More than 600,000 children are living on the streets in Ethiopia, many of whom have been traumatically separated from family not because of neglect or abuse but because of poverty, systemic barriers, trafficking, and exploitation.

When she was only 15 years old, Ayantu* was trafficked.

Taken away from her loving parents and sent to the big city, Ayantu was forced into domestic work.

Passed around from unstable house to unstable house, Ayantu was treated as disposable by everyone she met.

Then, she ended up on the street.

Losing her father in a tragic shooting cast a long shadow over Julia's* young childhood.⁠

Not only did Julia lose her father that night, but she also began to lose her mother to alcoholism as she, gripped by overwhelming grief, turned to alcohol to cope.⁠