There you are, shopping in your local town, when you walk past someone, someone you can’t help but look at, someone who you feel apprehensive about, but most of all it is someone who needs your help.

I am referring to the beggars on the street. People who have no home, no job, no food and quite often not even a friend. Many of the homeless are teenagers, and it is a dangerous world for them to live in. We cannot comprehend the day to day lives that these people lead. Many teenagers live on the streets, many of them were living in circumstances which they cannot cope with anymore. They decide to look for fame and fortune in the towns and cities.

We see them in the daytime, in shop doorways begging for food and money. But what happens to these people at night, on a cold winter’s night when they are lonely needing warmth, food, shelter but most importantly love? Many homeless teenagers turn to drugs, alcohol and prostitution. They turn to these habits to take their minds away from their problems, unfortunately the effects are short term and their problems multiply.

The teenagers want a new life, they get themselves involved in smoking cannabis, that has a short effect on them and then they want stronger more effective drugs. It is a vicious circle for these people, they need money to survive, then money to support their habits, which are increasing all the time and then they do not have enough money to buy food or try to sort themselves out with accommodation.

Often teenage boys and girls turn to prostitution. Prostitution which they think earns them money, money they think they can earn their fortune from. In reality though they are on the road to misery. Many of them will be raped. A rape which leads to heartache, depression.

Teenagers on the streets live their lives as a day to day struggle. We cannot realise what they go through. Many cannot carry on the lives that they have and turn to suicide. An unnecessary suicide. One which, in my opinion, could have been easily prevented.

In my opinion I think that we need to look at why teenagers are on the streets, we need to get to the root of the problem and help these people, enough trauma has happened to teenagers in the past, we need to prevent anything else happening. There should be more ‘drop in’ centres for teenagers to go to so they can talk about their problems, without them acting in such a dramatic way.

Is homelessness a problem in your country? How are your governments dealing with it?