February 15. Oasis and Streets Ahead.

A morning visit to Oasis and Streets Ahead. At Oasis, we visit a hiphop workshop with young kids, followed by counseling. It is only a roll-out of the concept, the first time they do it with preschoolers (it has been done successfully with teenagers). It seems to work well, the kids like it. The counseling session doesn’t kickstart because there are too many adults present and the kids are shy. But once we leave, or one child is take apart, there is some significant feedback.
And this is not some kind of play. Those kids are living in terrible conditions, are forced to collect empty plastic bottles and walk blisters on their toes, they are often mistreated by their parents. Oasis doesn’t have the authority to get to the parents directly, but can notify authorities, which might sometimes result in an improvement of the child’s situation. Sometimes, because the whole thing has to be seen against the background of Zimbabwean corruption.

We have a quick lunch and move on to Streets Ahead, where we ask a few questions about their income generating activities, see the Capoeira class that is going on outside and excites many a streetkid’s heart, do a donation and part in a good mood.

I leave Harare with a smile on my face, in the truck of  David. David is amazing, he even shows us a lion park along the highway down to Bulawayo. He drops us after a long comfortable drive at a guesthouse. We fill in our names and the name of a random relative, just in case “there is an earthquake”. We sleep well in a room that looks like it has been the bridal suite – at least twenty years ago.