The kids were working a Traffic Light!
No luck as tips were scarce and they were desperate!
Difficult to beg from motorists that stop at the lights.
They had a good plan, as one kid who was faking a disability stood at the lights with a cup in his hand. He would approach every car that stopped at the lights to ask for a tip. It was quite comical to watch him limping around, as we discovered later that there was nothing wrong with him. The guys in the photo sat further down the road and they kept a careful eye to see if any tips were scored.
This photo was taken at 9am in the morning, as I was short of some pills and we stopped at the pharmacy to replenish the shortages. No drugs, as it is all doctors prescription pills for stuff like blood pressure and blood thinners. The chemist did not have the one make of tablets, but he said that he will get it and that we must return later in the afternoon.
We have a serious youth drug problem here in South Africa and I will rather show you some facts about the drug issues than putting it into my own words. Have a look at this below!
"15% of pupils admitted to getting high using over-the-counter drugs".
"The SA National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) found that 15% of pupils admitted to using over-the-counter drugs to get high. The same study found that 11.5% of pupils had tried at least one drug, such as heroin, Mandrax, sugars (a mix of residual cocaine and heroin) or tik".
[Source](https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1179509/drug-abuse-is-growing-in-sa/)3:30pm, (15:30hrs) in the afternoon we returned to the chemist and the kids were still there. So while Marian went in to collect the medicine, I walked across to the kids to investigate. Yes, you guessed it, they had collected only a few cents, as all of the motorists in our town are aware of the drug problem.
But here is the catch! These kids were hungry! Imagine sitting like this for a day hoping and praying for some tips to buy food!
Well, what would you do in an event like this?
Malnutrition is a huge problem in our country and I did some research to show you the real status of the problem.
"Top 15 World Hunger Statistics".
"1. "Approximately 842 million people suffer from hunger worldwide. That’s almost 12 percent of the world’s population of 7.1 billion people". 2. "Ninety-eight percent of those who suffer from hunger live in developing countries. 553 million live in the Asian and Pacific regions, while 227 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Latin America and the Caribbean account for 47 million".
"Malnutrition causes stunting among children, a condition characterized by low height for a child’s age. In 2013, it was estimated that 161 million children under 5 were stunted worldwide". "Malnutrition also causes wasting, a condition characterized by low weight for a child’s age. In 2013, it was estimated that 51 million children under 5 were wasted".
"One region that has shown little reduction in hunger has been Sub-Saharan Africa. While the hunger rate in this region fell 10 percent from 1992-2014, the number of hungry people has actually risen during this time period, from 175.7 million to 220 million".
[Source](https://borgenproject.org/15-world-hunger-statistics/)And this is where we are situated, in Sub-Saharan Africa!
And That's All Folks!
Note: All photos are my own, unedited and only cropped for uploading purposes. All sections marked with "inverted commas" were duly cited Camera used: Canon Powershot SX60HS.
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