Driven from their rural homes by family problems and lack of opportunity, more and more children are making for Addis Ababa. Alone and vulnerable, they receive no state support

Behind Addis Ababa’s most iconic public space, Meskel Square, down a cobblestone alleyway in the shadow of half-finished high-rises, lies a small corner of the Ethiopian capital known by locals as “DC”.

Nestled between cramped brothels and dimly lit bars, it consists of low-slung, tin-roofed dwellings containing rows of bunk beds. Each night, hundreds of homeless children come looking for a place to sleep, sometimes two to a mattress.