On the streets of Odessa is possible to meet children from different countries: Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Belarus, Prednistrove. "According to official statistics in Odessa around 3000 street children. But in reality it is only a small fraction of what it actually is, "says Tatiana Semikop, head of criminal police responsible for the children of Ukraine. No one can tell the exact number of street children living on the streets of Ukraine, but one thing is for sure - the third wave sweeping the country besprizornichestva. The first two occurred during the Civil War and World War II, but then most children have become homeless because their parents died. Most parents of today's homeless children are alive. That is why in Ukraine, a new type of street children - "social orphans".The street children find salvation from the parental aggression and violence. Together in groups, street children settle in basements, attics and sewer manholes, where they live by their own rules and laws. The price of any mistakes - life. To live - need food. To get food - need the money. Installation of such artless children receive, as soon as they hit the street. Some of them wash cars, work as porters or perform repairs. Others beg or steal. Some children end up in sexual slavery. Often the payment they receive in the form of a bottle of alcohol or another dose of drugs. Those who do not want to obey, forcing power. Adolescents living on the street, trying to brighten up their hard life with, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and glue.
What kind of offspring they leave behind? Life on the street accompanied by various diseases ranging from bronchitis and lice, finishing with tuberculosis, hepatitis and HIV. According to the organization "The Way Home, which works with street children in Odessa, two-thirds of homeless children with HIV. Homeless children are not enrolled in school not because they're stupid, but because they have nothing to wear and no money to buy books and notebooks. But more often they just do it once, as they need to earn money to survive.
