Character is like pregnancy.
It is often said that character is like pregnancy — you cannot hide it.
Trying to conceal pregnancy is tantamount to climbing a tree on your back. Quite frankly, it is impossible. This thought came to mind when I visited my beloved township of Tembisa in December last year and witnessed something that has disturbed me for more than a decade — ever since my days as News Editor at The Tembisan Newspaper:
The daily dangers faced by street children.
Visiting Kempton Park and my former offices next to Arwyp Hospital brought back fond memories of my time at Caxton East Rand Newspapers. However, as I passed through Kempton Mall towards the now dilapidating Kempton Park Train Station, my heart nearly stopped. There they were, children cuddling one another on old cardboard boxes used as makeshift mattresses.
These are abandoned children and orphans with little hope for the future. In simple terms, they are known as street kids.
One or two recognised me, as I used to give them bread whenever I could during my time working around what was once a beautiful town, now resembling a forgotten mining settlement like Marikana. On that particular day, I had neither bread nor money, but I spent a few minutes with them. Deep down, however, my heart ached at the cruelty of humanity towards its own offspring.
These children sleep under bridges, cover themselves with dirty, foul-smelling blankets, eat leftovers, and fight over stinking dustbins. They smoke nyaope, wear tattered clothes, and to them, water is a precious resource — not for bathing, but strictly for drinking.
In many townships, including Tembisa, street children appear to have disappeared, lured by the glittering lights of big cities such as Johannesburg, where poverty and hardship are masked by false promises of a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, if one looks closely, street children can still be seen roaming areas such as Olifantsfontein and Tswelopele. The problem has not been solved — it has merely been hidden, transferred, or relocated.
The purpose of this article is not to dehumanise these poor souls left out in the cold, but rather to explore ways of helping those who are on the brink of falling into the deep pit of poverty and destruction.
Like character, the symptoms destroying our new generation cannot be hidden. In Tembisa, as in many other townships across Gauteng, young people are increasingly falling victim to drugs such as nyaope and excessive alcohol consumption. They bunk school and loiter on street corners, openly abusing substances in full view of the public. Some assist taxi drivers by calling for passengers, earning money solely to feed their addictions.
Driven by drug dependency, many steal whatever they can from their own homes. A major contributing factor to this crisis is AIDS-related illnesses, which have robbed countless children of their parents. Others flee abusive households, choosing the streets over suffering at home.
As parents, we must support government efforts by identifying warning signs such as school absenteeism, sudden behavioural changes, or children coming home late without explanation.
The use of nyaope is also slowly but surely affecting children in Thohoyandou and surrounding townships, and the future looks bleak if the distribution of drugs is not nipped in the bud immediately.
We must act decisively to save the new generation from becoming drug addicts with no future at all.
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