Child poverty: Spare a thought for street children

THE Department of Social Welfare estimates that there are 15 000 children living in street situations in most major cities in Zimbabwe. As we go about our daily business, we repeatedly encounter a section of society that serves as a reminder that humanity disproportionately fails the most vulnerable, yet most important members of society, the children.

These are “nobody’s children”, “invisible children” but children nonetheless. Like all children, they have hopes and dreams and trust in society to protect and nurture them.

The term “street children” is problematic as it can be employed as a stigmatising label — one of the greatest problems such children face is their demonisation by mainstream society as a threat and a source of criminal behaviour.

Yet many children living or working on the streets have embraced the term, considering that it offers them a sense of identity and belonging.

The umbrella description is convenient shorthand, but it should not obscure the fact that the many children who live and work on the streets do so in multifarious ways and for a range of reasons — and each of them is unique, with their own, often strongly felt, point of view.

Chido (not her real name) is one of these children. She is a Grade 3 pupil at a school in Epworth, where she lives with her grandmother. When asked about her mother, she states that she went to South Africa and has been gone for a long time.

After school, Chido can be found begging daily at a major intersection in Harare in order to supplement her grandmother’s meagre earnings.

Over the long term, it is highly likely that Chido will drop out of school, which leaves her with limited options to earn a living in the future, thereby continuing the vicious cycle of poverty.

In essence, Chido is a victim of child labour like the majority of children in street situations, who survive by vending, begging, washing cars, selling drugs and prostitution, among a range of negative coping mechanisms.

Children like Chido and many others suffer loss of basic rights such as the right to hygiene, education, health, protection, recreation and relaxation.

They endure stress and fall victim to violence which can be verbal, physical and sexual and are exposed to drug abuse.

Once on the streets, children like Chipo become vulnerable to all forms of exploitation and abuse and their daily lives are likely to be far removed from the childhood envisioned in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In some cases, those who are entrusted to protect them become the perpetrators of crimes against them.

Street children have been harassed or beaten by police and often find themselves in conflict with the law.

Children living in street situations are not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe but what is now glaringly obvious is the increase in numbers. Street children have become a common feature at every street corner or shopping mall in Harare.

In the current national budget of 2017, a paltry $5 000 00 was allocated to the Street Children Fund, against an estimated 15 000 children requiring support.

This translates to $0,33 per child, and one can only imagine what can be achieved with that. While attempts have been made by a few organisations to provide services to these children, a multi-sectoral coordinated approach is required to find a long-term solution to these overlooked children.

Analysis of the latest data on child poverty in Zimbabwe showed that children suffer more than one deprivation and that attempts at poverty reduction should not focus on monetary poverty alone.

The socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe has had a negative impact on children and if we do not attend to the underlying causes, we will continue to see children spilling on to the streets desperate to find a way to survive from day to day.

Children are everyone’s responsibility and this does not preclude children on the streets.

Solutions required include, but are not limited to an increase in the budget allocation to take care of the food and non-food requirements of the affected children.

Social protection mechanisms should improve coverage in order to address the poverty dynamic. Such programmes can support families to better provide for the most basic needs that in most cases are the drivers that push children to the streets.

As a society, we need to constantly remember that the rights of all children, including those on the streets, are sacrosanct!