BUJUMBURA, 26 March 2007 (IRIN) - BUJUMBURA, 26 March 2007 (IRIN) - Yves Habonimana left home at six to live on the streets. Now 25, he is disabled after a severe beating by guards who accused him of theft.

"When my mother died, I was six. I had no one else to take care of me. My father was still alive then, but he just didn't care. I decided to leave home. I followed other children on the streets. We would scavenge or beg for food and sleep on cartons at the independence square or in the stadium.

"Sometimes the police came and took everyone into custody for several days. They tell us not to spend the night on the streets, but when we are freed, we return there. We have nowhere else to go. We live on petty jobs but sometimes they hesitate to give you the job. Street children are believed to be thieves.

"Some days we have nothing to eat. Children are then forced to steal to avoid starvation. Just to forget the misery temporarily, I used to take drugs, alcohol or whatever stuff that would intoxicate me and make me sleep. I have now given that up.

"I will never forget one night in 2001. I was sleeping at the independence square when PSG agents [a private security agency] arrested me. They were on guard at a shop near our place. They said I had stolen a suit from the shop. I denied it, but nobody believed me. They tied my hands at the back and beat me. Look, even six years after the beating, I still have marks.

"My health problems started there. My legs were sore, my whole body was swollen.

"They dropped me like a bundle at the hospital. There was no one to take care of me, nobody to pay the bill. But a doctor took pity on me, talked to a company that agreed to pay for the treatment and my meals during the hospitalisation.

"When the doctor told me he had to cut off my limb, I was afraid. I could not believe I would be disabled the rest of my life. He gave me one week to think about it. Other patients told me to accept it because it was the only way to save the rest of my body.

"After treatment, I returned to the streets around the stadium. I am still there. But the conditions are even harder. My friends leave me every morning lying there, unable to move. If they were lucky, they brought food to cook in the evening.

"The other leg was also infected and very painful. A human rights organisation has offered to bring me back to hospital for further treatment. By chance, a priest bought me a wheelchair; I am now lucky enough to move.

"APRODH [a human right organisation] attempted to file a case for compensation but nothing came of it. Those who ruined my life are there, they don't deny it, why should they not pay for it? If I was not a street boy, I am sure they would have paid for the damage.

"If I get compensated, I can get a house, start a business and live, in spite of my handicap. But now even if I leave hospital, I will go back on the streets, the conditions are still the same or even worse. I will live with the same guys, the same habits, I might even go back to drugs."

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