DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 27 -- TORTURE, mistreatment, and absence of motherly kindness have not been widely addressed as the challenges that force children to run away from their homes.

Marital disputes, deaths of mothers, and divorces can also join the bandwagon as causes of childrens woes.

“ I ran away from home to live on the streets and later came to Dar es Salaam as a step towards finding a better life, but when I entered, I encountered all kinds of violence, the worst of which was being raped(to be defiled) by my elders. This hurts me so much,” recounts Benjamini (12), not his real name.

He says what drove him from his home in the Morogoro region was after he encountered severe torture from his aunt, who was raising him a...