About a decade ago, some 500 children roamed the streets of Kuala Lumpur at night, Yayasan Chow Kit, an organisation aiding the street children estimates.

With homelessness up by three-folds in only the last three years, the number of children sleeping rough today is likely to also be higher.

Those loitering near red-light district areas are often children of sex workers, whose parents are at work at night, Yayasan Chow Kit said.

Others are children of the working poor who cannot afford to put a roof above their heads.

The rise of homelessness has also led to a growing number of volunteer services for the community, like the Teddy Mobile Clinic, which recently won the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia award.

Here is the story of one child, told by a volunteer at the clinic:

He’s five years old and his brother is eight.

Their father is 65 years old and cannot work, and their mother is ill.

Every month they get RM300 from the Welfare Department. However, RM300 is not enough to sustain the whole family.

So every night, they'll get food from the soup kitchen, and in the afternoon they will walk around.

If they get a short-term job, they will get paid.

If they don't get any work or money, they’ll just get food from the soup kitchen - it's their only meal for the day.

This story was first published on the HUMANS OF KUALA LUMPUR Facebook page. In this photography project, Mushamir Mustafa takes pictures of random people in Kuala Lumpur, who share with him a story from their lives. It features on Malaysiakini every weekend.