Zambia-based Zimbabwean gospel musician and motivational speaker Tinotendaishe Mawoyo has described a family as an institution that is very crucial in shaping the future of a child; however, the failure of it to play its role can cause serious harm to the child and kill destinies.
Narrating his ordeal on how he ended up living in the street and surviving by eating bad food from litter bins, Mawoyo called upon families to retain the unifying responsibility and to support orphans in order to reduce the number of children who end up living in the streets.
“What forced me to go into the street was the hard situation that I was facing in my family. When my mother passed away in 2002, I was very young, and relatives could not take good care of me. I began to move from one house to the other; I was ill-treated until I decided to get into the street because of the pain and rejection I faced.
“I got into the street in 2002 in Mutare. While there, I found a friend, and we decided to relocate to Harare, so we illegally got into the train, sneaking ourselves under the seats. When we got to Harare, I was staying at Market Square bus terminus, and I began to eat from the bins; I could also sometimes go to First Street and Magaba Complex area.
“Life was too difficult for me; I could sleep at Railways pavement. We could beg for food and clothes,” he said.
He further shared some of the challenges that he faced during the time he was in the street, which include severe rivalry from other street kids, harsh weather conditions, and addiction to drug and substance abuse.
“There had been a lot of rivalry from other street kids, fighting for places and sometimes food. Also, harsh weather conditions were not excluded as a thorn to me. I used to sleep at the verandah of National Railways of Zimbabwe.
“The other thing which I encountered was drug and substance abuse. We could buy glue and sniff. This was our life every day,” he added.
Mawoyo strongly recalled how the operation “Murambatsvina” of 2004 took him out of the street and marked the beginning of his new life.
“In 2004, there happened Operation Murambatsvina, which was an exercise to clean the city of Harare by removing every illegal market and structure and people living in the streets. We were housed at Harare Central Police Station, and from there, we were transferred to various government centers through the Social Welfare Department.
“My journey to success began when I was later shifted to Bluehills Children’s Home in Gweru. That is when I met Dr. Mukari, who began to assist me with my primary and secondary education. I was later identified by Foster Care because I was intelligent, which helped me to finish my high school and tertiary education.
“By God’s grace, I studied up to tertiary level, and I graduated with a BSc Music and Musicology Honours Degree at Midlands State University in 2017,” he said.
Speaking to families and communities, Mawoyo expressed the great need for these institutions to show love and care to the orphans and assist street children so that they can go to school and live their dreams.
“Being an orphan does not mean that one is not gifted. As families and societies, let us care for the orphans and also show love to those living in the streets. If possible, let us find ways on how we can help them to come out of the streets so that they can continue with their education. There are doctors, pilots, and great people that we can get from children that are living in the streets, so let us not kill destinies,” he added.
Tinotendaishe Mawoyo had gone through different bushes full of thorns to become a gospel star that is preaching the message of love, unity, and inspiration. He also inspires others through sharing his story, as a way of restoring hope in others.
