Tales from the streets

Street children do odd jobs, sniff glue and engage in ingenious activities to make the streets a suitable home for themselves

Despite concerted efforts by the government and non-governmental organisations to deal with the problem of street children, the problem still persists. The number of street children continues to soar, mainly because of the breakdown in family units; the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has left many children as orphans and peer pressure, which leads to children being attracted by the prospects of obtaining material things to flock the CBDs in many major towns.

Creating a haven in an odd place – the streets – is the only option to survive for street children in Bloemfontein. The streets have become their safe haven and they have developed their own ideal living model.

The drive down the Nelson Mandela Drive, will lead to a greeting by a street child or people begging for money, clothes and food. The sad sight of a young boy curling up at any street corner sleeping or sniffing glue will also not be avoided.

These are street children who have left their homes for different reasons, but their need for care and protection existed long after they leave their families. There are 80 to 500 children living on the streets of Bloemfontein. It is estimated that from these numbers there are just between two to five girls but the figure is unreliable. The youngest street child is only 10 years old.

The street children have grouped themselves and are situated at the central business area within the city. These children have become drug addicts and are exposed to all sort of social ills. Some of them do not even smoke but they left their homes in desperate need of love, care and protection. Their families could not provide them with these needs and the streets have become a better home.

Mmathabang Nqoko has taken an interest in finding out why these children are on the streets. Nqoko visits them on a regular basis and allows them to open up about their concerns and the cause of their way of living, thereby finding out how they survive on the streets.

“These children have grouped themselves. You cannot gain access into their living space after seven in the evening because they protect the girls. They have decided to create their own type of living, because on the streets you cannot survive on your own, one needs to belong,” said Nqoko.

Some of the well-known branches or groups are situated in urban areas such as Willow Glen, Brandwag, the Central Park tunnel, Windmill casino, Naval Hill and Mimosa Mall. All these groups and many others get along during the day but part ways during the evening. This is like a small community that goes to work during the day but go back to their different homes in the evening.

But, why are the streets a better place for these children to live? This question was better answered by the street kids themselves. They said this is because they get their basic needs such as food, care and protection from their peers in their groups. What sounds far-fetched is that they can also get a warm bath.

Where do they get this warm water? To ensure that they keep themselves clean they wake up as early as five in the morning to take this “warm bath”. Because they live closer to drains in urban areas, they use warm water after people living in flats have taken a bath and flushed out the water down the drains.

Another strange thing is that not all of them eat from dustbins. They have developed the type of life that people within normal communities adopt. They wake up in the morning and go to work. They say it is “decent work”. In these street groups you will find talented people who are well vested in politics, good dancers and other uncovered gifts clouded by the street life.

“We have created a relationship with street vendors selling fruits and vegetable. We offer to help them carry their load from the market and help them to clean up or tidy up their business space during the evening. We make R20 a day from this and we use this money to buy food and glue,” a street kid told The Weekly.

To a normal person buying glue could be viewed as a wasteful exercise after a long hardworking day. But according to  them, buying glue is like buying a blanket. Although this glue is a drug, they say it helps them to sleep during cold nights. It makes these children feel warm when they slip into a deep sleep carrying them throughout the night and the cold will be a foreign weather condition for them at that moment.

“This is the reason you will see some of us sleeping in the sun during the day. It is only during this time that our bodies feel warm and can relax and rest better than during the night. This is not because we are busy stealing during the night, but because during the day our bodies feel the warmth and resting becomes easy for us,” said one of the street children.

Ntswaki Molaoa (21) is a girl living amongst boys in the Central Park tunnel. She left home because her brother abused her emotionally after her parents died. Molaoa chose the street as a better place to live than home.

The Weekly spoke to Molaoa about her life on the streets. She appeared neat in her white golf shirt, black tight jeans, and white takkies. She has braided her hair with a long black curly hairpiece.

“The life I left behind was better before my brother became abusive. I could no longer bear that kind of life where there was no encouragement and nothing I did was good enough. I do not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. I tried being a good girl and sister to them but I failed.

“I am the only girl in a group of boys. I know people will think these boys abuse or mistreat me but, that is not the case. Yes I have a boyfriend who is part of this group. He takes care of me, he works and we eat food that he buys from the shops. I do not eat from the dustbin,” said Molaoa.

In spite of the apparent ‘comfort’ of their street homes, reality does strike home at most time times; after all they are human and are social beings with a purpose different from other species.

“I do not have an identity document, no birth certificate. I do not know where I belong. I was raised by an old lady whom I considered my grandmother but she never told me where my parents were,” said another street kid who only identified himself as Mafereka. He left for the streets after the death of his grandmother.

“She passed away many years ago and the only place I now call my home is the streets. I cannot say I hope for a better life because I have never attended any school in my entire life. I do not even know how old I am but as you can see I am old enough to work and make a something out of my life,” he lamented.

Mafereka appealed to the public to help them where they can. He said some of them are on the streets, because they do not know of any other options. They are not delinquents but are only eking out a living. The government is generally committed to children’s welfare. The law provides for educational opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the country.

This is done through the uniform system of governance and funding of schools. It is compulsory for children in their school-going age to be admitted to schools despite lack of funding.

However, this privilege is not enjoyed by all children as the above life experiences have revealed. These street children also have the right to education, care, protection and healthcare. But their parents are either not here to provide all that or simply do not care; something that is hard to fathom.

ANCWL Motheo Region feeds street kids

Over 50 street children gathered at the Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein last week to enjoy lunch prepared for them by the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) in the Motheo region.

Members of the ANCWL said this was their way as mothers to show street children that they care about what is happening in their lives.

The MEC for human settlements and ANCWL deputy chairperson, Olly Mlamleli regretted that some parents have abandoned their children, adding that it is up to caring mothers to take over and intervene in the children’s plight. She said the ANCWL had noted that some of these children had left home because they had refused to subject themselves to their parents’ discipline.

“What is sad is that there is a girl among these children; we want to see her change one day and become a better person. We have also seen that there are people here that have knowledge of the history of the ANC. We are going to take them in and teach them to make a living for themselves in the ANC.”

These street children were encouraged to come to the ANCWL for any help to turn around their lives. Two of them will be assisted to get identity documents to enable them to vote in the upcoming 2014 elections.

The ANCWL Motheo region chairperson, Mapaseka Mothibi, said these lunches will be arranged regularly to provide a platform for these children to share their experiences and for the ANCWL to devise ways to help.

“This is going to be done every month because we want to help these children. These children come from abusive families and they never had a chance of a better life. Our theme every month from now until April next year will be mothering children as streets do not own children’. ”

Although over 50 street children attended the lunch, only two showed willingness to abandon the street life. The majority of them were either undecided or with no hope of a better life than their current one.