Unplanned urban growth, urban migration and disruption of the traditional family structure are all elements that concur in creating absolute forms of poverty and social deprivation. In the Khulna city area migrant families tend to survive on unstable forms of under-employment, in overcrowded shanty dwellings and in extreme poverty. The urban poor have to endure economic and social deprivation, characterized by ill health, lack of security, absence of schooling and a deteriorating environment. Among the urban poor children are the most vulnerable group. They are either forced on the streets, or, in the case of some girls, exploited as domestic slaves in the houses of wealthy families.
	The plight of street children is one of the most dreadful manifestations of the injustice of poverty and exclusion. They survive on the margins of society relaying only own their own efforts. They work recycling rubbish, begging, peddling, washing busses or doing any sort of thing that would earn them some food. Quite often children's rights are at best ignored and at worst trampled upon through indifference, economic exploitation, and sexual and physical abuse. They are often recruited by criminal organisations to serve as drug peddlers. Easily they become drug users at a very early age.
	Tokai is one of the names used for street children in Bangladesh. "Tokai kora", in Bengali language, means to pick up discarded things and "Tokai" is the name given to those who do that. It is a very appropriate name for street children in Khulna, since they survive on the streets recycling rubbish and left over bits and pieces. Since 1995 the Tokai House has become a refuge for about eighty boys and girls. The children staying at the Tokai House are those who are beginning to ge settled. They attend school and have a chance to grow up in a safe environment. The centre provides them with food, clothing and health care. They are also encouraged to re-connect with their families or whoever they have got left of it.
	Linked to the Tokai House we also run a night refuge for drifting children. Children come in touch with us for the first time at the Castle Salaam Centre or on the streets. This is the starting point of a relationship that later on may lead them to decide to get settled and attend school. In such case, we encourage them to join us at the Tokai House. At the Castle Salaam Centre children can come and go as they like, we offer them some space to spend the night if they need to and we also monitor and deal with their health problems.
	Since the year 2000 we have also opened the Meeder Bari (girls house) for girls of the Tokai House in their teens. We felt the need to offer them a separate space in order to help them to defend themselves from either been married at an early age or been sexually abused and recruited into the prostitution racket. Girls at the Meeder Bari are offered the same kind of service as at the Tokai House.