Each Wednesday the bus of the Streetwise Foundation makes its journey. To Hillbrow, the most violent neighbourhood of the South African capital. Mr Knox, called “Bra” Knox by his friends, picks up the street kids and takes them to the Streetwise home. At least once a week, on Wednesdays, they are lifted out of the rut of their street existence. They spend the day at Bra Knox’s: playing, nattering and possibly learning to read and write a little. ‘Everybody, hand in your bottle!’ he says firmly. ‘Put it in the fridge.’ That is the condition to be allowed in at Bra Knox’s. Reluctantly the children bring out their glue sniffing bottles and put them in the kitchen. Most them write their name on it, so that at the end of the day, when they go back onto the street, they’ll know which one to take with them. They are all addicted to it. ‘You forget that you are hungry,’ says one. A sniff of the glue is the only thing gives a good feeling. And getting high especially helps against the cold during nights on the street. Streetwise, in the Bertrams neighbourhood in Johannesburg, is one of the organisations that get involved with the street kids. And then there is Sis Thoko, a female musician with a small shelter downtown where the children walk in and out, without a specific program because of a shortage of funding. More and more homeless children are moving towards the centre of Johannesburg.

Because there is always some leftover food to be scraped together from garbage bins. Because they can easily find shelter. Because they can hang around without being chased away. Many companies leave, and what remains are small businesses and individual vendors. The children beg and with a bit of luck there’ll be someone they know selling corncobs on a street corner to scrounge off. The number of white street kids has been rising since the end of apartheid, but the black children are still the majority. Like Sipho Mbazane, thirteen years old. He is one of the children taking part in the Home/Life photo project. Sipho was born handicapped. He has a limp and his malformed body is too small for his age. ‘I don’t want to live on the streets any longer,’ says Sipho. He is beaten up regularly. Sipho and the others sometimes fall asleep during the photo workshop. Not because it’s boring, but they are tired, having stayed awake and on their guard during the night. They prefer to sleep during the day. It’s safer. Sipho takes journalistic photos of everyday life. He captures the way his friends hold their noses above the glue. Photos of where they sleep and of the things they like. Football. They are all crazy about that. Most children photograph each other, but even more so themselves. ‘This is the first time I’ve seen a picture of myself.’