A dramatic increase in street kids and ladies of the night in Bulawayo CBD

Bulawayo CBD has become a haven of high drama as each night sees an increase in the number of children that abandon family life but instead opt for life in the streets . Not to be outdone ladies of the night are also in frantic efforts to cover all the streets. They cover the streets with their nak3d bodies and not keeping their intention a secret.

This mixture of sex workers and street kids goes hand in hand with drug abuse ,heavy alcohol intake making street life a tremendous risk to both young men , women and children that bravely chilly weather to come and earn living in a seemingly illicit market. Street kids on their part rely mainly on cheap drugs such as glue and cigarette stubs.They feed on fast foods leftovers . They also indulge in begging for money and sympathy for passer byes. Tinashe 8 years old (not his real name ) ran away from home because his mother had chased away her husband and would introduce to him a new father every week. The instability in the family unit forced most children out of the parental/guardian love. It is a burden to them to change the father every week. Mengezi (not his real name) is 9 years and his story is more sad. He was sniffing glue and was up to his neck with amnesia that his friend Gerald ( not his real name) kept answering for him. He came from Gokwe after loosing both parents to illnesses related to HIV and TB. Now being an orphaned and vulnerable child made all forms of abuse easier for everyone .They is suspicion that most of them are sexual abused as they seek livelihood options.

The story doesn't not end with street kids . I heard an interesting story of men who slept at a bank queue , women of the night were standing on every corner of the street . At around 2am the men on bank queue were awakened by a loud scream. They saw this nak3d woman, not a succubus, she stood in front of them. She insisted she wanted to address them. They sat up. She simplified to them what short time was and what long play was . She then told them how she charged for her services and accepting plastic money . This clearly divided the opinion of onlookers ,some with jeers of admiration others scoffing at her.

The most touching part is seemingly unstoppable moral decay yet the scenario presents a fascinating gender backlash where both sexes are competing for space at night looking for livelihood options and self expression. The question is how long are will able to carry this burden of behavior only seen mainly at night . Who will wake up at night and engage this divergent behavior? The issue is on what to put on the stomach. The government and its partners that include civil society organizations ,welfare bodies, churches and concerned individuals arem expected to make seeking a lasting solution to this a priority.

Enos Denhere is nation builder,business developer and motivational speaker. he is interested on attending sponsored seminars/forums on nation building.you can reach him on email enosdenhere@gmail.com call /app +263773894975 http://www.enosden.wordpress.com

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