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Children flee Zimbabwe to uncertain future

JUSTINE GERARDY | MUSINA, SOUTH AFRICA - Jan 11 2009 10:22

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Prince Jelom has sold eggs, carried bags and pushed trolleys to survive life as a 13-year-old on the run from Zimbabwe's spectacular collapse.

He knows the best spots to sleep in a bus shelter, how to work an 11-hour day, and the tricks of bluffing his way back across a border after being deported.

But beyond his streetwise know-how, Jelom is just a penniless small boy who misses and worries about the grandmother he left behind in rural north-western Zimbabwe.

"I ran away on Wednesday, October 15, because I wanted to buy some books, clothes and a bicycle," he told Agence France-Presse in the border town of Musina, after travelling solo through Zimbabwe.

Citing chilling accounts of poverty, drought and violence by President Robert Mugabe's supporters in his home village, the well spoken boy has not been to school since 2007 but still dreams of being a pilot.

"Many people told me that if you are not learned, you are nothing," he said. "I want to be a pilot because a pilot is what my father wanted to do."

Jelom is one of 100 Zimbabwean children sleeping in a crowded tin-roofed garage at a Musina church, set up as a shelter for scores of young Zimbabwean boys found wandering the streets.

Living rough, often eating from rubbish bins, the street children are casualties of the worsening crisis at home where deadly cholera has come on the back of chronic food shortages, mind-boggling inflation and the collapse of hospitals and schools.

"These children come from different parts of Zimbabwe, rural and urban, with different stories which are very shocking," said Lesiba Matsaung of the United Reform Church which started the shelter last year.

CONTINUES BELOW

"Some arrived in May and they are still here. It's very hard for us to say 'Go.' As a result, they increase and increase."

Most of the boys came to Musina with goals but few plans. They want to track down family members, amid dreams of becoming dentists and flying airplanes, and escaping the poverty and upheaval at home.

Such was a skinny boy from central Matabeleland, who was found on a border farm, and brought to the church in a torn jacket, dusty khaki shorts and shirt, and flip-flops that had giant holes worn through the heels.

Hours after fleeing Zimbabwe, the 13-year-old told church officials his aim: finding his brother in the hustle-bustle of Johannesburg, South Africa's flashiest, fastest and meanest city about 500km away.

In a small bag, he carried two oranges and a pair of long shorts, saying he had not eaten a proper meal for a week.

But with no address or phone number, the boy was soon introduced to the other boys milling about and given a care pack of toiletries. An hour later, he was crying by himself in a corner of the yard.

Jelom, who lost both parents to HIV/Aids and told AFP that he wants to be tested, also tears up when he speaks about his grandmother, knowing that she is unemployed.

"I want to see my grandmother ... because she loves me," he said, still wearing the threadbare clothes that children in his village used to mock him about.

More than one million Zimbabweans are believed to be living in South Africa, and thousands more apply for asylum every month to escape the grim realities at home.

Outside economists estimate inflation in the trillions, while nearly half the population needs emergency food aid and a cholera epidemic has left more than 1 800 dead since August.

With no sign of bettering conditions in Zimbabwe, experts say the exodus is likely to continue. The church is already building a new donor-supported home for the boys.

"The numbers have gone up quite dramatically over the past year," said Lynette Mudekunye of Save the Children which supports four soup kitchens in Musina.

"Last year in June, those centres were feeding 100 children. By November it was 1 000," said Mudekunye.

"We're really concerned about the potential for trafficking that is perhaps happening under the radar that we are not aware of at all.

Nobody has a proper record of who they are and where they came in -- anything can happen to them."

Happy holiday
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Mugabe is in Malaysia on holiday, to where he has also transferred funds, according to the Saturday Star newspaper.

It said Mugabe's wife, Grace -- who went with their four children to Malaysia before Christmas -- had organised a transfer of $92 000 from Zimbabwe's central bank.

Mugabe, who followed on last Monday, was using the holiday for routine health checks, while his personal doctor had also helped organise transfer of personal funds to Malaysia and Singapore. - AFP

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Comments

It tears my heart apart to see children suffering, I had two shops in Hillbrow and had such a fight with Police of the 70's about the way the handled the street children. If I had enough money I would build Boarding House where they could shelter and be fed and taught basic education. Unfortunatley I am 64 years old and a pensioner without any work. Maybe someone who reads this can take up my cause. NO CHILD EVER ASKED TO BE BORN !! REMEMBER THAT its a start on caring for Children.....

Justin Stephenson on January 11, 2009, 12:12 pm

How many more children need to live like this before SOMEONE in ZIMBABWE begins to do something about the situation. Zimbabweans should wake up and stop blaming the rest of the world for their problems. Mugabe blames the British... Zimbabweans blame South Africans... When are the Zimbabweans going to take responsibility for the mess in their own country!!!

It is true that at the hour of need, the rest of the world rallied around South Africa. But that was because the whole could see the South Africans struggling to liberate themselves from the shackles of apartheid. What are the Zimbabweans doing of their own situation to warrant assistance from the rest of the world!!! Why should the rest of the world be responsible for liberating a people that is sitting quietly and doing NOTHING about their situation!!!!!!

Penny Whistle on January 11, 2009, 7:33 pm

Penny Whistle...

You asked what we did. We voted in March and evryone knows what happened. Tell me, what else do you want us to do. We can not live in isolation my friend, we are living in a global village. SADC and AU said they were going to handle the situation, only to abandon us after throwing us at the deepest end of the pool. Look at what the West African nations have done to Guinea. Why did SADC not do the same thing with Zimbabwe? Why are they still pushing for something that they know will never work?

Tinashe Mutsengi on January 12, 2009, 1:40 pm

Tinashe Mutsengi...

I do feel for you. But sometimes one gets the impression that Zimbabweans could do more to try to change the situation. Perhaps it's time to get over the culture of fear. I lived in Zimbabwe for four years studying at the University of Zimbabwe (1995-99). Even back then, one sensed the culture of fear pervading every aspect of life in Zimbabwe. The dreaded CIO had its deadly tentacles spread in every corner of civil society. I guess the situation is still the same, if not worse.

Yet at the same time I think if the Zimbabweans decided to rise as a nation against the situation, not even the CIO will be able to do anything. After all, these are the same people who rose a people to defeat Ian Smith. And when you arose as a people to fight Smith, most of independent Africa stood up with you.

The impression I get is that Zimbabweans are resigned to their own fate and are hoping for Divine intervention (Mugabe is 85 years old and will not live forever). But we all know that Mugabe is still president because there are greater powers around him. Do you think the powers behind the president will allow Tsvangirai or any other non-ZANU-PF person to ever rule Zimbabwe?

It is time to die a little in order to secure the future of your children.

Penny Whistle on January 12, 2009, 6:21 pm

"Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven"... If anyone causes a child to suffer it would be "better for a millstone to be tied around his neck and that he be thrown into the deapest ocean". How does that sit with you, the leadership (and more particularly the president) of Zimbabwe. You are culpable and you will have an eternal debt to pay, not just for doing something but for doing nothing.

Andrew Lawrence on January 13, 2009, 7:36 am

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Children flee Zimbabwe to uncertain future

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