0:00:14 > 0:00:19MAN SINGS IN BANTU
0:00:19 > 0:00:24I am here at Mosi-oa-Tunya, Chinotimba, Victoria Falls,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28a place that symbolises the greatness of Zimbabwe,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32a country that was once known as the jewel of Africa,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35with the best education system on the continent.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41I have come back to a country that raised me,
0:00:41 > 0:00:47educated me, a country that made me who I am today.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51After suffering years of conflict and turmoil,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53I am here to find out
0:00:53 > 0:00:56what the future holds for the children of Zimbabwe.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59My name is Xoliswa Sithole I am a South African,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02but to escape apartheid and give me a proper education,
0:02:02 > 0:02:07my mother brought me to Zimbabwe as a child.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09In 2009, I returned to Zimbabwe
0:02:09 > 0:02:12to make a film about my childhood.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17When I arrived, I was so shocked by the terrible suffering
0:02:17 > 0:02:20of the prison generation of Zimbabwe's children
0:02:20 > 0:02:23that I could not stand by in silence.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28I decided to make this the focus of the film.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31What you are about to see
0:02:31 > 0:02:34is an edited version of that film,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37along with an update to show what has happened
0:02:37 > 0:02:40in the 12 months since it was first screened.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50SINGING IN BANTU
0:02:57 > 0:03:00In a northern suburb of the capital Harare,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Grace lives with her sister Michelle
0:03:03 > 0:03:04and her father Joseph.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08When I was their age, education was everything.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12But life is more difficult for these girls.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56With 95% unemployment in this area and the economy in shreds,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59the only way for the family to earn enough to eat,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01let alone pay school fees,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04is for the girls to help their father
0:04:04 > 0:04:06scour rubbish tips for bottles.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11On these ones, when they are 30, we get a dollar.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16And on these ones when they are ten, ten of them get a dollar.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Joseph has been looking after the girls on his own
0:04:21 > 0:04:23since their mother left.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26She went to Malawi four years ago.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe reached 231,000,000% in 2008,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47forcing the government to abandon the Zimbabwean dollar
0:04:47 > 0:04:49in April 2009.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Most people now use the US dollar,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56but there are hardly any coins in circulation
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and few single dollar bills,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02making it very hard to buy and sell.
0:05:08 > 0:05:0930 for a dollar.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31Just a few years ago,
0:05:31 > 0:05:36Joseph was a successful exporter of wire and bead figures,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39but when the economy started to collapse,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42the bottom fell out of the export market.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Most people that used to buy our wires
0:05:45 > 0:05:49were the tourists and the foreigners, you see.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53They had better prices, you see, than the local people.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55When these land issues started,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59our people started taking the farms and all the whites were going out.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04They were leaving the place.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07And those who were giving us the orders,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11they never sent us the order, they stopped giving us some orders.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Fortunately for Grace and Michelle,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20their father had invested in a small family business before the orders dried up.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23So for a while, there was still enough money
0:06:23 > 0:06:25for the girls to go to school.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The clean-up, known as Operation Murambatsvina,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01literally translates as "drive out the filth".
0:07:01 > 0:07:03In 2005, the government claimed to be clearing slums
0:07:03 > 0:07:05to improve housing,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10but the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14claimed Mugabe was trying to eradicate its supporters.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28The UN estimates
0:07:28 > 0:07:33that the homes of at least 700,000 Zimbabweans were destroyed
0:07:33 > 0:07:37and up to half of the victims were children.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42With nowhere to go, squatter camps soon started to appear on the outskirts of the cities.
0:07:43 > 0:07:49With no running water, electricity or sewage, life here is hard.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Esther lives with her mother and baby sister Tino
0:08:16 > 0:08:18in what is barely more than a tent.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23The AIDS virus killed her father and is now killing her mother.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Esther is also HIV positive,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30but with her mother's health failing,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Esther is now the main carer in the family.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55SHE COUGHS
0:10:14 > 0:10:18One in seven adults in Zimbabwe has HIV.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Life expectancy here has dropped by more than 20 years
0:10:22 > 0:10:24since I was a girl.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27It's now one of the lowest in the world.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Zimbabwe used to have some of the most productive farms in the world.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21But they were owned by white farmers.
0:11:21 > 0:11:27After 20 years trying to negotiate a fairer redistribution of land,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Mugabe's patience ran out in 2000
0:11:31 > 0:11:33and the land act was passed.
0:11:33 > 0:11:39Soon after that, the so-called war veterans began to invade the farms.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41The invasions continue today.
0:11:41 > 0:11:42They are often violent.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Sometimes the workers are beaten and even killed.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Many flee to unoccupied government land for safety.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Out of 4,300 white-owned commercial farms operating in 2000,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00now fewer than 300 remain.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Much of Zimbabwe's beautiful and bountiful arable land
0:12:05 > 0:12:07now grows only weeds.
0:12:14 > 0:12:15Obert is an orphan.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Like so many children in Zimbabwe,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19he lost his parents to AIDS.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23He lives with his grandmother,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27who used to have a secure job on a white-owned farm.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Obert and his grandmother must now eke out a living from the land.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00Their only source of income is for Obert to pan for gold,
0:13:00 > 0:13:01but this is strictly illegal,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04as the government controls all mineral rights.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54The tragedy here
0:14:54 > 0:14:58is that so recently, this country was first world.
0:14:58 > 0:15:05When I was growing up, we had excellent standards of health care, economic growth and education.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10It's shocking to see how fast a society can fall apart.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Back at the squatter camp, Esther has taken a turn for the worse.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56The little food they had the last time we were here has run out.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02Poor hygiene and virtual starvation means Esther has become very sick.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33Up until the year 2000, Zimbabwe boasted some of the most productive farms in Africa.
0:20:33 > 0:20:40It breaks my heart that in a country that was recently so abundant,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43almost half the population now rely on
0:20:43 > 0:20:46foreign aid to feed their children.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Esther's uncle has come with the family's aid ration.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49Malnutrition and lack of clean water is killing more and more people in Zimbabwe.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54Over 4,000 people died during the recent cholera epidemic and with
0:21:54 > 0:22:00consistent water cuts throughout the country, there are fears it could strike again.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Joseph has found a new way to make some money from the rubbish dumps across Harare.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06The demand for bones comes from the sugar refining industry.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Bone ash can be used in the bleaching of sugar.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14But although the family has collected several sacks of bones,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17they have still not been able to sell them.
0:25:56 > 0:26:02School fees of two dollars a term are collected by the school's accountant.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Like many in Zimbabwe, he doesn't get paid,
0:26:05 > 0:26:11so he grows cotton to pay for his own children to go to school.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Most of the people staying here are from the farms, so they came
0:26:15 > 0:26:20to stay here after the farm was taken for resettlement purposes,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24so that's why most of the people came and stay here.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28We hear of more than 10,000 people who are living around here.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34Most of the children from the community, they don't have money to pay for school fees.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38It's the first day back at school.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Right... SHOUTS IN BANTU
0:26:41 > 0:26:48Let us sing our marching song and go into our respective classrooms.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Marching song.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55SINGING IN BANTU
0:26:57 > 0:26:59SINGING CONTINUES
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Obert, along with 1,000 other children, has turned up.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05But less than 100 have so far paid their fees.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10SINGING CONTINUES
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Ah, good morning, sir. Good morning, class.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08ALL: Good morning.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41At the end of the first day of term, no-one has so far been sent home,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45but Obert fears it is only a matter of time.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03When I went to school, post-independence, Zimbabwe
0:29:03 > 0:29:11had the best education system in Africa, if not in the world.
0:29:11 > 0:29:18Mugabe invested in human resources, invested in educating people.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20Schools were resourced,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24education was a priority.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28There was no child who didn't go school,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31regardless of whether that child was poor or not.
0:29:35 > 0:29:41The last time I saw Esther, her mother was gravely ill.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41CHILD COUGHS
0:30:52 > 0:30:54BABY CRIES
0:31:31 > 0:31:33CRYING CONTINUES
0:31:39 > 0:31:42LOUD CRYING
0:35:00 > 0:35:05In northern Harare, Grace and Mishelle are trying their luck
0:35:05 > 0:35:09and have returned to school even though they have no money.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12But with teachers not having been paid for months,
0:35:12 > 0:35:17fees aren't the only obstacle to the girls getting an education.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20In Harare, things are not working out for Grace either.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45If things don't change,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47I see my daughters in shambles.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55I don't think they will have a better life. They will keep on struggling.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Excluded from school, Grace has no choice
0:40:59 > 0:41:06but to return to the rubbish dumps to search for bones and attempt to earn her way back into school.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48At Obert's school, the headmaster has given his accountant
0:41:48 > 0:41:53a list of all those children who have still not paid their fees.
0:41:53 > 0:41:59Today, I have come here to send back the kids to tell their parents to get the money for the school fees.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Since the term started, some of the kids paid school fees,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07but three quarters of the kids haven't paid the school fees yet.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15It's not good, but that's how the situation is.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19There's nothing I can do, I have to send them back home.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23Go and tell their parents to give them money for the school fees.
0:45:14 > 0:45:20Out of 1,015 children on the register, 889 have been sent home.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24Almost 90% of the school.
0:45:26 > 0:45:33It does pain me when I see what's going on, because it's...
0:45:33 > 0:45:36it's about the loss of opportunity.
0:45:36 > 0:45:42I had opportunities in this country. I had the ability to dream,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46because I was in an environment which allowed me to dream.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49I grew up in a country which has given me all of this,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51what I have become today. So why shouldn't
0:45:51 > 0:45:56thousands of other children have the same that I have had?
0:45:56 > 0:45:59When kids can't dream, then I think, you know,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02we can pretty much say goodbye to everything.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28It's over a year since we were filming in Zimbabwe
0:47:28 > 0:47:32but memories of what I saw there still haunt me.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36For the moment, I cannot return to Zimbabwe
0:47:36 > 0:47:41but a crew has been there to see how things have changed.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49The public response to the first screening of the documentary was very strong.
0:47:49 > 0:47:56As a result, international charities were able to step in and secure the children's futures.
0:48:06 > 0:48:13At Obert's school, all the children's school fees have now been paid until the end of the year.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05For Obert, his dream of no longer having to pan for gold to get to school
0:49:05 > 0:49:09has at last been realised.
0:49:09 > 0:49:16He sat the entrance exam for a top boarding school and started there in January.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22It is hard for Obert to comprehend the changes that have happened.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30Grace and Mishelle's lives have also changed.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Last July, their father, Joseph, died.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37Like so many Zimbabweans, he had been suffering from AIDS.
0:50:42 > 0:50:48Although their father can never be replaced, the children now have a housekeeper to look after them.
0:51:46 > 0:51:52You could make it to the extra lesson today, Grace.
0:51:57 > 0:52:03We are going to see if we can improve your writing.
0:52:07 > 0:52:08Number two?
0:52:08 > 0:52:13Begin the paragraph with topic sentence.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15Correct. Now...
0:52:29 > 0:52:35All your ideas must be organised into paragraphs.
0:53:02 > 0:53:07The last time I saw Esther and Tino, they were outside a padlocked tent.
0:53:17 > 0:53:23Today the girls are thriving in a village for orphaned and abandoned children.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Little Tino has changed completely.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17She now attends kindergarten a couple of hours a day.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24The frown that always haunted her face has gone.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The girls now live together in the same house
0:54:48 > 0:54:53with their new foster mum and five new brothers and sisters.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09As a child of Zimbabwe,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13I still despair for the future of Zimbabwe's forgotten children.
0:56:13 > 0:56:20But at least Esther, Tino, Grace and Obert now have hope
0:56:20 > 0:56:23for the first time in their lives.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:02 > 0:57:05E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk