Street children reunite with families

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
A total of 31 street children who were quarantined at the Jairos Jiri Association Centre in Nguboyenja, Bulawayo at the beginning of the lockdown in March have been taken to their families and guardians, with some set to return for vocational training at the centre at a later date.

Considered to be high risk members of society, children living in the streets of Bulawayo were rounded up by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.

When Sunday News visited Jairos Jiri yesterday, the centre manager, Mr Tafadzwa Gochai, said they had tracked down the families of the street children, with all of them reunited with either loved ones or guardians after a two-month stay at the centre.

“We started with about 31 and all of them have been reconnected with their parents and guardians. All of them were given to parents or guardians through the Department of Social Welfare. All in all, I would say that the programme was a success,” he said.

Mr Gochai said some of the children had shown exceptional capabilities and would be returning to the centre for vocational training.

“Some will come back for vocational training through the help of the Social Welfare Department and their parents. This will happen when the lockdown is over. The first phase was to make sure that they are reconnected with their parents.

“The second phase will see some of them coming back for training. Some of them took an interest in activities like hair dressing, electronics and hotel and catering. They were even involved in some sports to keep busy,” he said.

Mr Gochai admitted that while they might have been apprehensive at first about taking the children into the centre, their stay there had been an eye opener for administrators at Jairos Jiri.

“Some of them have really good behaviour. When they were here some organisations helped us with their rehabilitation.

“During their stay here organisations that are combating drug use, pastors from various churches and people that ran daily workshops about vocational work all helped us.

“Our perception about who they are completely changed when they were here. We had our own fears before they came but we overcame those when we got to know them better.

“With the assistance of the Department of Social Welfare, Scripture Union, Ministry of Youth (Sport, Arts and Recreation) and different organisations we covered a lot with them including career guidance. This is why some of them will come back,” he said.

Mr Gochai said there had been no major incident while the children were in quarantine. In future, he said, street children would be a major part of the centre’s rehabilitative and vocational training programmes.

“They were here for two months. There was no major incident that was bad. It was a major eye opener for us. It helped us broaden the scope of what vulnerability is.

“When we are talking of vulnerability it is not only disability but we should include children living in the streets.

“We learnt a lot and in future when we are programming, we hope to infuse them with the people living with disability.

“The children we had here acted as a pilot project and in future we hope to continue working with the Department of Social Welfare,” he said.