Substance abuse blamed for children’€™s woes

981e1a26d9ca.jpg It’€™s in the middle of the day in Middelburg, in the Eastern Cape, long before school is out. Children of school-going age are roaming the dusty streets of the small town. If one didn’€™t know better they could easily pass off as street kids. They approach each car as it stops at the robot, begging for food or a coin. Their chapped lips and dry faces bear evidence of their hunger. They make their way to the Emmanuel Children’€™s Home where they will be given lunch.

After a short prayer the children dig into their meal – samp and freshly slaughtered meat. This is where many of the neglected children living in Middelburg go to get some food. The Emmaunel Children’€™s Home has been in existence for just over a year, providing food for many of these children.

According to the founder of the home, Carol Deysel, the children come from broken homes, where alcohol is the order of the day. Parents subsequently neglect their children.

‘€œI would say the main thing in this town is poverty, which leads them to drink alcohol. Most of our kids here in the home are born with foetal alcohol syndrome. They can’€™t really progress at school as well. The little ones we have at the moment’€¦ they can’€™t talk and that’€™s all because of alcohol’€, says Deysel.

The nearby townships, Lusaka and Midros, are also riddled with poverty. Unemployment is rife and so is the use of alcohol. Many of the children don’€™t attend school. They spend every day of their lives wandering the streets begging for food.

‘€œI live with my mom, aunt and uncle. I am the only child. They know that I am here in town. There’€™s nothing else we do during the day apart from begging for money and food on the streets. I feel bad that I do not go to school like other kids’€, says one 14-year old from Lusaka.

What does he do for comfort?

‘€œI do sniff glue. It drugs me and makes me dream big and see things I don’€™t when I’€™m sober’€, says the minor.

On an evening visit to the Booysen family in Lusaka, we were greeted by the smell of home steamed bread. They were sitting around a fire. There are three children living with their parents in a two-roomed shack. They have been without electricity or water for the two years that they have been living there.

The head of the house-hold, Sam Booysen, was visibly drunk and smelt of alcohol. He is unemployed and relies on piece jobs in town. Mrs Booysen also doesn’€™t work.

Their eldest son dropped out of school and opted to roam the streets and is now involved with the wrong crowd. Booysen denied that parents in the area are neglecting their children and are abusing alcohol.

‘€œThere are no other problems, except that my son can get into serious trouble if he continues smoking this glue. He is mixed up with the gangs. I am worried that they can get arrested or break into houses, meaning that the police will be knocking on my door looking for me. What am I supposed to do?’€ asked Mr Booysen.

Just a few metres away from the Booysen home, a neighbour, Sophie Mguga told a different story. She blames the parents’€™ excessive use of alcohol for the children’€™s woes.

‘€œMost of these parents are drinking Jabula. They don’€™t care where the child is or what they are doing. In the middle of the night you will find kids in the streets, while their mothers are at home sleeping. There is a big problem here. They also send these small children to buy this Jabula. The people that sell this alcohol even sell to kids. How can they do that? They don’€™t know if they will drink it or take it to their parents’€, said Mguga.

Jabula is a home brewed beer, made from bread and yeast. Added to it is battery acid giving it a more powerful kick.

Another resident who goes by the name of Danny agreed with Mguga. ‘€œWe have a serious problem of our parents who are drinking too much, forgetting they have kids to feed. They claim they do not have money for food, but they have money to drink. How can that be possible? The children are left at home alone, while parents are out drinking. They drink cheap alcohol for 50c. Many times in the shebeens, I see the whole family sitting there, while the parents drink. These parents don’€™t care about their children’€, Danny says.

The following morning at 10, the taverns – filled with people drinking – bore testimony to the comments made by residents, Danny and Mguga.

Midros is a largely coloured area in Middelburg and the community is battling to get the children off the streets and to support parents who abuse alcohol. Ward Councillor in the area, Ada Sammy, says she is doing what she can to help these children.

‘€œI, myself, take food parcels to these children and some of these families just to put a smile on their faces. Sometimes, I go into their homes and talk to the mothers about their behaviour and what it’€™s doing to their children. I can only hope they take the advice’€, said Sammy.

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