In East Africa, many cities suffer from an ever-growing problem of street children. Nairobi is no exception. Some children run away from poor homes, others are sent to the street by their parents to beg, while still others have no alternative, being orphaned due to AIDS or some other misfortune that has befallen their parents.

Photos above and below offer a glimpse into life for Nairobi's street children.Photos courtesy of Suresh Subramanian.

W. was one of the latter. He had lost his parents, didn't have a home, and lived on the streets until the age of 14. At that time he became one of the very small percentage of the tens of thousands of street children fortunate enough to gain entrance to one of the limited number of rehabilitation centers available. W. was thankful for the opportunity of a lifetime, even though initially he was not used to the authority and regimentation required.

In time W. came to see that there were people who cared about him. He came to trust them and gradually gained the vision and motivation needed to study and apply himself. He completed his primary education at the center and afterwards had a desire for higher studies. After a long wait, he was finally sponsored to attend a local university.