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The grass isn't greener on the other side
Nicole Johnston, Mail & Guardian (SA)
December 21, 2006

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=294249&area=/insight/insight__africa/

Every year tens of thousands of children walk across borders and swim across rivers to escape poverty, abandonment and a lack of hope. Children as young as nine undertake terrifying journeys to cross borders illegally, convinced that life must be better elsewhere. For many, the dream is short-lived and they find themselves battling for survival, exploited and abused.

The first hurdle children face is the journey to the border post. Many walk very long distances, unable to afford transport, and are often sexually exploited by truck drivers. Those who make it to the border then have to run the gauntlet of the criminal gangs -- the Mareyane on the Mozambique border and the Gumagumas on the Zimbabwe border -- who control the trade in illegal crossings. Border jumpers are forced to pay to be guided across the border at illegal crossing points -- and foregoing their services is not an option. Those who don't have money to pay the Mareyane have about a 40% chance of survival, says Vusi Ndukuya of the Amazing Grace shelter in Malelane, on the border of the Kruger Park in Mozambique.

In a report commissioned by Save the Children, a young Zimbabwean boy gave a heart-rending account of the border crossing: "I left home because I couldn't find money to go to school. There is no one who is working at home. My father is dead. I sold my goats to come to South Africa so that I could board the bus. I was having money and beautiful new clothes. I got to Beit Bridge and did not know anyone. I found the Gumagumas who said they were here to help people to cross. And because I had money I said yes and they took my money, took my clothes and gave me the old ones they had on. Their clothes were dirty, were smelling and had lice. I had new takkies." Some children are robbed of everything they own and child advocacy groups have reported cases of children crossing the border stark naked after having all their clothing stolen by the gangs.

Girls are sometimes captured by the Mareyane and held as sex slaves for months, says Ndukuya. He adds that it is sometimes better for them to take their chances with the gangs, as abuse of children by soldiers is not uncommon. He shows us the file on Jose Nyambi* (13), who tried to cross the border from Mozambique illegally to join his brother in Daveyton. He says the child was beaten up by South African National Defence Force soldiers, who used a hot light bulb to burn his genitals. A criminal case was opened in March 2005 and a formal complaint referred to the Human Rights Commission. To date, it is alleged that no one has been charged with the crime.

Far fewer girls are repatriated than boys, which the boys ascribe to the girls "having something to sell".

Many of the girls interviewed see a husband as a provider: "If I can get a caring man, maybe I can get a better life . . . man can look after me when I am not working and he will be able to give me something."

Many of the children spend very little on food in an attempt to save money to send home. But even those who manage to save a little run the constant risk of having it stolen by police when their papers are demanded of them. Many change it into Zim dollars, which apparently no one wants to steal and to avoid the temptation of spending it.

"If you have rands, they take it because they say we are Zimbabweans and it is not our money," one child working in Musina told researchers.

The reasons why children migrate are varied. Some have seen their entire families die and been abandoned by communities too destitute to support another mouth. At the Amazing Grace centre we met Sifiso Madolo* from Beira. He says he is 12 years old, but his small stature and twig-frail shoulders seem to mock this claim. He sits, fidgeting with a blue plastic dolphin on a string around his neck, staring at the wall on the far side of the room as he tells his story.

"I left Mozambique after all my family passed away. Then I went to Maputo where I used to wash cars to get money. A big man said, let's go to Joni [Johannesburg], so we slept in the bushes. South Africa is better because there is no one to take care of me at home in Mozambique. All my family is gone."

Like many of the children we spoke to, Sifiso has little concept of time, not sure if his journey has taken months or years. Some children we spoke to measured the years by the number of Christmases they have spent away from home.

The majority have decided that, instead of sitting and watching their families starve, they will take on the role of breadwinner -- they dream of sending home money for food and for the education of younger siblings.

At the Centro Acolhimento in Moamba, just 25km from the Ressano Garcia border post, we meet Pedro Sonia* (16) from Gaza province. A young man, trying desperately to be a tough man, he took on the role of breadwinner after his father died and he decided to go to South Africa on a "contract" to earn some money. "I jumped the fence in Giyani and I started selling peanuts until I had enough money to get a bus to Joburg.

"That took me about three weeks," he explains, glossing over the hardships of the journey. "My uncle lives in Hammanskraal and I had his phone number. He organised a job for me building houses. Then the police came when I was working and asked for my passport. They took me to Soshanguve police station and I stayed there for three days. I was in the same cell with adults and I didn't feel safe." Repatriation hasn't dented his determination to provide for the family: "I just want to go home. When I am at home, I will start a small business selling clothes," he told us confidently.

While trafficking is clearly a scourge that needs to be addressed, says Chris McIvor, head of Save the Children UK in Mozambique, the plight of children who cross borders voluntarily is often just as grim. "Their circumstances are often as difficult as those faced by trafficked children," notes McIvor, adding that child migrants are "eminently exploitable".

But no matter how dire their circumstances, the children are reluctant to return home empty-handed. "When children are asked if the conditions at home could possibly be worse than the life they are leading, they say no," says McIvor, "but the shame of going home and facing their families without having earned any money is worse. This is the pressure that keeps them living in intolerable circumstances."

Save the Children is planning a programme in Zimbabwe and Mozambique to educate communities about the hazards of children crossing the border, as many communities are not aware of the risks.

Using the testimonies of children who have been through this experience, the programme aims to dissuade families from allowing their children to cross the border.

"We do not want to tell children and adults what to do," explains McIvor. "The choice about what risks they want to face in their lives is their own. But we believe that they should have this information in front of them so as to be aware of the potential difficulties they will face if they do indeed make a decision to emigrate."

* Not their real names

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