THEY lay helpless and hopeless along Nelson Mandela Street, basking in the morning sunshine infiltrating through the high buildings in the city.
Report by Jairos Saunyama
This group of ten street kids that comprises six boys and four girls is already up to their daily routine of begging from passersby.
According to them, it is a normal day and they just live with a feeling that by sunset they will have enough money to take them through the night.
A few metres from their “God given habitat”, stops a Jeep Cherokee. A young boy alights before joining his mother who is pushing a trolley into the supermarket. A couple of minutes later, the two come out. During the process the young, healthy looking boy encouraged his mother to hurry up since tomorrow is Mothers’ Day. Perhaps they need to prepare for the special day.
These are indeed two different worlds. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and many will be rejoicing.
Some children will take the opportunity to honour their mothers with gifts, flowers and cards. Or it is the other way round, mothers take this chance to show their positions in the family through spoiling their loved ones. Whatever happens, Mother’s Day is a special day to both mothers and children.
But to the street kids it is indeed hell in a cell. The day passes with many of them unaware. But the atmosphere is indeed worrisome and tormenting as they see some kids doing a lot for their mothers or vice-versa.
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In an interview with NewsDay some of the street kids professed ignorance over the day “What is that? I am not aware of that day, again I do not have a mother,” said one street kid who identified herself as Kiri before others laughed.
Another street kid Collen Ndlovu echoed the same sentiments.
“There is nothing like Mother’s Day, you are the first one to tell me that and how can you mention Mother’s Day while you know we belong to the streets?”
Some of the street kids, however said they know of the day, but their situation was a thorn in the flesh.
“Yes, I know of the day and I remember quite well when my dad would take us out to celebrate the day. On the day he would present some flowers, but it is now history. I lost both parents and it is something else,” said 14-year old Chenai .
Another one who identified himself as Sox said he is now living with the memories of the day.
“I am aware of the day, but since I ran away from home I forgot about it. To me the day was something else, my mother would do it the other way. She would spoil me and my brother and it was so nice,” he said.
Some of the mothers who spoke to NewsDay said they felt pity for those women who have lost their children to the streets.
“The day means nothing if you know that you lost a child or miss one. It is a good feeling to celebrate with your family. It is a pity that some children are out there without mothers and they are going to miss a lot.
“Mother’s Day can strengthen a bond between a mother and her family,” she said.
Mother’s Day is a celebration meant for honouring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements Father’s Day, a similar celebration honouring fathers.
