Street children in Ghana
Hello steamians and good morning to ya all. Hope everyone is doing great today. Wanted to write about street children(Street-ism) in Ghana and I hope this will find useful to us all.
Streetism according to Global Village Action Organization is a term used to describe children who live and work on the streets due to a lack of family ties or worse still, stuck in manipulative relationships, where their guardians (or in certain cases parents) use them to support the household financially, through various activities on the streets.
The total population of children in Ghana under the age of 15 is 38.01%. The youth constitute the most important human resource potential that can contribute significantly to the overall development of a nation. Obviously, extreme deprivation and social exclusion create opportunities for engaging in crime.
Street children are among the most physically visible of all children, living and working on various street corners and public squares in our cities. Once on the street, aside being exposed to the mercy of the weather, they are vulnerable to all forms of exploitation and abuse, a life far removed from the childhood envisioned in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Street children represent one of the most marginalized groups of children worldwide. They face multiple deprivation of their rights on a daily basis.
Facts
Currently, about sixty-one thousand four hundred and ninety-two children are on the streets of Accra struggling to make ends meet. In May 2009, a head count of street children was done in Accra. The result obtained showed that 43% of the total population were males and the 57% were females. In Ghana, a large number of street children can be found in Central Accra, the Kwame Nkrumah circle, Kumasi, Tamale, and other major centres. The largest number of street children came from the Northern Region of Ghana forming 28.53% of the children found in the streets of Accra.
Causes of street-ism
The relationship between the causes are strongly connected to power and privilege. However, streetism in Ghana can be attributed to the following;
Poverty
Children who are from poor families in Ghana are likely to find themselves on the streets. Most of these children have parents who cannot take proper care of them. Some parents neglect a bit older kids so as to be able to cater for younger ones due to financial problems. These children ends up in streets where they find solace and also struggle to fend for themselves.
Parental neglect
Another related cause of streetism is parental neglect. Children who are from broken families in Ghana are mostly neglected by their parents. Their parents feel there is not a very big responsibilities for them to cater for these children. Most of these are in an attempt to punish their spouse wo has ended their relationships with them. The results of such acts by parents is these children moving into streets in an attempt to fend for themselves.
Rural urban migration
Most street children in Ghana are found in the major cities like Kumasi, Accra, and Tamale with only Accra housing more than 50,000 street children. These are partly because of rural urban migration. Many children move from rural areas to the major cities like Kumasi and Accra in search of greener pastures. These movement are mostly because of the constant economic activities going on at these areas. Since most of these children who move from rural areas have no family members in the cities, they end up forming alliances with other street children and end up being on the streets.
Second generational street children
Some children are born of parents who are on the streets. This automatically makes the street their homes, as such these children end up also being on the streets since they have nowhere else called home other than the street.
Truancy
Some children prefer to be on the streets other than any other places. Although these may be related to maltreatment in the house or at schools but they have nothing to do with financial predicament. Some children from rich families due to their preference of street lifestyle form alliances with others to engage in some social vices as well as end up in the streets.
Effects of streetism
Streetism has a variety of effects both on the children on the streets and the society in which they find themselves. Among these are as follows:
Health Hazards
Health problems are major problems of street children in Ghana. Streetism exposes the children to a lot of health problems and other hazards. The children work in unconducive environments and they are vulnerable to defilement. Major diseases affecting street children include malaria, fever, cold, rashes, cholera, headache and infections. These children are at considerable risk and are more likely than other children to suffer from a serious physical injury due to an accident such as falling, drowning, fire, or ingesting poison.
Sexual Assaults
Children in the streets luck all forms of security and easily fall as preys to any possible harmful people. As a result, they are at a greater risk than other children of being physically and sexually abused by strangers and passers-by. These result in unwanted pregnancy which further exposes them to a lot more health hazards and sometimes death.
Increase in crime wave
Streetism poses a greater national threat to Ghana. Most crimes like armed robbery, prostitution, kidnapping and drug abuse can be related to streetism.[16] Since most children who find themselves on streets are unable to have access to formal education and learning of trades, these children engage in such vices in an attempt to make ends meet. These however poses a greater national threat to the country hence the need to curb the menace.
Possible solutions to street-ism
Like many other social problems, streetism can be effectively handled.
•In the first place, public education is the major means of controlling streetism in Ghana. Through public education parents, guardians, children and everyone will become aware of the effects of streetism on the development of the child.
•Organizations like Save a Street Child foundation have played a key role in public education and mentorship of street children and efforts like these go a long way in helping curb streetism.
•Rehabilitation is also one of the ways through which streetism can be solved. There should be rehabilitation for girls who become pregnant after they are delivered of their babies.
•The government should task the Department of Social Welfare to train teenage girls after they have given birth. This training programme will enable the girls to acquire skills in hair dressing, sowing, construction work, crafting, banking and others to enable them earn a living.
•The government should also promulgate legislation and enforce laws to stop the activities of street children.
Thank you for reading!!!
Related Organizations
- Save A Street Child Foundation
- Future Of Africa (FOA)
- Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF)
- Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS)
- Chance for Children
- Kaya ChildCare
- Village of Hope and Hope Training Institute
References
- "Ghana Demographics Profile 2018". www.indexmundi.com.
- ^ Afful, Henrietta. "The Increasing Case Of Street Children".
- ^ Awatey, Samuel. "Assessing the Effects of Streetism on the Livelihood of Street Children: A Case Study of Kumasi (in Ghana)" (PDF). p. 1.
- ^ "Child streetism: a setback to national development | ActionAid". www.actionaid.org. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
- ^ Quaye, Salome Donkor & Emmanuel. "Street children need support, protection". Graphic Online. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
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