One of the visible indicators of our urban poverty is the number of children who continue to be pressed into service as vendors on the streets, outside the markets and frequently in the vicinity of restaurants and bars. It is a serious social issue as much as it is a reflection of a reality that cannot be wished away by moralising about it. Children become vendors in order to subsidise households that cannot afford to keep them; so they must earn their own keep.
Some children vend from just past sunup until late at night. Others sandwich school between shifts. Either way, it robs them of much of their childhood and in some cases – perhaps far more cases than we might imagine – exposes them to the possibility of abuse.
There is another way of looking at it. Child vendors have no choice, though what they lose by
