Paris ( CNN ) -- We 're at a soup kitchen in a shabby back street in Paris , next to the canal Saint Martin , near the JaurÃ¨s metro stop . Hundreds of homeless people are queuing up for some hot food and a coffee . Most of them are from Asia ; many from Afghanistan and Bangladesh . Among them are dozens of children , their grimy faces , vacant stares and worn clothes redolent of months on the road . Some have walked hundreds of miles to escape the violence of Afghanistan . They have been told to get to JaurÃ¨s metro in Paris and they will be looked after . Often the people-traffickers dump them here , feeling they have fulfilled their part of the bargain : to get them to the West . We talked to two 14-year-olds who do n't want to go on camera . They had arrived that day from Italy , after traveling through Iran , Turkey and Greece . The story they told us is typical : Their families paid thousands of dollars to send them to the west in the hands of smugglers . The journey was extremely perilous . They traveled in the backs of trucks , cars and at times walking across mountain ranges ; it took them nine months to get to Paris . Like many of the children we spoke to , they risked frostbite during their dangerous traversing of mountains in Iran and Turkey . They claimed Iranian border guards shot at them as they crossed the frontier . But despite of the risks they kept going -- lured by the promises of lucrative jobs in France . The reality when they arrive is very different . Most of them are aged between 14 and 18 years old . Theoretically the French state has a duty of care for unaccompanied minors , but these teenagers must prove their age . Often they do n't have the documents necessary to show their age , and so they are left to sleep on the streets . One charity , France Terre d'Asile ( France : Haven ) is trying to help , but it is hopelessly overwhelmed . The group estimates that some 6,000 foreign children arrive illegally in France each year -- most turn up in Paris expecting to be able to work to send money home to their families . That is , of course , illegal , so there are faced with entering the black market or surviving on handouts . The lucky ones may get a place in a reception center run by a charity . We filmed at one hostel which has just 25 beds . When we were there , 45 children turned up needing somewhere to sleep . It was cold and raining and only the youngest were admitted . The rest were forced to once again sleep on the streets . Mohammed is typical : He spent three months sleeping in a park before finally getting a hotel room provided by the French state , once he was able to prove he was 16 years old . He was lucky : his sister was able to fax a copy of his birth certificate . But many of his friends are still sleeping outside , because they ca n't prove their age . He tells me about the frequent fights between different ethnics groups -- Tajiks beaten by Hazaras , Pashtuns clashing with Bangladeshis . Muggings , drug abuse and the ever present sex-trade were all daily risks for him . His story is a microcosm of the problems that have consumed Afghanistan for three decades : He was orphaned by war and disease -- his father was killed by the Taliban , his mother died of tuberculosis . His uncle physically abused him for years until finally his brother-in-law agreed to lend him $ 6,000 so he could buy his passage to the west , but on arriving in Paris , his dreams of a job and a new life were quickly shattered . Now he has begun to make a start on improving his life , learning French , and getting his first taste of the internet . His prospects remain bleak , but at least he has a bed to sleep in each night -- unlike so many of the other Afghan children who are surviving on the streets of Paris .
Afghan families pay thousands of dollars to send youngsters to the West . Journey is perilous and can take many months . Teenagers arrive in Paris with dreams of working to send money back home . Instead , unable to prove their age , many find themselves living on the streets .