The Streets, A home for Children

By Perrykent Nkole As it is said but barely understood that “all the old men were once children but not all children will one day be old”. This is because of unjust circumstances which promote injustice among our people. But how much do we care about children? I tremble to ask why people care only about their children and keep the doors of their houses closed for homeless children forgetting that even when they curse, reject, and sin against God, he still provides them food, clothes and a home to sleep in. If only the society could lend its ears to the wind and hear it listen to the cry of an innocent child on every corner of the street, we would come to a conclusion that perhaps a future footballer, future journalist or even a future president spends 24 hours, 365 days in the cold. Our currency was given the name Kwacha because there was a light at the end the tunnel, but this light is not shining in the lives of over 20,000 Zambian children from which 12% are between the ages of 5 - 14 years living on the streets. According to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the United Nation’s Convention on the rights of the Child (to which Zambia is a signatory), a child is defined as every human being below the age of 18 and is entitled to all the rights in these documents. But if we dig deeper in this case we will find out that children living on the streets are deprived of the rights to; education, quality health care, survival and development, a safe environment and many other important rights that are necessary in the development of adolescents. As if that is not enough, they are denied the sweetest feeling that a child can ever experience “the motherly love”. What a cruel world it is that as days go by, some even give birth right there in the cold hence increasing the number of children on the streets and the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS because some of them are raped while some are found as victims of human trafficking. And they are further exposed to activities such as glue sniffing, abusing marijuana, and alcohol hence making it easy for politicians and other powerful individuals to use them as l tools for violence. And speaking in an interview, the OVC representative for Living Hope Foundation, Miss Mary Namukwa Mauma said that it is sad that government is perceiving the issue of children on the streets as an easy one because a lot needs to be done to prevent incidents were children go back to the streets even after being helped by institutions such as Living Hope Foundation because of lack of resources. As a child it brings sadness to my heart when I see my fellow children’s dreams being shuttered and their lives being destroyed by drugs, violence and other immoral acts! But what can I do? Am only a child as well, but by writing this story I hope that someone somewhere will come to their aid because it is said that “it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.