The abrupt announcement of the lockdown came as a shock to many and various civil society actors were caught unprepared. Though the measures by the government to implement lockdown are necessary, the average person on the streets of Harare is suffering and sleeping on an empty stomach due to lack of enough resources. There are serious negative consequences from the current Covid-19 shutdown which include mental instability, hunger, domestic violence and less production on the economy. Moreover, street kids are unfortunately at the negative receiving end of all this turmoil.
In Zimbabwe more than 1.6 million children are orphans and thousands of them are leashing onto the streets every year in search of greener pastures. Towns and cities have become the home of many forgotten children.
During the ‘Angels for life foundation’ rounds, I was alerted of many children sleeping on the pavements of the streets of Harare, slowly dying of hunger. Our inability as people has snatched all hope away from these little kids. They lack basic commodities like food and water or even same few blankets and jackets to harbour themselves from this June’s freezing cold.
Homeless people and street kids should be made a priority in our nation, not only on the basis of the government’s responsibility but by our means of reviving humanity.
Paying a closer look on how the police is daily chasing people away from public places. This simply means that the street kids and other homeless people have no access to finding part-time jobs or beg for some money to redeem them for the time being. I fear we will burry more people from hunger and starvation than from the actual pandemic cause.
I do understand and appreciate the efforts of free Aid that has been going on from the government, as well as many other foundations but, we can all agree that a lot still need to be done. Policies to help these innocent kids should be immediately implemented before much harm is caused. Let’s help each other rise, together WE CAN.
