An Oxford author who has retold the life stories of eight Tanzanian street children now wants the book to educate pupils across the UK about poverty in the developing world.

Kasia Parham, 47, a theology graduate at St Hugh's College, is the wife of Philip Parham, the British High Commissioner to Tanzania, in East Africa.

After being posted with her husband to Dar es Salaam, Mrs Parham began volunteering as a teacher at a refuge for street children.

During a lesson, the boys began telling her their life stories and she thought it would be a good idea to turn the harrowing tales into a book.

She and one of the street children featured in the book, Emmanuel Matthias, 19, are visiting the UK this week and came to Oxford yesterday to meet city publishers Macmillan.

The book, which is backed by United Nations charity Unicef, is now being targeted at children in the UK's primary and secondary schools.

Mother-of-seven Mrs Parham said: "Emmanuel and I are visiting a number of schools this week, and I think the book will teach British children not just what it is like to be a street child, but also issues including world poverty, child labour, children's rights and HIV and Aids.

"All these themes crop up in the book and the stories are very accessible to children because it is kids talking about their own lives.

"The Swahili version of the book will also go to Kenya and parts of Uganda.

"The book is potentially very embarrassing for the authorities, and adults in general, because it questions if we are looking after our young people well enough."

Mrs Parham said the Dar es Salaam refuge, the Dogodogo Centre, was a "brilliant place", which gave street children a roof over their heads, a chance to go to school and an opportunity to find out what they were good at.

At the centre, Emmanuel discovered he was good at drawing — and he has provided illustrations for the cover of the book.

He said: "I am very happy our stories from so far away are now being heard in this country."

The book was first published in Tanzania in October and has become a useful text for its citizenship curriculum in schools.

In the UK, the Government has selected the book for its Boys into Books initiative, which is designed to encourage more boys to read, by selecting titles best suited them.

It is also on the Riveting Reads booklist published by the School Library Association.

Cherie Blair, the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrote the foreword to the book after visiting the centre in Tanzania last year.

She wrote: "As this book shows through the words and pictures of the boys themselves, despair is slowly replaced by hope, rejection by belonging.

"The stories are different, but have common themes about the loss of love and support, and the possibility of redemption and a fresh start."

All royalties from the book will go to the Dogodogo Centre.