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COVID-19 has deepened the vulnerability of street children. Image by Cite
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | FEB 19, 2021
Children living in the streets did not receive the memo that there was a pandemic. Amid COVID-19 they battle information deprivation, no access to food and stigma.
BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — As the clock ticks 5p.m., Bulawayo’s central business district ‘empties’ as hordes of people dash to board public transport back to their residential homes to beat the curfew.
A dusk to dawn curfew takes hold from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning. However, as scores rush home, only a handful show no signs of leaving when businesses close shop.
“This is my territory, I am going nowhere.”
Tinashe, a street kid who says Fife Avenue pavement is his home
Tinashe is among dozens of street children who are having a torrid time due to Covid-19. For five years, Tinashe has been living in the streets of Bulawayo.
“It’s been tough; we feel neglected. Last year, we woke up one morning to near-empty streets, shops closed and wondered what was going on,” Tinashe says.
He claims to have known of the pandemic and lockdown after mid-morning on 1 April.
“From that moment, my friends and I felt abandoned as we struggled to access whatever food well-wishers used to give us,” he tells The Citizen Bulletin.
His friend, Nkosana says a few people they saw were masked up and kept a distance from them.
Already exposed to unhealthy conditions that threaten their health, COVID-19 has deepened the vulnerability of street children.
The masks they wear are picked by the roadside, while many of them do not wear any.
“Nobody told us about the virus. We heard side talks about how people are getting sick and dying.”
Nkosana, another child living on the streets
“We then started picking up discarded masks and wore them. But we initially didn't know why we wore the masks. I recall one security guard telling us of the virus,” Nkosana says.
Law enforcement agents have since intensified lockdown restrictions. They are now seen on horseback or with dog units in operations targeting people violating lockdown regulations meant to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both friends say they are playing cat and mouse with law enforcement agents. It is an offence to move around without wearing a mask, punishable by a $5000 fine, an amount Tinashe and Nkosana only dream. The courts can also impose a jail sentence.
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Bulawayo police spokesperson Abednigo Ncube says the police have intensified patrols.
“This is to make sure that people who have no business to be in town are not in town,” he adds.
In early February, police disclosed that more than 40 000 people had been arrested countrywide for various lockdown offences since the 30th of March last year.
Bulawayo Provincial Welfare Officer Fanwell Dzoma says that removing street kids from the central business district is proving futile as many often escape from care centres such as Jairos Jiri. “Last year, 31 children were sheltered at Jairos Jiri centre awaiting reuniting with their families,” says Dzoma.
The welfare department rescued 11 children from the streets during this current lockdown.
Living as a street child is already a miserable situation, but more significant woes come with the added hardships of COVID-19, Tinashe adds.
“I am used to suffering, but since l came here, I have never experienced anything like this. People no longer give us food, and we don’t get jobs because people don’t want to have any close physical contact with us.”
Tinashe, the street child
“Those we approach to assist with their luggage in exchange for money, they scream at us to not come close. It’s like we have leprosy and it hurts.”
However, Tinashe adds there is a possibility that some of his colleagues might have contracted COVID-19 without feeling sick.
“We are used to having a fever, and other symptoms they say are symptoms of the virus.”
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