A young boy sells boiled eggs and buns on the streets of Harare. (AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not a street kid. I come here to sell my things, go home and use the money to buy food,\u201d said Tanyaradzwa, who did not give his last name to protect his privacy.<\/p>\n
With power cuts lasting 19 hours per day, debilitating water shortages, inflation at 175 percent and many basic items in scarce supply, Zimbabwe\u2019s children are the silent victims of the once-prosperous southern African country\u2019s debilitating economic downfall.<\/p>\n
For his family of six to eat, Tanyaradzwa must hang around the bar at the popular Elizabeth Hotel in hopes of cashing in on afternoon drinkers and passers-by who want to buy cigarettes, he said.
\nHis parents run a small vegetable stall in Glen View, a working class residential area, but what they make is hardly enough to pay the bills, let alone buy food, he said.
\nMany people can no longer afford to put food on the table without the help of their children \u2014 no matter how young.<\/p>\n
Children are forced to juggle between school demands and supplementing the family income through street vending or selling at small stalls.
\n\u201cThese holidays just mean more work. There is no break, because I now have no excuse not to work every day,\u201d said Tanyaradzwa.<\/p>\n
On the adjacent, busy street named after former longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, children joined elders pushing fruit and vegetable carts. Some kids held cardboard boxes selling items ranging from cigarettes, cell phone airtime, sweets and clothing.<\/p>\n
According to Mercy Mpata, a teachers\u2019 representative, the demands are taking many children\u2019s focus away from school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of absenteeism because the children have a lot on their plate,\u201d said Mpata, the spokeswoman for the Association of Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if they come (to school), they are either sleepy or, instead of concentrating on school work they are busy thinking \u2018Where will we get the next meal if I don\u2019t sell enough items after school today?\u2019\u201c
\nTeachers have their own grievances. They are paid the equivalent of about $50 a month and, like the rest of the civil service, say they cannot live on those wages, which they call \u201cslave salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live in the community. We interact with these children and their parents. They are like family. That\u2019s why we always try to give it our all \u2026 but hungry teachers teaching hungry children, that\u2019s tough,\u201d said Mpata.
\nThe food situation is dire in Zimbabwe, with about a third of the country\u2019s 17 million people being food insecure due to drought and the worsening economy, according to a report released this month by UN agencies, international aid organizations and the government.<\/p>\n
President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. On the same day, the UN launched a $331 million appeal to mitigate the unfolding disaster. Children, according to the appeal, are some of the hardest hit. Close to 160,000 children and adolescents will need welfare and child protection services, according to the UN.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a risk that children and adolescents will increasingly experience psychosocial distress as some are likely to drop out of school, pushed away from home to seek employment,\u201d said the UN in its appeal for funds.
\nExpectations were high that Zimbabwe\u2019s economy would grow following Mugabe\u2019s departure at the end of 2017. But the economy did not take off and will contract 3 percent this year, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, said this month.
\nAfter inflation reached a decade-high of 175.6 percent last month, Ncube suspended the country\u2019s monthly inflation reports, saying that last year\u2019s prices were in US dollars and now they are in Zimbabwe\u2019s currency, introduced in June, so they are not comparable.<\/p>\n
However, that has not stopped schools from feeling the pinch of rising prices and eroding incomes. For the coming school term, some boarding schools are asking parents to provide food instead of paying school fee increases.
\nBut that\u2019s just for the fortunate children who still have parents and guardians able to afford such boarding facilities.<\/p>\n
For many children such as Tanyaradzwa, juggling between school and eking out a living takes a toll, even as they desperately hold on to bouts of hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have dreams, big ones,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cI want to be a lawyer.\u201d
\nTo achieve that dream, he is sacrificing much of his childhood.
\n\u201cThere is no time to play with friends,\u201d he said. \u201cThe work, the school, it takes all of my time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A young boy sells boiled eggs and buns on the streets of Harare. (AP) \u201cI am not a street kid. I come here to sell my things, go home and use the money to buy food,\u201d said Tanyaradzwa, who did not give his last name to protect his privacy. With power cuts lasting 19 hours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[216,345,462,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-12324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-children","10":"tag-food","11":"tag-hunger","12":"tag-mnangagwa"},"yoast_head":"\n