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| by Kweku Temeng, Skyy Power FM, |
May 15, 2006 |
Ultimately, Mercy Foundation aims to reunite parents with their children so they don’t end up in the streets again. The foundation empowers parents of the children by giving them funds to start small scale businesses. Children who are below 16 years old are enrolled in basic schools and older children are given opportunities in vocational training.
Reaching out children on the fringes of society is still a battle of funds. Back in Mpintin, many of the young boys said they don’t have the financial means to go to school. Spending long hours at the garbage pit means they have been deprived of education, good guidance, proper meals, and the comforts other children enjoy.
Even while thinking about the sorry state of these scrap metal boys, a passer-by yells at the top of his lungs alerting the boys that my white colleague is there to take them away. If the perception of this man is that every white man has the tendency of making the status of the vulnerable better then what really is the role of government?
The supervisor at the Landfill Site Nana Tandoh who has been with the boys for years says he believes the boys need help.
“These children are not supposed to be here. They really need help. Officials of the metropolitan assembly have warned us not to let them come here. But we here feel this is their only chance for survival. I their parents have to be more responsible. If I drive them away, they are likely to go and steal and they might be killed.”
Some of the boys are literally growing-up at the garbage dump. One of them is nicknamed Gas. He first came to the landfill site when he was just 5 years old. He is now 8 years old. He is taxed with the responsibility of taking care of his grandmother while his parents live in Abijan in the Ivory Coast. Gas is considered to be a leader amongst the boys because he can sort out the good scrap from the useless garbage.
He says, “I come here to look for aluminium, copper, brass, and zinc. On good days, I get expensive scrap that fetches more than twenty thousand cedis. I have never been to school before or had the experience of schooling. I spend most of my day in the garbage pit looking for scrap. For me, scrap hunting is all about life.”
At the end of the day, finding a piece of scrap is what keeps the young boys going. But growing up in the garbage dump will not offer them the opportunities they will need to become future leaders. Watching these boys from a distance pull scraps out from the stinking heap brings me to the question of the future of these children. Kicking them out of the garbage pit might not necessary resolve the challenges of poverty they and their families face.
Perhaps creating an alternative education programme which offers the kids the opportunity to link their work in scrap metal to studying would be a step in the right direction. Bringing this programme close to where they work will allow the boys to collect their scrap for money, and at the same time, be gradually reintegrated into the educational system.
I sincerely believe the Government of Ghana will have to be more innovative in reaching out to these children. What they should do is to make the various organisations responsible for street children more accountable and also ensure that they find the right channels to deliver on their promises. The future of these scrap boys will be directly influenced by the commitment of government and society alike. Let’s make sure we rescue their missed opportunities. How soon it comes will determine their true meaning of existence outside of the garbage dump.
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Comments
Henry Ekwuruke | Jun 19th, 2006
Congrats to Ghana for taking great steps to making the polity better for the people. I believe very importantly that we have mouch to do in Africa but we need to start doing it now!
Jocelyn Sweet | Jun 28th, 2006
I think it's about providing alternative sources of income to the families of the boys, making sure the parents earn a living so the children don't have to do that for them.
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