The plight of Gathoka children
Dikabelo Baganne of Gathoka settlement, a stone’s throw away from Molepolole would love to be a pilot, but the 12 year old girl’s dream seems far-fetched due to circumstances surrounding her family background.
The standard six pupil at Lephaleng Primary School is open about what she fears would make her dream not come true. “I’m suffering. I don’t have school uniform, I don’t have clothes and I depend on donations,” she told The Midweek Sun this week. The young girl has dropped from an A student to C over the years.
She has eight siblings, who have children of their own to take care of. Her older sister Boitshwarelo Baganne says that she-Dikabelo, has since started performing unsatisfactorily in her studies. She explained that parents at Gathoka neglect their children for alcohol.
“Our parents drink too much. They neglect children and this frustrates them from a tender age,” she says. She narrates that children from Gathoka often start school from the age of 12 due to lack of parental care. Others quit school along the way. According to the older sister, young girls from the settlement resort to giving themselves to men, something she says has led to increasing teenage pregnancies in the area.
The 34 year-old mother of three had her first child at the age of 17. She survives by doing piece jobs in Molepolole. Her other young sister Boikhutso Baganne, 17, became a mother at the age of 16. She was doing Form three when she fell pregnant and had a promising future as a renowned soccer star at school.
Her dream, she says, is to become a nurse and that would only happen if a Good Samaritan could come to her rescue and connect her with social workers. “I love my baby but he is the reason I’m stuck here. None of my family members want to help me with him but I really want to go back to school,” she says.
A community activist from Molepolole Khumo Motsemme says she has visited Gathoka residents several times. She pointed out that children’s lives were unpleasant, citing being sexually molested by Zimbabweans as a leading problem. She states that more than 50 children do not go to school due to lack of parental care and support from their alcoholic parents.
Girls, from as young as 14 have become ‘sexually active’ and this she says, is driven by extreme poverty in their families. A lot of time, she adds, mothers go to shebeens with children which puts their lives at risks. Boys often leave school from as young as Standard two. “These people are a true epitome of poverty and children feel it the most,” she says.
A teacher from Lephaleng Primary School says pupils from Gathoka are generally known to be poor performers due to their circumstances. “They record a rising number of absentees and poor grades. Some come to school dirty and without uniforms,” she says.
Gathoka falls under Lekgwapheg ward in Molepolole. Social worker Goitse Barupi did not want to be drawn into an interview, and referred this reporter to Kweneng senior assistant council secretary Gofaone Kgabanyane, who was reported to be out of the country.