Over the past decade, the presence of children from broken homes and physically challenged people has increased at an alarming rate along street pavements, begging for food and money from passers by.
Apart from being regarded as a public nuisance by shoppers, the children, some as young as five have been subjected to all forms of societal ills from sexual harassment and prostitution to drug abuse. As the cash-strapped government has failed to rise to the occasion, non-governmental organisations have embarked on an endeavour to rehabilitate children living and working on the streets.
Abuse
Simukai Child Protection Programme is one of the leading NGOs offering street-kids a second chance to rebuild their lives. It was set up in 2000 as a community response to the plight of abused, neglected and abandoned children.
The director, Barbra Matsanga, told The Zimbabwean that it had been set up by the Family Aids Caring Trust, Scripture Union and Roman Catholic Church in an attempt to alleviate the suffering of street-children
“The streets have now become their sanctuary following series of various forms of abuse. It is only when you zero in on a child and engage them on a personal level that you will realise that it is not about them living on the street but the abuse they are facing at home that drove them on the streets.
“The HIV pandemic has actually contributed to the increase of children who are vulnerable. The orphans are left in the care of relatives who will not fend for them effectively. Normally they are denied basic rights such as proper food and education,” she said.
Prostitution
Matsanga added that others face abuse from step-mothers and fathers in various ways leading them to form surrogate families with other children on the streets. “Usually boys suffer from harassment and neglect from step-mothers. They are denied proper food, good health, time to play and all sorts of basic rights children should enjoy while many girls are sexually abused by step-fathers,” she said.
Matsanga said the children often took refuge in the streets, but then were further subjected to more challenges in their new-found havens. She said some of them are forced into prostitution and crime for survival while others are subjected to rape and drug abuse.
“Some of the girls are not seen during the day, they mainly surface during the night for prostitution purposes as means of survival. Boys end up taking drugs and are sodomised by some bosses who they don’t name. They protect the identity of these bosses as they are their means of survival,” she said.
“We recently did a health study on the kids living on the street and the results were very depressing,” she said.
Honest living
“But some of the children are engaging in small income generating projects in the streets in an effort to make an honest living, which is very commendable. You will find that most of the children are now into car washing, airtime vending, others are selling various wares such as traditional sweeping brooms.”
Simukai seeks to re-unify street children with their families and the community. “It is considered preferable and most sustainable to re-unify a child and his or her family, to place them in school, pay their fees and give them educational assistance. This would reduce the chances of them relapsing and going back to the streets as they would be gainfully occupied,” she said.
It is against this backdrop that Simukai seeks to develop children to their full potential and help them become productive and responsible members of society through physical, psychological and spiritual rehabilitation.
This is achieved through positive engagement with children, their families, the wider community and other relevant stakeholders. Simukai invites street children at its centre in Mutare everyday where they are taught various life sustaining skills, receive wealth awareness and offered food.
Training
Matsanga said they record an average of 20 children per day. Simukai is currently implementing a number of projects in Makoni, Chipinge, Saunyama, Mutare Urban and Rural districts of Manicaland.
These include advocacy work, family work, empowerment programmes such as income generating projects and vocational training. Upon their re-unification with their families, the children are registered under courses of their own choice at tertiary institutions within and outside the Manicaland province.
After a household-needs assessment, siblings of the first-line of beneficiaries are also enrolled under the skills training programme as part of Simukai`s sibling-support programme. Such enrolments are done as a means of forestalling youths leading lives of continued deprivation and economic hardships like their elder brothers and sisters.
Success stories
A total of 1,419 children – 889 males and 530 females – have been reunited with their families throughout the province and beyond.
In 2007 Simukai recorded its first graduate case of a girl who had been living on the streets. She was followed by two former street boys graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in Bachelors of Economics and Administration.
Its Chipinge branch has assisted eight youths since 2009. Six youths graduated at Tongogara Training Centre after completing their courses. Three graduated in carpentry, one in welding and two in garment making. Of the eight, only one dropped-out while another is currently studying for a degree in Agriculture at Africa University.
“These youths are inspiring other youths loitering in the streets and some have already shown interest of going for Vocational training too,” said Matsanga. Several others youths are undergoing tertiary education courtesy of Simukai's interventions.
Some are already employed in various fields such as teaching, motors mechanics, driving school inspectors, builders, welders among other notable professions as evidenced by Simukai’s records.
Simukai also offers other programmes that are not solely targeted at street-kids but are available to any vulnerable children. These include the Catch up Programme funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council. Its main objective is to assist school dropouts from primary and secondary level to get back into school. To date 597 students have been enrolled, most of them girls.
Post published in: News