A sorry tale of wasted youths
I visited my parental nest in Glen Norah last weekend only to be greeted by mounds of discarded Broncleer Cough Syrup bottles on street corners and hordes of drunk youths trading unprintable expletives in broad daylight.
What an unsavoury homecoming? It was as if I had walked into a lions’ den. Unfortunately, one of the youngsters recognised me and would not let go until I had parted with US$3.
“Ndeipi mudhara Rosen? Ko hindava chidumbu so? Imbondinamawo nekaUS$ 3 ndimbotenga zvinovaraidza nguva. Ndazvuzvurudzwa nenhamo asi ndionewo,” the young fellow said while struggling for balance.
The moment I obliged, other youngsters who were keenly following our conversation gathered the courage to approach me with emotive stories that were seemingly tailored to wring cash from me.
“Pamakangotisiira paye paye ndipapo mudhara. Tiri vapfanha venyu, tioneiwo timborova kamwechete,” the blokes said while forcing smiles which exposed yellowing teeth and reeking mouths that desperately screamed for a toothbrush or some toothpaste.
As soon as I left this group, I also met similarly sloshed young girls who were laughing out loud in the middle of the road.
“A beer is a beer and the temperature does not matter because we are after mudhako, not the temperature. Anything that will make me intoxicated will be okay with me,” one of the girls, whom I later
learnt was a member of a
once-popular dancing troupe, said
These are some of the happenings in the ghetto.
Some youths, both girls and boys, have worryingly become hooked on drugs.
It is not unusual to visit any high-density suburb and be greeted by youngsters helping themselves to dangerous drugs. Called “kusticka”, “kudamburwa”, “kuzhakwa,” “kunamwa”, “kutemwa” or simply “kudhakwa”, drunkenness has become a curse for parents and communities.
Young boys and girls are taking cough syrups, brands, spirits, elicit brews like kachasu and “mutoriro”.
These intoxicants are also sadly finding their way into the city centre, where they are sold in car parks and popular bus termini like Market Square, Copacabana and Fourth Street.
These highly potent drinks are so addictive that once one starts taking them, they end up highly dependent on them.
Of course, this is often associated with promiscuity and anti-social behaviour.
It is not surprising to find youths openly defecating on the streets in full view of elders or blurting unprintable words.
“Parliament must enact laws that ensure people who sell those illicit brews are arrested and locked up for long periods of time. So addictive are the brews that some people end up selling their clothes just to get drunk.
“The youths are selling anything they can lay their hands on just to drink, and this is a social problem because we are now afraid of walking the streets,” one Hillary Chiwisa told this writer.
What makes the situation worse is that youths who are economically active are getting wasted by drugs.
“The Government must intervene and do something about this. The youngsters have become beasts and you risk being assaulted for trying to counsel them. We really need God’s intervention,” quipped Mbuya Musonza of Budiriro.
She said what is happening in her community is a complete disaster and people must put their heads together to save the youths.
It is true.
We need to work together to save our youths. Inotambika mughetto.