the-hole: Bruke is a 15 year old boy who has lived on the streets of Merkato area of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for 5 years. He is one of an approximate 80,000 children that are homeless in the capital. Bruke lives in a small hole in the center of the main street in the Merkato, often sharing it with his friend Oromo. He works for leftover food scraps from local restautants in exchange for dumping their trash or carrying supplies. The boys wash their clothes , eat and sleep on the streets. Many of the children end up on the street because they have escaped from lives of endentured slavery. Often brought to Addis from the countryside by relatives and neighbours with the promise of education and employment - in reality they become part of the human trafficking circuit that abounds through Ethiopia.
