Kayaye, by a child from Youth Alive

Kayaye is written by Abdul-Karim Zelia who attends SDA Junior Secondary School, 2 Lamashegu, Tamale.

Kayaye

Dear parents try as much as possible to educate your children especially the girl child. I always feel very sad when I see girls suffering or working in the street/market instead of being in school due to lack of support.

Due to their inability to go to school, most of these girls migrate from the northern part of the country to the south in search of non existing jobs. These girls have no rooms to lay their heads after a hot day’s suffering. They work under very harsh conditions. Talk of the scorching sun, the harmattan cold, rain, mosquitoes and what have you.. Some engage in prostitution just to earn a living. They give themselves out to unscrupulous men who end up impregnating them. They very often engage in menial or tedious jobs. They carry very heavy loads for their clients to the detriment of their health. Can you image a girl of about 12 years or a little over that age carrying a load weighing between 30 - 40 kg?.. This kind of job is what we call Kayaye, meaning porter.

I never for once thought that human beings could be exposed to such a chilling whether condition until I was taken to the sleeping places of these Kayaye girls in Agboblorshie, Accra, to see things for myself. They were all small girls from Northern Ghana. I have since then vowed to sensitize any young lady or girl I meet who has the intention to travel to the south for such jobs.

These girls do not only suffer by carrying heavy loads or sleeping under chilling whether conditions but also human injustices. They are verbally abused, assaulted, raped and sometimes have their belongings stolen. Most of them return to the North either with sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies. These kinds of pregnancies also produce fatherless children who end up in the street. Thus, continuing the cycle and reinforcing the poverty situation in the family.

I am so thankful to God and Youth Alive for the support being given to me to enable me achieve my ambition. But for this support, I would equally have been in the south undergoing this kind of suffering.

Having seen what some children go through due to lack of support, I am more than determined to study hard so that I can become a responsible person in future to be able to help put a stop to this kind of suffering by girls. I will make very good use of the opportunity given me.

Youth Alive is doing wonderful things for street/vulnerable children in the Northern part of the Ghana, so please make a little contribution to this Organization so that they can reach out to more street/vulnerable children.

I end my story by saying a big thank you to Youth Alive and Comic Relief of UK for their intervention.

Bye,

Abdul-Karim

Below Picture: Children from Youth Alive. With your help you can really make a difference to children living on the streets in Ghana.