Street Children in Dodoma, Tanzania.

Dodoma is the capital city of Tanzania where most government activities take place. Day by day, as the town grows, the number of businesses also increases.

Visitors and residents witness a large number of street children begging for money or food around the streets. Without doubt all these children are supposed to be at school, either at primary or secondary school level. As a result of this issue I decided to wander these streets and start talking to the children. As I was walking in town I met one 14 year old boy who told me his name was Masumbuko. I took time to have a short talk with him about his life.

He told me that he is begging for money so that he can get food for himself and his blind mother who lives at Kikuyu ( in Dodoma), but occasionally the whole family are on the streets begging for money. I asked him why he was on the streets and not going to school considering that primary education is free here. Masumbuko said, “I wish to, but I can’t go to school without uniform and books, and where will I eat? What about my mama?”

Masumbuko

The story of Masumbuko made me feel like I should find out about the lives of other street children. I met another boy who told me his name is Gideon (13). I discovered that he came to Dodoma with his mother who died shortly after; then he had no other option other than to go to the streets in search of money through begging. “My plan was to be a tailor when I get older” Gideon said.

Gideon

Dotto is another boy who told me that he came from Kilosa (a district in Morogoro region) to Dodoma expecting to get job, because he was persuaded by his friends, after facing many life difficulties in Morogoro. When I was talking to Dotto I noticed that he had a bottle full of a liquid which he was not drinking, but smelling. I was suspicious about why he was doing this and I was very surprised by what he told me: “In this bottle there is a type of glue used to mend shoes; I smell it because it reduces my hunger and I don’t starve as much, and most of the street children do the same thing.” Dotto said this while continuing to smell the liquid. Dotto told me that he is addicted to the substance, so has been struggling to stop using glue and when he uses it he feels high.

This heartbreaking story encouraged me to contact the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority(TFDA) people and I met a certian man called Mr. Mwingira. I asked him if they have any information about people who use glue to protect them from hunger and whether they have done any surveys as of yet. However I was told that they have not heard anything on the issue. Other sources inform me that using glue may cause lung, heart and brain problems, just like many other illegal drugs.

The majority of the children told me that they always sleep on the streets or market places, where it’s not safe for their health and very few sleep in their homes. That same day, during the night my friend and I started walking around streets to see where these kids sleep. While walking, at around 11pm we  met 10 year old Baraka with his friends. Baraka promised to take us to where they always sleep but he told us that we have to wait until he finds some dinner. We bought him food and after eating his friend and he took us to the place where they sleep. It is outside a building and without doubt they suffer from cold. They told us that they have to wake up very early every morning, in order to leave before the owner of the building arrives.

Baraka(smiling) with his friends before sleeping.

I also encountered many street children who refused to tell me even their names. But it is not the case that all street children do not have a home or parents. Many are in the streets due to lack of parental care, where parents show no love for their children; other parents do not know whether their children attend school or not. Some have escaped and fled from their home because they were harassed, abused or ‘overworked’ by their step or real parents. Family breakups contribute a lot to this problem, where children feel they have no home with either parent, and so resort to living on the street.


Street life is very risky to these children as food, clothes, habitat and medical care is not adequate for any sort of healthy life. Everyone must open their eyes to this worldwide problem and treat the children in this situation as part of their community.

The government may provide free primary education, however in many cases this is useless as students cannot go to schools without school uniform, books and other requirements, which often costs more than the school fees which the government has eliminated.

Trust me, some of these children are extremely talented but what means of developing their talents do they have? A good government takes responsibility for its people and they are people also; simply to have concern is not enough. Who is taking responsibility for the street children? Something must be done to and we can all play our role in helping them.

END

Special thanks to everybody who has made this successful particularly these kids and you who is reading this!

-Kelvin-

Kelvin Mwita (knoxkay@gmail.com)

in collaboration with Ezekiel Kidundo.