MUST READ: Homeless teenagers from Trim Park seek help – VIDEO

The brothers dream about leaving the park and streets behind, having a place to call home and being able to finish their schooling career.

March 8, 2017

Quinton Boucher 2 minutes read

Manqoba and Anele Ndebele are seeking an escape from the streets.

TRIM PARK – Where are your children sleeping tonight?

The question might be a simple one for many parents and children, but for siblings Manqoba and Anele Ndebele, nightfall brings about fears of the unknown.

They will be sleeping in Trim Park, worrying if they are going to be robbed or even worse.

Manqoba ran away from home in November 2016.

“Our mother died when I was still small, and when our father died our stepmother treated us wrongly. She would hit me for the smallest things and I eventually left.”

He met up with Anele, who left home in January 2015.

“It is not easy living like this and I often worry about my brother,” said Anele, who said he is now 18 years old.

The boys have been robbed on numerous occasions since setting up camp in Trim Park.

“The people from under the bridge will come take the money I begged for, my shoes, my shirts. They even took the phone my brother bought me after he had collected enough money to afford it,” Manqoba said.

The brothers dream about leaving the park and streets behind, having a place to call home and being able to finish their schooling career.

“All we want is to finish school and be safe. It is not nice living like this.”

The brothers crouch by their makeshift bed.

While the siblings do their utmost to care for each other, they claimed food was a scarce commodity at times.

“I have not eaten since yesterday afternoon and I don’t know when I will be able to collect enough money to buy something,” Manqoba said.

The brothers, however, are not the only children living in the park.

Anele said they lived with five other destitute people, of which only one was an adult.

Child Welfare social worker Farieda Mia, said the welfare would need to look into the situation, in order to see what can be done to help the children.