The children in Bangkok who live on the street – runaways from home and the dangers they face
- Children as young as seven years old run away from their families as a result of neglect, abuse and domestic violence
- One Thai non-profit organisation is tracking down missing children and reuniting them with their families
Most evenings, a boy of about 14 years old appears outside a busy 7-Eleven store near Siam Square, a hub of glitzy shopping malls in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
The youth is coated in dirt, his black hair is matted, and his nails have grown claw-like. He wears unwashed shorts, an oversized jersey, and plastic flip-flops. He takes a plastic cup out of his backpack and places it by the door.
As the cup slowly fills up with coins, he sits hunched with his head resting on folded arms between his knees, or sprawls inert on the pavement. He never says a word or even looks at anyone. The boy appears sleepy or dazed, in a possible sign of substance abuse. He may be mentally impaired.
He has likely been living on the street for months – perhaps years.
“His parents are bad people,” says a woman who hawks fruits from a cart beside the store. “They sell drugs, I think.”
The teenager hails from a notorious inner-city slum and prefers roaming the streets to returning home. “I offered to take him home, but he doesn’t want to go,” says a man who repairs shoes on the pavement. “I feel sorry for him.”