Our children, our
future goes the popular adage, thus no children no future .According to the
1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana, article 28 clause 5, a child is a
person below age of 18.clause four of the same article, says no child shall be
deprived of medical treatment, education or any other social economic benefit
by reason only of religious or other beliefs.
In a nutshell, one
can tell from the above that the right of the Ghanaian child is being protected
or must be protected otherwise one can say it is negligence of duty on the side
of the authorities. Gone are the days when the issues of street children are
linked up with big cities, today the story is completely different. As people
link it up to negligence on the side of some parents, others too are of the
views that the kids are truant and left home on their own. I then asked what if
the house is not actually a home and everyone is left to fetch for him or
herself due to hardship in other words survival of the fitters?
On the 31st
of July 2013, I took a stroll through the major streets of Ho and filed this
report. Children ranging from ages 10 to 15 roam the street under the pretext
of doing business such as selling of sachet water, helping traders to pack
their goods early in the market as well as head pottering. A good number of
them I spoke to admitted they were selling for someone. Others said they are
doing business for their own upkeep. When asked about their parents view
concerning them selling across the street, they said their parents actually
have no problem with them but only cautions them to be careful.
The question however
is how much do these children know and how safe are they chasing, crossing and
competing with vehicles on the road for space? On the other hand I observed
that, most of them that claim they were selling for someone are in school and
only comes to work when school is not in session.
My stroll which
started from civic center (central business area) went through the main street
leading to the main station and then to the big market. At the station I got to
know of other businesses like selling of takeaways, doughnut and the likes.
Some girls I spoke to said, they sell for their mistresses. According to them
for every hundred packs of rice there is a commission of 2cedis. In other cases
it does not come with any commission rather their mistress saves their monthly
pays for them. She further explains that they stay in their mistresses’ house
and are accommodated in one room; a room she said is not so spacious.
My next encounter was
the lady who speaks both our local language (ewe) and at the same time French. I
asked her what she knows about street children in the area and she confessed
the issue is a headache, as to why she would prefer to come and sell instead of
her children, she said they would go wayward starting her sentence with “never”
to indicate her seriousness. I then proceeded to the market and after some few
minutes chanced upon this boy that said he was going to help his customer pack
her goods. I interacted with him for a while and realized he is one those who
spend the night in the street. Wanting to know more I moved towards his
direction and met one of the women he works for.
Interestingly the
woman confessed she was actually looking for an opportunity like this. Because
if she had her own way, she would have looked for their parents and send them
back to their family. According to her, her heart aches because she is a mother
and anything she would wish for her own children she would wish same for
others. She mentioned that though they fight, they do not engage in other
social vices likes stealing and smoking. She said they sleep in kiosk and
sometimes cars which are packed at the station. She concluded by pleading that
if you people can do something as early as possible to take them off the street
are would so pleased”.
One question lingered
on my mind as I ask, if our children are really the future, do we have a future
then?
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