It is winter time and they have no place to call home.
All over the city, along pavements at night, under bridges, in some abandoned city buildings, in open spaces in the city, along dark and isolated passages, they lie crowded, covering themselves with newspapers and plastics, but shockingly enough, more sinister activities are taking place among these kids. Group sex!
Eyewitnesses who spoke to this reporter in the city revealed shocking news about encounters with children living on the streets engaging in group sex.
Commuters who come into town every day in the early hours told of horrible stories, detailing how they always saw street kids engaging in live action pornography, some seen at an open space after a tennis court at Girls High school at the corner of Samora Machel Avenue and Rotten Row in the city.
“It is such a disgusting sight. I have personally seen the street kids making love at an open space next to a Girls High School tennis court,” said Tapiwa Murambwi, a commuter from Dzivarasekwa, who plies the route daily, coming to town in the early hours.
“These kids make fire and some will be busy warming themselves around the fire, standing guard while others will be rolling to and fro among the dwarf bushes and grass, making love,” Murambwi said.
Wilfred Chatsauka, a commuter bus driver who spoke to this reporter, echoed Murambwi’s sentiments.
“I drive through Rotten Row every day, starting at 4am and seeing street kids making love is no longer news to me. I see them every day.
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“There are no street lights in the city nowadays and so as soon as I get to their territory, the headlamps of my vehicle just bring everything into the open,” said Chatsauka.
Vendors operating along the flyover road to Mbare Mupedzanhamo Market said seeing street kids making love openly in the early hours daily was now a common feature to them.
“You think this is new? It is unfortunate that the media has not seen this happening yet. Every day we come here in the early hours to sell our wares, we always chase after these stubborn kids whom we find making love close to where we do business,” said Marry Mpunza, a vendor from Harare’s Kuwadzana high-density suburb.
A number of motorists who spoke to this reporter also revealed stories of similar encounters.
Meanwhile, other street kids consented to having group sex in exclusive interviews with this reporter.
“Yes, we do have sex in groups. Is there anything sinister about that?” said a 15-year-old boy, who gave his name as Tatenda Muramba, claiming that he had his own girlfriend whom he slept with every day.
Tatenda said he saw nothing wrong in what he was doing as most of his friends were doing it. The boy said there was no need to use protection with his 16-year-old girlfriend as they had known each other for quite a long time.
“Why should we use condoms? I see no reason in using protection because we have known each other for a long time and after all, I have never used a condom in my life,” the boy said. “We don’t access condoms on the streets and if we happen to go to some public places where we may find them, some people chase us away for no apparent reason.”
Mishy Mutandi, Tatenda’s girlfriend, spoke proudly about their encounters in and around town. “Tatenda is my man; every other normal person does what we do.
Why don’t you write about them too?” she said. This reporter sweet-talked the two lovebirds to take him around the places where they spent away their nights.
At an open space close to Girls High School tennis court in the city, they showed this reporter their love nest in the open, hidden by some dwarf bushes, some rugs spread on the ground while some tins clearly used for cooking lay in the open next to the fireplace.
Mishy claimed to have had abortion in the bushes three times. “I terminated three of my pregnancies right here because I don’t need a baby at the moment,” she said.
Another street kid who frequents the Showgrounds claimed that her boyfriend was working in the city as a rank marshal, but stayed with her on the streets.
A survey carried out in the city on the state of street kids by this reporter, revealed that most of them had places of origin, but just did not want to be at their homes for the sake of their freedom.
Some of the street kids said they lost their parents and therefore fled abuse from their guardians to come and live on the streets where they said they were free from domestic abuse.
On why they engaged in group sex, most of the street kids said they found it fun and also entertaining.
“This is the only way we entertain ourselves,” said Paida Chitimba, a street kid who prowls the Avenues areas in the city.
Some other street kids said they were aware about the prevalence of some sexually transmitted diseases, but chose to continue with unprotected sex.
They claimed they had never directly received help from the government either morally or socially and therefore saw nothing wrong in the way they lived.
Duduzile Moyo, director of Streetsahead, a non-governmental organisation catering for the welfare of street kids, could neither deny nor confirm reports about street kids’ growing levels of immorality.
She said street kids were mobile communities and it was difficult to record how they lived. She also said streets kids were like any other ordinary community and therefore could engage in sexual relations.
