EASTERN PROVINCE

NGOMA — The majority of street children in Ngoma District are below 15 years of age.

A mini survey conducted by The New Times in Kibungo town, in Ngoma, shows that over 80 percent of the street children are below 15 years.

Out of 30 street children interviewed randomly, 25 of them are aged between 13 and 15. The survey also reveals that most of these street children have one parent, either a father or a mother.

According to the survey, most of these children are school dropouts who have resorted to looking for jobs as housemaids, selling mobile phone top-up cards and vending public phones commonly known as Tuvugane.

Others wash cars, sell fried groundnuts, carry passengers’ luggage while others spend the day on the streets idle- which has often resulted into theft.

Most of these street children smoke marijuana, inhale petrol and glue as a soothing agent. 14 year-old Claude Mupenzi, says he took to the streets to seek survival because he could not be supported at home.

The last born in the family of five, formerly staying with a mother, says he took the decision after performing poorly in last years’ Primary Six exams.

"My mother could not afford paying my secondary school fees and life at home wasn’t at all good,” he says. "Getting what to eat a day was a burden,” he adds.

Mupenzi now washes cars for survival earning Frw400 daily.

Another street child, Asman Karangwa says he sleeps where darkness finds him. 15 year-old Karangwa is a renowned marijuana smoker in the town.

Most of the people say he is a thief, stealing in homes at night.

Sniffing glue commonly  known as  colle, Karangwa says, "I feel good when I sniff this colle, because it stimulates my mind to think of what to do next for survival.”

The first born in the family of seven, Karangwa has a mother but his father died in 1998, when they were returning to Rwanda from Tanzania.

He survives on food handouts from restaurants where he washes plates.

A 13 year-old Etienne Nvukiyehe, says he’s been on the street for the past two years. An orphan and the fourth born in the family of seven, says he carries passenger’s luggage to earn a living.

"At home no one can give me what I want and I came here to look for it,” a tough looking boy says. "You can’t sleep on an empty stomach when you can look for means of survival for a day or night,” he adds.

Mvukiyehe smokes marijuana and sniffs petrol.

"But if anyone can support me to go back to school and give me all the necessities, I can leave the street,” he says.

Like Mvukiyehe, many other street children also say they are ready to go back to school and leave the street.

According to the survey, however, during evening hours the number of street children increases in town.

This is partly because when schools close in the evening, most of the pupils flock the town to look for small jobs like carrying people’s luggage.

Likewise on Wednesday, and Saturdays which are market days in Kibungo, many pupils don’t go to school as they go for this kind ofjobs in the market.

Parents have sometimes also refused their children to go to school on market days to help them carry merchandise such as bananas, tomatoes to the market.

The district authorities have waged war on parents who don’t support their children by giving them the necessities, especially education.

Recently, head teachers of all schools in the district, both primary and secondary, met to resolve the issue of school dropouts.

It was agreed that both teachers and parents hold regular meetings and design strategies to curb the problem.

Ends