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Let them be children
Abel Zimunya, Child Protection Society (CPS)
Extracted from the Child Advocate Newsletter, Issue No. 3
December 2003

The familiar sound of the morning train bringing commuters to Harare woke up Edith with a jolt. Instinctively she knew it was time to go to school, or more precisely to bath, clothe and feed her seven year old brother Tineyi, ready for school.

Tineyi reluctantly woke up demanding better treatment from his sister, whom he has come to dislike for being a bother. When the last of his parents died Tineyi had been six years. Then there had been no school, no child bathing in the morning and plenty of tea and sadza. Edith had come to represent that change for him which brought hunger and misery.

The day for both children is a busy one, coping with school and coping with the laughter from sibling rivalries about Tineyi's clothing. Edith has better uniforms as she had already been in school when her mother passed away. There has been little time for either Edith or Tineyi to confide in their uncle, as he is always away with this errand or that. He pays the rent and provides "everything" including discipline. Time has been so short that even when the uncle's friend, who now regularly visits the children, pinched fifteen year old Edith's breasts during repeated visits, nothing has been seen as amiss.

In the course of the year Edith and Tineyi have been lucky to get a sponsor for their school fees, uniforms and food baskets. Edith has been steadily growing, her skin supple and lively to match a child of her age. Tineyi has now become a bouncy high spirited child.

It is during this time that Uncle Chari's friend becomes explicit with his intentions and indeed one sad and tragic morning, when Tineyi had just skipped off to school, that Uncle Chari's friend, the regular visitor, whom the children have always called uncle, and sometimes looked upon for comfort, accomplished his devastating mission, unprotected, unheard, resigned and with tears all over her face, Edith faced her fate.

For nearly half a year the child dealt with the full symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection without help, until a neighbour noticed the physical pain and later the emotional anguish the child has been going through. The process of reporting the offender to the police has been slow, frightening and seemingly useless as Uncle Chari's friend unashamedly assured everyone that he had been in love with Edith and he was going to marry her as a second wife. He was only worried that since Edith had a sexual infection, this could mean she was seeing other men, not himself as even his wife could confirm he had no infection or disease.

This story above can sound fictitious, far-fetched and alarmist, yet in our work with children, this is a very common and unseen problem, which has affected the emotional, psychological, spiritual and physical development of some children. This is particularly true for the girl child, who many men enmeshed in sub-cultural values, tend to see as an object of pleasure, disease cleansing (especially when still a virgin) and a woman like many others who must come under masculine control. Few ask if children like Edith have a right to be children or they are condemned to a violent way into adulthood. There are many studies to confirm these negative forces against children.

The biggest problem in the lives of children like Edith, Tineyi and many other vulnerable children has been the blinkered assistance that formalized interventions for children have come to represent. Giving education sponsorship, food and material assistance and token counselling have been for a long time what child agencies working with vulnerable children report to show for their noble work. Budget lines with multi millions and even multi-billion dollar programs have been the traditional proof that the child is in the centre.

Given the numbers of children who are vulnerable, and the sociological effects of urban poverty and the occurrence of deviance, there is need for organizations and communities to heed the call for a closer look at the child. If this is not done, aid to children can be ironical in the sense that a healthy and radiant child is likely to be abused most as compared to a child on the sick bed. Communities must be given the leading role to cater for children as they will and should prevent and detect the occurrence of abuse. Aid organizations should come in as facilitators to a process of child rights based interventions as opposed to needs based programs

It is often the case that as the food assistance is given to communities, access to food may endanger children and those who are vulnerable, as they can be easily manipulated, exploited and abused often in silence.

Children are not all about food and material. Children are about support, protection and participation or empowerment. Children always have a story to tell and let us put it first to know that in a situation where children are so affected by poverty, HIV and AIDS, there is a story of agony, sadness and abuse. Only when we assist them psychologically will we be rewarded by a story ringing with laughter and creativity. It's time to take the step beyond needs alone to rights and development.

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