CHOKORA

CHOKORA (cho ko rah): Swahili; derogatory/slang term for street kid; trash.

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In Nairobi, Kenya, tens of thousands of children live on the streets with little food and no shelter. Their only comfort comes from sniffing cheap, highly addictive industrial glue. It damages their brains and may even kill them, but the “high” keeps them warm and courageous enough to eat garbage every night. 

 

The well-to-do citizens of Nairobi have given these children the derogatory Swahili name “chokora.” 

 

This is the story of one of them.