Keeping children away from streets with goats

It has been over 10 years since Patuma Yasini made a daring but dangerous decision to escape her aunt’s brutal treatment—seeking refuge in the streets of Limbe. Patuma, who had gone for a holiday visit at her aunt’s place in Machinjiri, Blantyre, recalls that she would do all house chores while the other children played, but was not given any food.

Patuma, now 18 years old, says as the abuse continued so was her resolve to run away, even if it meant seeking refuge in the dangerous alleys of Limbe.

“Due to poverty, my parents would send me to my aunt’s home during school holidays, but I didn’t like how the family treated me,” she says. “I then decided to run away from her house and found myself in the streets with nowhere to go as I was lost.”

Being a minor, she could not even recall the name of the place where her mother lived, which made it difficult for those who wanted to help her. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan took her to Limbe Police Station, and that is how she got saved from experiencing the harsh realities of street life.

“I did not plan to be in Limbe, but was just walking in the hope that I would stumble home,” she says, adding: “I became frightened when it started getting dark and that’s when I started crying for help. I was lucky that someone took me to the police.”

At the police station, Patuma’s explanation of how she was found in the streets and where her parents lived was unintelligible. The mere sight of uniformed officers made the situation worse, as she kept on sobbing in fear. And the police had to resort to Chisomo Children’s Home, whom they worked with in cases where lost or homeless minors were involved.

People from Chisomo Children’s Home eventually took Patuma in for the night at their shelter house. When they managed to calm her down, she told them about her name and she also managed to give them hazy details of where her parents lived.

Patuma recalls: “After giving me food and shelter, the people at Chisomo managed to trace my home and explained to my mother what I had told them as to why I ran away from aunt’s place,” says Patuma.

She says ever since, Chisomo Children’s Home has been helping her with books, school fees and also supporting her mother with farm inputs to ensure they have enough food.

Indeed, Patuma is one of the many children who Chisomo Children’s Home, with support from DanChurchAid (DCA), an international NGO working in Malawi, has helped to rescue from the streets and reunite with their families. Unlike her peers, Patuma was fortunate to have been noticed early when she had not yet been infused in street life.

Statistics show that hundreds of children in Malawi run away from their homes to the streets annually mainly due to poverty and abuse. With Aids taking a toll on the population, many children have been orphaned and the corresponding breaking down of the traditional family structures has worsened the situation.

Patuma’s case is an example of how poverty can force parents to abdicate the responsibilities of taking care of their families.

“My family is poor and we rely on farming for food. But most of the time, we didn’t have enough to eat and because of this, I was always absent from school,” says Patuma, whose father died.

Despite facing many challenges on the way, Patuma has managed to complete her primary education and now she is in her first year of secondary school.

“I want to go to college and become a teacher,” she says: “I have brothers and sisters who look up to me for guidance and this makes me work hard in school so that I can be their role model.”

Realising that children repatriated from the streets and reintegrated with their families lack support in many aspects, DCA has supported Chisomo Children’s Home with funds to help their families of former street children with small income-generating projects.

Patuma benefitted from the goat pass-on project.

“I received four goats from Chisomo and I feel these have come at the right time,” says Patuma.

She says the goats will help her find money for paying her secondary school fees and other needs.

With help from Chisomo, Patuma constructed a modern goat kraal that allows the droppings to accumulate underneath. People come and buy the droppings for use as manure in their fields.

“We sell at K500 per bucketful and I have been using the money to support the family,” she says.

Patuma’s mother also shares the gratitude.

“Chisomo has been very helpful,” she says: “They started helping Patuma when she was small and they always come to visit her and offer some counselling so that she stays focused on school.”

Commenting on the goat initiative for former street children, Chimwemwe Maseya, a social worker at Chisomo Children’s Home, says they have so far distributed goats to 12 families in and outside Blantyre.

“We are focusing on families that have children who were once on the streets. From our experience, the children run away from home because of various problems that range from abuse, but the most common one is poverty,” she says.

Maseya also adds that the project has been received well by the children.

“They are proud to have goats and this also helps to keep them away from the street,” she says.