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Terry Madyauta
It takes a life to live in the streets without a bedroom and blankets and good food is only dreamt of but never comes to their table. They endure tough times. No one wants his or her child to live in the streets but have you ever wondered how those popularly known as street kids survive in the streets? To them survival of the fittest, a law of the jungle is the order of the day. Living under squalid conditions they endure, where sanity is far from existence.
Together they live in small groups which consisting children of different. They walk from one street to the next in search of food and bins seem to be their only reliable source of food which is sometimes contaminated.
Has anyone ever asked him or herself how they survive various diseases and how health they look even if they eat contaminated food.
It takes a life to live in the streets without a bedroom and blankets and good food is only dreamt of but never comes to their table. They endure tough times. They are many reasons that brought them to the streets. Some left their homes because of child abuse and ill treatment while some left because their parents died. Little did they know about the importance of family, they are just a vulnerable species that needs society’s intervention to redeem them back into living a normal life.
At a tender age they engage in drug abuse and glue sniffing. At a tender age the street kids adopt bad behaviour such as stealing from people. This leads to various stereotypes that street kids are rascals or thieves but little do they know that those kids are trying to survive and they need help.
Living in the streets means you are vulnerable to all kinds of diseases and bad weather. When it rains all the water descends on them because they have nowhere to hide. When it’s cold they suffer only to be covered by large sheets of cardboard. These kids learn life the hard way.
It is painful to imagine that those kids who have no one to lean on fail to access education which some children get.
Some of them actually have impressive intellectual capabilities and talent that ranges from one category to another but there is no one to support them.
These children are part of Zimbabwe and they can make a huge impact if given an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Every child has a right to education and various sporting activities hence society should intervene and contribute towards helping these children in realising their true paths, society should pay attention and fight against this cancer that is slowly infiltrating and jeopardising children’s desires and aspirations.
In essence parents should protect their children and make sure that they are not facing any problems that may jeopardise them, they should cater for their health and welfare such that they do not live home to enter into the trenches on the streets.
Some may wonder why I refer it to as trenches but living in the streets is in fact a war against your dreams because no one could ever dream of living in the streets where sanity is not known.
Should we allow that talent and life to fade away in the streets where no guidance exists? Society should make a collective action against this.
It is worthy to fight for the life of those kids because despite them living in the streets they are still an integral part of society and they deserve better. Some of them have threadbare clothing and they walk with their bare feet across the streets of many towns. Children lose their mentality and values as they live a life full of trials and tribulations.
Most of them live in agony among bullies and it is unfortunate that there will be no one to protect them. The Government should set up measures that help those children so as to ensure that they have a stable life.
This is because those children have a lot to achieve personally and for the country at large. Everyone should partake and take collective action in helping those children who are living a wretched life to realise their true paths and live like other normal children. Together we can make a difference in this society we are living.
Terry Madyauta is a Media and Society Studies student at Midlands State University
Online Reporter