By CHRIS TOMLINSON
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 1, 2006; 10:15 PM

NAIROBI, Kenya -- On almost any day, at almost any time, children dressed in rags with bottles filled with glue pressed to their faces stake out the major intersections of Kenya's capital.

No one is sure how many children live on the streets of this city of 3 million people, but they certainly number in the tens of thousands. Many have lost parents to AIDS and other diseases. Some have been cast out of their homes. Many are runaways.

Kenya, like most African countries, depends on private groups to help these needy children.

But one group in Nairobi, the Undugu Society founded in 1973, realized it cannot take in all the children in need. So it is organizing the youngsters to help themselves, said John Mshindi, a social worker with the organization.

"We bring the children into groups of 25 to form an organization," he said while one group of boys played soccer behind him. "They have leaders and develop rules and regulations to govern them."

The groups identify the problems they face and help come up with solutions. The Undugu Society provides food and helps out, but insists the children be sober to attend the meetings.

Sniffing glue and smoking marijuana are often the only comforts street children know. On the poorest continent in the world, the children are the poorest of the poor, depending on begging, theft and prostitution to survive.

Street children describe a life of almost constant violence and fear. Stronger children regularly beat the others, police raid their hideouts, and sexual abuse is rampant, the youngsters say.

"Life in the street was so hard. Sometimes we sleep without eating, we sleep outside, we have no shelter," said Angela Onjiku, 17, who lived on the streets but now attends secondary school with financial help from Undugu. "There is a lot of raping and drug abuse."

In their Undugu groups, the street children identify other youths in need of immediate rescue, and those who want to go into rehabilitation are given the chance, Mshindi said. For the rest, Undugu _ which means solidarity in Swahili _ offers food, counseling and sports.

The organization takes in children 7 to 17 years old. They first go to a rehabilitation center to help them stop using drugs and adjust to normal life.

Then the children attend an accelerated primary school. Most get some kind of vocational training, while others will be sponsored for secondary school.

Undugu finances its operations through donations and the sale of curios, jewelry, furniture, stationery and other items made by the children in the vocational programs.

Onjiku, the teen who once lived on the streets, credits Undugu with helping her make the transition to the classroom and she has hope for the first time of attending college.

"I'd like to be a journalist and show people the street kids," she said, sitting down for an interview in her school uniform. "Take them to the slums and show them how life is."

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On the Net:

Undugu Society: http://www.undugukenya.org