Several thousand street children, known locally as "shegues", are estimated to live in the megacity of nearly 17 million, where NGOs are trying to give them a future. The educator has been running an outreach programme for more than 11 years for the Work to Rehabilitate and Protect Street Children (ORPER) NGO. - 'Useful in society' -Another association also works in the same district to "restore hope" to the street children through education. "When you graduate, you can become entrepreneurs," the French teacher for the Programme for Monitoring, Educating and Protecting Street Children (OSEPER) said. "I often cry at night when I think of the past," the teen, who spent several months living among a group of street children, said.
