From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:ZIMBABWE: STREET KIDS LIVING IN THE JET-SET AGE
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 23:48:25 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Opecna Morning Transmission
Title: ZIMBABWE: STREET KIDS LIVING IN THE JET-SET AGE


an inter press service feature

by gumisai mutume

bulawayo, jan 14 (ips) -- by the day 10-year-old mathamani ncube
is a beggar on the streets of this city but after hours he goes
back to a 17,000-dollar house he calls home.

ncube's story is far from the usual rags-to-riches storis.
abandoned by a relative on the streets bulawayo -- zimbabwe's
second largest city -- he spent three years on the fast lane
until he hooked up with friends last year who took him to his
new home.

''i came from nkayi (a rural area) with my grandfather and we
used to stay together at the railway station. but when he got a
job out of town he left me to go it alone'', says ncube.

the house, complete with a telephone, is a large 10-roomed
property just outside the city centre which houses street kids,
and is affectionately known by its inmates as ''emthunzini we
themba'' (shelter of hope).

with 13 inmates, aged between 10 and 21 staying at the
centre, emthunzini we themba is an attempt to avoid the ''menace
attitude other towns have adopted on the street children
problem.

''in bulawayo, (500 km south of the capital, harare) we are
trying to deal with our street kid problem differently from other
cities'', says david ndoda, who runs the home with his wife
margaret.

''they are our children and they are not beyond
rehabilitation. they literally look after themselves. they do
their own washing, cooking and grow their own food. they do not
deserve to be locked up''.

in 1990 a committee of bulawayo citizens, concerned about the
growing number of children forced onto the streets by a harsh
socio-economic environment, began feeding the kids in the open.

''at the start we had no structure to shelter them in. we lost
16 to the police for crimes we don't know, and two decided to
leave and live together as husband and wife'', ndoda told ips.

in october last year, the committee was finally able to rent
the present premises at 100 u.s. dollars a month, but would need
17 000 u.s. dollars to buy out its owners. (more/ips)

zimbabwe: street (2)

mathamani could be well housed here but at ten, he has never
been to school and ndoda says he might end up in night school as
the authorities say he is too old to go into formal education.

the centre has been able to place four of the children in
schools while the rest have chosen to go into skills-training
colleges.

the department of social welfare in bulawayo says less than
200 children operate on the city's streets. it says it has been
able to house about 150 in its three homes and in three private
homes, like emthunzini we themba.

''our success rate is as high as 70 percent, but the remaining
three out of the 10 we have not been able to socialise. these
are the ones who turn into hard core criminals'', davie
mombeshora, the department's probation officer, told ips.

mombeshora believes the solution does not lie in rounding them
up and taking them off the street -- their only form of
livelihood -- because, as some are breadwinners, it would mean
killing whole families.

''they should be allowed to operate from an approved point
where they are registered perhaps to guard and clean cars'',
says mombeshora.

''only a community effort can help us to deal effectively
with the issue. this is not just a social welfare problem''.

some of the street activities include begging for money and
food, selling sweets and vegetables, guarding vehicles, shopping
and bringing blind parents into town to beg.

mike ncube (16), a new arrival at emthunzini we themba is a
form-three drop out from a multi-racial school who comes from a
well-off family but says he ran away from abuse by his step
father.

''i did the streets for about six months'', says mike, wearing
designer sneakers. ''but i like this place. it's better than my
step father's place''.

mike, who confesses to having continuously skipped class, says
the centre has given him the choice to do what he would really
like to do -- motor mechanics.

with motherly concern, margaret ndoda says she is still not
sure how her ''sons'' make their extra pocket money. she smiles
as she remembers the day the centre got its beds: ''the boys
slept up to 10 o'clock''.

she hopes one day the centre will be able to look after girls
as well: ''all children are precious, including street
children''. (end/ips/gm/fc/apc/93)
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