A different world

Even though I have been here some time I am still surprised when I hear the background of some of our boys. It is a world so far removed from mine.

There is for example one of our boys, let’s call him George, who lived with us in Malimbe. His family was not capable of taking care of him, both parents were alcoholics and there was not much money to look after the children.

After George finished his primary school education and was starting secondary school he told us that he would like to be with his family again. Thanks to intensive family counselling this is now possible. The parents finally gave up the booze and they do their best to look after their family. George, as oldest child at home, has in large part taken over the role of caregiver. So he not only goes to school and studies hard, he also looks after his younger brothers and sisters, he talks to his father if he is tempted to drink again, etc. Their living circumstances are not very good. Their house collapsed and they now live in a workshop of a welder. At the end of the workshop they made living quarters by using some cur by using some curtains. It is good to see how thanks to counselling this family is able to function again.

Also a common sight is children of one-parent households. Usually it is the man who runs off, he wants to have fun but not carry any responsibility. The woman often gets a new partner, but he is not always interested in looking after the children of a different man. Even if the children are not abused physically or kicked out of the house, they will be treated differently, get less food, have to do more chores, are not supported at home or in school (if they actually attend school), et, they will be treated differently, get less food, have to do more chores, are not supported at home or in school (if they actually attend school), etc. It is not difficult to understand why some children choose to go and live on the streets. They can do what they like, they usually are able to get enough money and/or food to survive, they form groups, they can play games in the video hall; all in all often a better life then at home (in their opinion)

Now it sounds like Tanzanians cannot take care of their children, but that is not the case. Do not forget that we work with a small part of society, that part which does not look after their children or does not look after them very well.

What surprises me most is that some parents do not seem to look for their children.  It is almost as if they think, good riddance, one mouth less to feed.

This is however only how it looks from the outside, many parents actually do look for their children, but they are not in position to search all over the country, so they will go to the local police station or village head, but not much more. Most of them are happy when they see their child again.

Luckily there are also other stories, like that of the old couple from the countryside around Mwanza. They came to town dressed their Sunday best (old clothes, but clean and reasonably in one piece). They used their last few cents on making copies of a school photo and on the bus fare. They went to all the children’s organizations in Mwanza, to the police, social welfare and asked if anybody had seen their son. They also asked if the social workers could take the picture with them when they went on street work to try and find him. Regrettably I do not know if they did.