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South Africa-Lovemore had stayed at the church for only a few months when he decided he had to leave.”People are fighting all the time, stealing each other’s things. It wasn’t right.

“Some of the boys run the school. They say they are the pioneers. They get away with anything,” said Lovemore.This included privileges when it came to food – of which there is never enough.

Much of the fighting at the church is over the affections of girls, who are vastly outnumbered by the young men. And, of course, the endless battles for food. Conditions had improved by the time Lovemore got to the church.

At least once a week there would be meat in their diet, as well as beans and vegetables.People employ different methods to survive. Some find piece jobs. To Lovemore it seemed many people were involved in crime.

“And there are boys who are selling themselves as wives to men,” he said. Lovemore started attending the Albert Street School, where many of the kids from the church go. Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and barefoot, he felt out of place among the others, most of them also from Zimbabwe.

He found the teachers’ blatant advances towards the girls revolting. “We came here as orphans, and what we needed was love.” Feeling increasingly isolated, during breaks he would wonder the city, lingering in parks and watching the hustle and bustle around him.

“You want to feel you belong, like you fit in. “Once you step out of school and onto the street you may get stopped by police, who won’t believe you’re at school,” he said.

Cabbage and pap for lunch. Cabbage and pap for supper. Always cabbage and pap.”Joseph had had enough of this mundane existence, a diet he says is even available in Zimbabwe. Too often, tensions would spill over when it comes to the allocation of food.

“When we are coming from school and we’re still hungry, you see someone eating nice food, the kind of food you want, then the girls stay with them,” he explained.

Late at night, sometimes shortly before midnight, the girls would return to their sleeping quarters.This scramble for resources among thousands of people saw Joseph and some friends decide to take matters into their own hands.

Loitering in the CBD, in the space between security guards, metro police and closed-circuit cameras, the group would identify a would-be victim. The chase would last for a short distance. The robbery concluded like any other transaction on the bustling, cluttered streets of the inner-city. In seconds it would be over.

“We rather go for women, or people who are alone. It’s easier,” said Joseph. Most often the loot would consist of a cellphone and a wallet.

Takeaway food, clothes and flashy “computer” cellphones – the boys were living the high life. Their dangerous gambit seemed foolproof and, coupled with the invincibility of youth, there seemed no end in sight to the easy money to be made.

Then one of the gang was shot by the police. “I got scared and decided I didn’t want this anymore.For Joseph it was fairly easy leaving the church and making his way to a children’s shelter outside the city.

When Dzino arrived at the church more than a year ago, he was delighted to discover that a boy from his locality in Zimbabwe was living there already. “I was hanging out with my homeboy, KB,” he said.

But then the rumours started. People started pointing at Dzino, speaking in hushed voices and whispers. Confronting some of the conspirators, Dzino was horrified.

“I heard from people that he was sleeping with men. So they thought that because I was hanging out with him, I was also.” He started observing his friend more closely, watching as he left early in the evenings sometimes, only to return the following morning or in the dead of night.

Rifling through his bag, Dzino discovered make-up. Whenever he’d return it would be with money or some flashy clothes. Dzino started to suspect KB was prostituting himself.

Suspicion turned to reality when he witnessed KB and three other boys being solicited by a man who lived inside the church. His eyes now opened, Dzino said it was the punier, smaller boys who were targeted as “wives” by some of the men in the church.

He said there was no need to report what he saw to the committee who run the church, or to Bishop Paul Verryn. “They know. They all know.”

Before he left, KB returned to the church late one night with bruises to his face and body. He’d been attacked in Hillbrow. But Dzino didn’t want to know any further details of who the perpetrators were or under what conditions the assault happened.

KB and his friends were prowling the streets of Joburg, descending on unsuspecting pedestrians and robbing them of cash and valuables.

Since Dzino left the church he has been focusing on his school work, hardly ever discussing the events he witnessed at the church, except with social workers.

He has no contact with his friends and acquaintances he left behind.To a casual observer the tall, well-built young man in and about the Central Methodist Church was not one to be messed with.

But others familiar with area quickly spotted the uncertainty in the face of the newcomer. A friendly man started up a conversation with the 16-year-old, speaking to him about his conditions, his aspirations.

It wasn’t long before the man offered to help the youngster out with a few essentials, including a school uniform. The man would bring it around next week. No, actually you’re in luck. Today’s payday and, if you come with me, I can get them for you right now, the man offered.

Tendai wanted to believe the good Samaritan and accompanied him to nearby Bree Street taxi rank where the two set off to a nearby township. Once there, Tendai was left alone until nightfall. When the man returned he again convinced Tendai that he’d better sleep over until the morning.

Tendai thought nothing of sharing a bed with the man, who had earlier spoken of his wife and two children. Then, hands started groping his body under the blankets.

The strapping young man tried to fight off his attacker, screaming as he tried to keep the man at bay. The commotion attracted the attention of a neighbor who came to the boy’s rescue. The man gave Tendai R100 and told him to leave.

“The next day I told the principal but he didn’t take me seriously,” said Tendai. Days later the same man appeared at the church, and, while he now ignored Tendai, was often spotted in and around the building.

The woman thought she was alone with her infant. Slowly, she started pulling out wads of cotton wool and stuffed it deep into her baby’s mouth. But in the Central Methodist Church you are hardly ever alone.

Quickly the eyes that had been watching her stepped in and stopped the infanticide. The baby was one of the lucky ones. “That child lived, but others, we just hear that the child died. Some of the women killed their babies so that they can look for men,” explained Cecilia.

During her nearly two-year stay at the church it was not uncommon to find a dead baby on a step inside the church.

Some of the women trying to survive under trying conditions at the church sell their bodies on the streets of Joburg for as little as R50. And in the CBD, flyers for backstreet and legal abortions compete for space on buildings and street lamps.

It’s a well-known fact that the principal of the Albert Street School has “girlfriends” among his students, said Jillian. Flashing some cash and sealing the deal with a date at the local KFC is the modus operandi to make the teenagers feel “special”.

Cecilia was one of those who was “proposed”. She had agreed to go with the principal to the photo shop at the nearby Carlton Centre.

When they left, the principal guided her through a different part of the sprawling mall, emerging in front of a hotel. “He begged me to go in with him. He said he would give me anything I want in my life. He said he would buy me a school uniform. But I want to make something of my life and not have to rely on someone who’s just like my father,” said Cecilia.

Life at the overcrowded church had become unbearable for the two and they plotted their escape. “If you tell anybody you want to leave the church, you’re in for the high jump,” said Jillian.

There would be threats of not being able to return to the church, of the worse conditions you’d find yourself in, or that you’d be deported.

Finally, after contacting social services, the two left without giving notice.

Zim man faces Taiwan jail

Chiyangwa shops the MJ style

Man found in bed with workmate’s wife

Man forced to buy freezer at gunpoint

Police share 40 cellphones with a thief

Couple sued for having sex in the club

Man guilty of having sexual intercourse with stepdaughter

Male Prostitutes charged with soliciting

Jonathan Moyo and his gay activities

Bona Mugabe raped by Tanzanian students

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