As one draws  near the Mbare Musika bus terminus, the sound of groaning and hissing buses start to grow louder and louder.Each time a bus screeches to a stop, a mob of excited vendors outstrip each other racing to the grating bus to trade their stuff. They tussle for the best spot as they race against time to finish their wares before dusk.

At one end of the terminus is a group of young men enjoying the fatal, alcoholic and illegal ‘zed’ drink while touts tussle for travelers. This tussling borders on harassment and includes the snatching of bags from the travelers, often confusing them until  they end up on buses that are not even going to their destinations. On the other end of the terminus, a young lady in her early twenties is nonchalantly helping two children to bath. A few metres away a woman who identified herself as Theresa is struggling to keep the fire burning – together they make up the Chiuswa family.

While many people find comfort in their homes, the Chiuswa family has a different story to tell. Like many other people, they do not celebrate the sunset because for them, another uphill task of spending cold nights on pavements begins.Narrating her ordeal to this reporter, Theresa Chiuswa, who is lives at the terminus with her three children reveals how she ended up at Mbare Musika. Having failed to raise the amount of money needed for rentals in the shabby and metallic cabin houses which are located in the banks of Mukuvisi River she had to resign herself to fate.

“Life is so nasty and sometimes I wonder if I will ever enjoy the fruits of a normal life,” Theresa said with tears trickling down her cheeks

“We came to Harare in 2012 when things were so bad back home in Mutoko, where I come from,  after being fooled that life in the capital was rosy.

“Street life is not pleasing at all as you are exposed to all the dangers of the night, at times drunkards will come and wake us up and sometimes beat you up, on the other hand police officers and council authorities chase us as they do not tolerate our presence on the terminus,” said Theresa.

Theresa also told the Zimbabwe Sentinel that verbal abuse from people who pass by is the order of the day as they perceive them as insane people. She went on to reveal that the money she earns from collecting used plastic bottles is not sufficient for her to afford accommodation. “I rely on collecting used plastic bottles, but the money I get is not sufficient for me to rent a single room as we earn a paltry amount. The major problem these days is that the business has is now flooded as many  unemployed people are turning to it to make ends meet’’ revealed Theresa.Theresa and her family are only one of other homeless in Harare as Forgive Mhindu (not his real name) who is a 12 year old faces a similar situation.

The 12 year boy old boy hooked with this reporter while enjoying a handful of potato chips donated by a passing sympathiser.Mhindu told this reporter the vicious treatment they are subjected to by their elderly mates on the streets.“If we want to secure a place to spend the night at any hideout with lit fire you have to find food for the bigger boys, failure of which will result in us being evicted from the base,” said Forgive

Innovative bookshop pavement which is in the CBD has become home to scores of homeless teenagers. Sharon Munembo 22, a street dweller also narrated her ordeal to this reporter. ‘It’s not easy being a woman living on the streets,’ said Munemo while she tried to keep away flies that were hovering over her two year old daughter. “I have to walk one street after the other in search of food for myself and my child and at times people perceive me as mentally handicapped while a lot of them detach themselves from me.

“Some males on the streets are very hostile as they chase me away from their bases,” said Sharon, adding that some demand sexual favours in return for security throughout the night . According to George Masimba of Dialogue on Shelter, an NGO based in Harare close to 500 000 people in Harare are homeless.

Masimba went on to say that the number of homeless people in the capital is on the increase because rural to urban migration.“Rural dwellers perceive life in the urban areas to be rosy and they end up swarming in urban areas with nowhere to go,” said Masimba