CHILDREN AT THE COAST : THE HIDDEN CRISIS OF CHILD LABOR IN WINNEBA

Everyday’s dawn  in a fishing community in the Effutu Municipality  (Akosua village),arrives with sounds of  canoe paddles hitting the sea, men hauling their nets, and women trying to get the morning’s catch with their pans and bowls. 

Amongst theses fishermen and mongers ,are children  , small, young, ignorant but happy as they find themselves almost naked , trying to pull the nets, carry pans and move purposefully for the days business.  These children, some as young as eight , are not just helping, but for many, this is a full time job.

A STORY BEHIND THE NETS

One of such kids is Kofi Ampadu (not his real name), an eleven year old boy who lived most part of his life and days on the waters instead of the classrooms. Most often, he finds himself casting, mending and pulling heavy nets along side other fishermen.

 “ My father is a taxi driver and my mother is a food vendor. I am the eldest of three children. I don’t go to school always and when that happens, I join the fishermen to sea. I also sell the catch myself  to get money.

Even though he has become used to the system and way of living as a young child, it is also  not something he asked for.

ROOT CAUSE OF THIS CRISIS

The cause of young children hawking on the streets, going to sea, mending and pulling nets has been traced to “Poverty” . “ We do not have any choice than to ask them to assist us, our daily incomes is not sufficient to cater for all of us”, Madam charity, a market woman, explained. 

Many claim that these children are just giving a helping hand to their families. They claim, lack of adequate money has forced them to let their kids become laborers at such young ages.  

Experts has also confirmed this truth. According to Mr. Enock Derry Pufaa, Programs Director at Challenging Heights (Winneba ) an NGO that fights child trafficking and child labor , one primary cause of the rampant child labor within Winneba is poverty. Parents offer their children to work and bring money to them.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH ON THE LINE

These children are not just being deprived of their right to quality education, their health is also at risk. On the streets of Winneba and its suburb towns are young children hawking on the scorchy sun to generate monies for their guardians .

A lifestyle they were introduced to which has high probability of causing long term destructions to their health and education.

Child labor in general is not just robing a child of his or her beautiful childhood, it can also, in terms of education, lead to poor academic performance on the side of children who juggle school with work.

They may also be compelled to drop out of school and this may as well cause them to miss out on opportunities and other privileges.

In terms of health ,young children in child labor may get exposed to hazardous conditions, physical strains and injuries, fatigue and psychological stress and other dangerous health issues children of such ages are not supposed to be affected by.

WHERE IS THE LAW

According to the 1992 constitution of Ghana, Article 28, indicates that “Every child has the right to be protected from engaging in work that constitutes a threat to his health, education and development”.

But in winneba, majority of young children of school going ages are in the streets selling, and on the seas and lagoons catching fishes with less efforts from guardians to safeguard their rights. 

Even though, institutions like The Effutu Municipal Assembly and NGOs like Challenging Heights exist and are doing their possible best to monitor the welfare of children and actively rescue and rehabilitate child labor within the municipality, enforcement is however weak, many cases remain unreported and the situation has been normalized as tradition, with poverty forcing families to ignore the law.

CALL TO ACTION

The rampant child labor within winneba needs urgent interventions. Children deserve to enjoy their childhoods, free from hard labors which will only put their health, development and education at stake. The classroom is where they should be found, not in the streets and shores of the sea. 

Until effective measures are taken, winneba risks raising a generation of children deprived of not just their childhood but their right to uninterrupted education, good health and the chance to break free from poverty.

Source : Hannah Wussah Gbenakie