Stolen childhood

Swagga T recently in Bindura
One Chinese proverb says “One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.”
Essentially, it underlines the roles that parents and children have, specifically the former’s investment in, and nurturing the latter.
But certain circumstances conspire to make parents of children before their time.
This is the curse of child-headed families.

A child headed family can be defined as one in which both parents have died and the children have not found alternative guardians within the extended family or community. The HIV pandemic in the country has led to the prevalence of child-headed families as the eldest child becomes head of the household.

A recent visit to Bindura by Cool Lifestyle opened our eyes to a particularly sad view of the problem.
CLS met one family headed by 17-year-old Tatenda (not his real name) and her two young siblings, Susan (11), Zvikomborero aged six.
The trio found themselves alone after their parents died in 2010.

Tatenda said members of Chiwaridzo community tried to care for the kids as much as they could, but the community itself was struggling.
“Promise me that you won’t put my picture in the paper because I am ashamed of what my friends will say about me. We receive food from well-wishers but the challenge is when some donors visit our area we are secluded because some adults don’t want us to benefit,” she said.

Tatenda said they left school in 2010, because of financial constraints.
“Our parents died of HIV- related illnesses and some friends left us. We used to go to school. For now we are teaching ourselves with books that we got from UNICEF but we know that our road leads to nowhere. You are lucky to find us here because we move around a lot trying to just get by,” she said.

Tatenda and her siblings have to work on farms or collect water for other families to earn some money to buy food. They also grow some fresh produce.

“We sell cabbages and tomatoes. We have our own garden,” she said.
Tichaona (11) comes from another child-headed family in Chiwaridzo Township.

With his brother, they catch fish in the nearby river and sell the surplus. Tichaona is thankful that his aunt is taking care of his four sisters while he and his brother fend for themselves. It would have been difficult with the girls around.

Various challenges confront child-headed families as they not only lack parent figures of authority which tends to affect their psychological well-being, their morality and development. The children have to take on adult-sized physical and mental tasks. Just think of all the things that your parents do for you.

Children growing under these circumstances are prone to abuse by strangers and neighbours as they lack protection and the ability to protect themselves.

Announcing results from recent studies, the organisation, OVC-Wellbeing stated that, “Many children from child-headed households lived in poverty, experienced psychological and emotional problems, received limited or no support from relatives and had irregular school attendance. Children heading households face ongoing challenges in relation to fulfilling their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and security.”

So make a resolution to share one thing with a parentless child today. No matter how small your gift, you will make a difference and put a smile on a face that often cries.