Bruke is a 15 year old boy who has lived on the streets of the Merkato district of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for 5 years. He lives in a small hole - a 3ft deep by 5ft by 4ft concrete culvert covered with debris to camouflage it - in the center of the main street, often sharing it with his friend Oromo. Bruke is one of some 80,000+ homeless children living in the district. Many of the children end up on the street because they have escaped from lives of indentured slavery: brought to the capital with the promise of education and employment, in reality they become part of the human trafficking circuit that abounds throughout Ethiopia.

Jason Florio: Ghosts of the Civil Dead

Bruke is a 15 year old boy who has lived on the streets of the Merkato district of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for 5 years. He lives in a small hole - a 3ft deep by 5ft by 4ft concrete culvert covered with debris to camouflage it - in the center of the main street, often sharing it with his friend Oromo. Bruke is one of some 80,000+ homeless children living in the district. Many of the children end up on the street because they have escaped from lives of indentured slavery: brought to the capital with the promise of education and employment, in reality they become part of the human trafficking circuit that abounds throughout Ethiopia.

FROM THE FEATURE

Jason Florio: Ghosts of the Civil Dead