Tuesday 16 October 2012

Everyone's Child


My heart bleeds everytime i pass by children begging on intersections along the various Harare avenues, i try by all means to give them whatever little i have so as to help out but is this the way to go or there is a lasting solution to this problem?


This one day as i was walking along Julius Nyerere Avenue a small girl begged me to give her some money and when i did she continued to follow me begging for more. This made me realise that nomatter how much we give to these children its never going to be enough because they will keep begging and it then becomes a case of instilling a dependence syndrome upon these children. I think what we have to do is make sure we as the community come up with a solution that will see the removal of these kids off the streets and finding them proper homes and according them the lives they deserve as human beings.


Another sore site is the mother and chid along San Nujoma Avenue who beg together, what hurts the most is the fact that at times you fing the mother all relaxed while the small child of around 5 does all the begging. Despite their predicament, the mother has somehow taught the small child to be overly rude to all those who refuse to help them and you find that at times the child shouts the nastiest vulgar words to innocent passerbys!


I not saying lets give them money but what im saying is in our African society as we knowit, every child is a child of the community and as such, every child has the right to be treated like a child and at the same time they have the right to be accorded a decent life short of the gruesomeness of the streets