The homeless girl

K is a nineteen -year-old girl has been attending school for the past three years. She is a homeless young girl and every night she sleeps on the street near city centre. She came to Nazareth, one of the provinces in the southeast of Ethiopia, when her mother died after a long illness and her father married another woman. K was subject to sexual abuse by a close friend of her family at the age of two and was not allowed to go to school. Life became so bitter and challenging for K. Life on the street is unpleasant and dangerous, not only for children and adolescents like K, but for all human beings. She pretends to be strong but she always cries at night. This has greatly impacted her psychological and emotional wellbeing. After spending three months’ on the street K got involved with alcohol and drugs. She then was diagnosed with bipolar disorder which is a mental illness, characterized by extreme changes in mood. However, K has never been told about the trauma being sexually abused when he was a child. Her parents have told the psychiatrist that K was sexually abused. However, they never wanted to talk about it and get involved in her treatment as they felt this would bring a lot of shame to the family.