Life on the streets of Durban: No millionaire ending

Abstract

This article discusses the experiences and survival strategies of children and youth living on the streets of Durban. The use of triangulation, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative research and multiple methods of data collection allowed many children and youth to participate in the study, and enhanced its reliability. Despite the intensity and extent of problems in their home environments, the participants did not experience street life as a better option. In their comparison, home, shelter and street were equally worse and, contrary to participants' views in MacDonald's and Terblanche's (2011) study, street life was certainly for them "no millionaire ending".