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Children take full charge of families
2008-03-30 09:49:07
By Darius Mukiza just back from Bukoba
It sounds crazy but it is the real life of Renatha Sospeter, a Standard V pupil at Kanywangonge Primary School in Nshamba Ward of Muleba District, Kagera Region.
The 15-year old girl takes care of the entire house and a younger brother who solely depends on her.
The role of looking after the house catapults the teenager into the parenting world with its challenges. ``I am mother and father of the house.
My brother Sosthenes (13) who is in Standard II depends on me for upkeep, although we have to toil extremely hard to survive despite all odds. I also fight against virile temptations,`` Renatha confides.
Both parents have died. The mother Adventina Mjambili passed away in 2001 and their father Sospatery Mjambili five years later. It is the final loss of their father that aggravated the teenagers’ predicaments.
Renatha recalls that the death of their mother rocked them but their father stood firm and looked after them well, as a responsible parent does. But the blow came at the death of the only man they depended upon. Things started moving against them, and especially on her as a senior member of the orphaned pair.
``The departure of our father was a great tragedy to us. It was more than a disaster. We were too young to look after ourselves, but there was no help from anywhere, `` she says.
Adds Renatha: ``Strangely, our maternal and paternal relatives ran away from us. They went back to their families immediately after the funeral rites. We were not handed over to anybody to take care of us.
We were left alone, the two of us, in the house to take care of ourselves. It was uncomfortable, but we had to make do with it.``
The young children live by seeking alms from good Samaritans, although they also engage in cultivating their banana plantation.
``It is from the plantation that we are assured of existence. You know? At first we feared sleeping in our house after the death of our father. We sought accommodation from our neighbours, too afraid to spend nights alone,`` Sosthenes reveals.
They also sometimes lack food, school uniforms and other basics in normal life. Under normal circumstances the pair is experiencing a life of psychological torture. Both of them are too young to understand the intricacies of life.
``We are young. We are pupils attending school daily. We cannot produce enough. We may face starvation although we have already survived for this long,” Renatha expresses her fears.
Last November they both were nearly expelled from school for lacking school uniforms. ``We were told to go back home until we had school uniforms.
That was another trying time for us. We had no money to buy them. We thank God that Humuliza, a non governmental organization came to our rescue.``
She adds: ``My ambition to become a medical doctor may not come true. The road is too full of hurdles.
After coming from school in the evening I walk about three kilometres to fetch water then I cook for us.
I ensure that my brother is fed properly before we retire for sleep. The schedule leaves me too tired for any extra work, including tuition.``
Constant night knocks on their door worry them, and at times thieves invade their house during the day and make away with some of their belongings.
Sosthenes admires the level of devotion his sister has on their life, and thinks one day he will become a school teacher.
Humuliza Director Victor Paul has this to say about the young desperate youths: ``It is a wonder that the little ones are nursing themselves. It is very risky and dangerous. They need help. Let every person who is sympathetic help them.``
Kanywangonge schoolteacher Archad John also asks upright minded persons capable of extending help to the needy to go ahead and do so for the pair,
Their neighbour Veronica Kalukwanzi sheds tears when recounting what the teenagers face daily as they struggle to survive and make it in life.
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