Warm and cosy nights are not for everyone in winter. It is a difficult time for the children who spend night on city footpaths. The cold winds during the winter nights pierce their skin, but they have hardly anything to protect themselves. Through long foggy nights, they squat around tiny fires lit with dry leaves, twigs and, torn papers and clothes, desperately trying to keep out the chill. Sometimes, they even wrap their body in sacks. As they cannot sleep properly in winter nights, they sleep throughout the day, which impedes their daily meagre earnings.
The number of street children in Bangladesh is more than five million. Their miseries know no bounds in winter. Getting sick due to cold is an everyday phenomenon for these children. Like others, they deserve to live a happy and secure life. We should ask ourselves what is our contribution to these children. Can't we treat these children like our own children? It is important for each of us to stand by the street children as much as possible from our own place during this winter. We can do this by buying them warm clothes and blankets. Our used warm clothes can also come to their help. The media and celebrities should make people aware of these children's miseries. Social organisations can help these children as early as possible. Above all, we all must work in a way so that street children's miseries can be alleviated to some extent.
Sheikh Saymon Parves Himel,
Student of Pharmacy Department,
Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University,
sheikhsaymon142@gmail.com