HARARE - A woman with a baby hanging precariously on her back dodges vehicles along the busy road leading to the CBD in Harare. She dashes from one vehicle to another with the agility of a wild goat as she seeks to coax drivers to spare a penny for herself and her baby.
Its a daily routine for the young mother who has been tied to the streets for more than half of her life. She is 18.
I have a husband but he is not employed, so we have to combine efforts in order to take of the child, said Chenai.
Her husband directs motorists to empty parking slots and is paid according to goodwill of the drivers.
April 12 was international day for the street child, but in Zimbabwe the day passed like any other – with no occasion.
There was nothing for baby Tinotenda, nothing but the usual dicing with death in the streets of Harare. His mother does not even care about the day.
I do not know that there is a day for the street child and even if I knew I would not care much because nothing changes for us. Every day is the same, she said. Often families n the streets are rounded up by the police and taken to
a secret state farm. But most find their way back. They frequent areas like Mukuvisi and Mbare, which are out of bounds even for the police.
The woodlands have become little Sodoms as vice is rife. Sex is traded among the young streets kids and ultimately children like Tinotenda are born. Chenai says that she lives in the Mukuvisi river but refused to take The Zimbabwean team to her cabin. I cannot take you to my home because I will be in trouble for talking the media, she said fearfully, and refused be photographed, apparently embarrassed that she might be seen by relatives, who she claims abandoned when she was eight after the death of her mother.
The number of kids living on the streets has burgeoned in the past decade due to the unprecedented economic decline which has impacted negatively on families. There is no official count on the number of children who are currently on the streets but Streets Ahead, a organisation that feeds street children says that at least 40 kids drop in daily to get food. Chenai does not visit the centre. I do not know where the centre is and apart from that people say if you go to the centre you will be taken back to your home, said young mother, who does not have national identification documents.
Post published in: News