One Saturday morning, my phone buzzed with a series of notifications. Among them was a message from my workplace, requesting to meet some officials at eight in the morning at Kalanki. It was already 7:30, and I was still in bed. Hurriedly, I got ready and took a microbus for Kalanki. Luckily, I was on time but the person I was supposed to meet was running late.

I decided to walk from Kalanki to Naikap to kill time. That was when I saw a boy, around 10 or 11, standing in front of me, trying his best to sell food items. He was a ‘walking shop’, hanging packets of edibles down his arm and neck, and holding water bottles in his hand. He represents one of the many children roaming as highway hawkers in Kathmandu’s streets.

I tried initiating a conversation with him. But, he gave me a weird look. I asked him how long he had been working as a ‘highway hawker’ for.

“It’s been a year,” he replied. 

He told me about his family and that he worked alongside his mother and buzzed off. I looked at the boy trying to match up with the speed of a running bus on a busy road. I got goosebumps. I tried following him, to listen to his complete story. But luck did not favor me.

That morning, I saw many highway hawkers, of which some were children. I tried to initiate similar conversations, but my phone rang and I had to get back to work.

Every day, the Kalanki bus station stays abuzz with people heading to various destinations. Trailing the buses, many children under the age of 18, continue selling goods to the travelers. A recent survey found that 44.15% of child respondents said that they had to work as highway hawkers because they didn’t have any other sources of income. 

To begin the business, one needs an initial investment, however little it is. But, 73.87% of children invest nothing while others invest Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. The profit they make helps them survive or support their family. The report also shows that 77.66% of the child highway hawkers were illiterate.

Even among those who were literate, most had already dropped out from school. Children who work as highway hawkers in Kathmandu risk their lives just to manage food for the day. At an age, where education should be prioritized the most, they are compelled to work to meet basic needs. They are deprived of what they deserve as children: food, good education, and morality.