willbond MSM, CD
CHILDREN ON THE STREETS
The war on poverty appears lost
Small, street free Aids Orphans
Glue sniffing bag in hands
Fumes remove pangs of hunger
These waifs of the Nairobi Slum
who watch the municipal trucks glide by
Picking up dead bodies from the street
Some were murdered after dark
Selling kittens and puppies to
Passing cars – picking fleas
Standing outside of makeshift bars
Selling their bodies to perverts
In the night for bananas and ugali
The little boy who sucks a penis
And is given a cob of roasted corn
Or if lucky, 10 or 20 Kenya Shillings
A girl is slapped and beaten by drunken strangers
Who use her body and throw her aside
These children mostly go un-noticed by the
Passing crowds of busy shoppers and workers
Citizens of poverty themselves with defeated lives
Barely keeping their own children in food and shelter
And when young adults die of HIV/AIDS
Their children often find the path to the mean streets
Some survive amongst their peers of other hungry children
And some left this morning as their cold, rigid, prone bodies
Were tossed unceremoniously into the back of the white Datsun
And we in the west give little or no thought to these children
Because at times, humanity seems to be losing the war on poverty
Except that a small light shines with the efforts of the Sisters of Charity
And the ICROSS field workers who do homecare for the dying
and are trying to make a difference – will you help?
©Copyright November 4, 2004 by Billy Willbond