Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Northern, Upper East and West are the Suppliers of Street Kids in Kumasi
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, addressing the Asanteman Council a few years back, advised Chiefs in the country to adopt meaningful measures to assist the unfortunate ones in the society. He said unless chiefs took the welfare of children seriously the number of street children could become uncontrollable. Otumfuo's anxiety seems to be taking root.
A survey conducted in 2003 showed that about 23, 000 porters roamed the streets of Kumasi, with the number increasing each day.
A visitor to Kumasi in the early morning or late afternoon will be perplexed by the number of pan - carrying young females at the centre of the city.
Mostly indigenes from the three northern regions- Upper East, Upper West and Northern - their business is to carry any load whether heavy or light for a fee loads. The charge depends on load size and distance involved.
What the females do with pans on their heads, their male counter parts , popularly called truck pushers, do with their trucks.
Several reasons have been adduced for the swarming of Kumasi by these boys and girls many of school going age .
According to Mr. George Baffour Owusu Afriyie, Executive Director of Street Children Development Foundation (SCDF), NGO, idleness as a result of dropping out of school, poverty, lack of parental love for children, are some of the causes of the massive migration to the South.
He mentioned peer pressure, economic factors and on a smaller scale, forced - marriages, as agents in the north - south movement of the youth.
He explained that the geographical position of Kumasi makes it more vulnerable to the phenomenon of street children, as it offers a transit point to migrants from all parts of the country and beyond. These migrants, he said, more often than not terminate their journey in Kumasi and through the Asante hospitality and good neighborliness, resort to any manner of livelihood to sustain themselves.
Like any other job, being a load carrier or porter has its advantages and disadvantages.
On a good day a porter can earn between ¢ 30, 000 and ¢ 50, 000. On bad days, however, a porter has to fall on a colleague to have something to eat. The girls are compelled to satisfy the sexual desires of their male counterparts to get food to eat. Due to such instances a number of young girls become pregnant and have to go back home.
To alleviate their suffering and make them feel a little comfortable far away from home SCDF has acquired an old factory building where hundreds of porters are housed. But managing such a place has not been a tea party for the NGO.
"Our objective is to give these young migrants a sense of community belonging but providing the needs of such a large group of people is not easy and is becoming increasingly difficult", Mr. Owusu Afriyie confesses.
To address the issue of teenage migration he cautioned against child trafficking and called on the government to take a hard stand on perpetrators of child trafficking.
He also appealed to parents, guardians and other adults who engage children in paid jobs to stop the practice since it goes against their educational and social development.
The SCDF Director called on district assemblies in the three northern regions to enact stringent bye - laws to deal ruthlessly with irresponsible parents who neglect their school going children and ensure that children are kept, in school in conformity with the country's free and compulsory basic education policy.
He suggested that parliament enacts a law making it impossible for teenage children to travel from the north to the south without parental accompaniment.
A survey conducted in 2003 showed that about 23, 000 porters roamed the streets of Kumasi, with the number increasing each day.
A visitor to Kumasi in the early morning or late afternoon will be perplexed by the number of pan - carrying young females at the centre of the city.
Mostly indigenes from the three northern regions- Upper East, Upper West and Northern - their business is to carry any load whether heavy or light for a fee loads. The charge depends on load size and distance involved.
What the females do with pans on their heads, their male counter parts , popularly called truck pushers, do with their trucks.
Several reasons have been adduced for the swarming of Kumasi by these boys and girls many of school going age .
According to Mr. George Baffour Owusu Afriyie, Executive Director of Street Children Development Foundation (SCDF), NGO, idleness as a result of dropping out of school, poverty, lack of parental love for children, are some of the causes of the massive migration to the South.
He mentioned peer pressure, economic factors and on a smaller scale, forced - marriages, as agents in the north - south movement of the youth.
He explained that the geographical position of Kumasi makes it more vulnerable to the phenomenon of street children, as it offers a transit point to migrants from all parts of the country and beyond. These migrants, he said, more often than not terminate their journey in Kumasi and through the Asante hospitality and good neighborliness, resort to any manner of livelihood to sustain themselves.
Like any other job, being a load carrier or porter has its advantages and disadvantages.
On a good day a porter can earn between ¢ 30, 000 and ¢ 50, 000. On bad days, however, a porter has to fall on a colleague to have something to eat. The girls are compelled to satisfy the sexual desires of their male counterparts to get food to eat. Due to such instances a number of young girls become pregnant and have to go back home.
To alleviate their suffering and make them feel a little comfortable far away from home SCDF has acquired an old factory building where hundreds of porters are housed. But managing such a place has not been a tea party for the NGO.
"Our objective is to give these young migrants a sense of community belonging but providing the needs of such a large group of people is not easy and is becoming increasingly difficult", Mr. Owusu Afriyie confesses.
To address the issue of teenage migration he cautioned against child trafficking and called on the government to take a hard stand on perpetrators of child trafficking.
He also appealed to parents, guardians and other adults who engage children in paid jobs to stop the practice since it goes against their educational and social development.
The SCDF Director called on district assemblies in the three northern regions to enact stringent bye - laws to deal ruthlessly with irresponsible parents who neglect their school going children and ensure that children are kept, in school in conformity with the country's free and compulsory basic education policy.
He suggested that parliament enacts a law making it impossible for teenage children to travel from the north to the south without parental accompaniment.
Commercial sex workers undergo training
Kumasi, Feb 6, GNA-The Street Children Development Foundation, a Street Children Advocate Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) is currently giving employable skills training in hairdressing to 13 commercial sex workers in Kumasi to enable them resettle and lead decent lives.
Mr George Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the Foundation, who announced this, said the training began last week and would end in July this year, and it formed part of the foundation's recently launched GARFUNF project.
The project is aimed at sensitising market women, petty traders, street children and commercial sex workers on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mr Owusu-Afriyie was addressing a sensitisation forum on HIV/AIDS organised by the foundation for market women, commercial sex workers and petty traders at the Race Course in Kumasi at the weekend. It was sponsored by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).
Mr Owusu-Afriyie indicated that after completing the training, the NGO with support from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), would give the trainees some seed money to start their own trade.
He disclosed that a similar training in soap making, batik tie and dye would be organised for 20 identified street male children by August this year when the second phase of the GARFUND project starts. He advised the trainees not to take delight in streetism but strive to be committed to the training and apply the skills they have acquired more profitably.
Mr Anthony Agyemang, the Kumasi metropolitan Director of Social Welfare, commended the foundation for their care for street children and advised the youth to plan their lives well in order not to give birth to children who may turn out to be liabilities on society. Feb. 06 05
Mr George Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the Foundation, who announced this, said the training began last week and would end in July this year, and it formed part of the foundation's recently launched GARFUNF project.
The project is aimed at sensitising market women, petty traders, street children and commercial sex workers on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mr Owusu-Afriyie was addressing a sensitisation forum on HIV/AIDS organised by the foundation for market women, commercial sex workers and petty traders at the Race Course in Kumasi at the weekend. It was sponsored by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).
Mr Owusu-Afriyie indicated that after completing the training, the NGO with support from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), would give the trainees some seed money to start their own trade.
He disclosed that a similar training in soap making, batik tie and dye would be organised for 20 identified street male children by August this year when the second phase of the GARFUND project starts. He advised the trainees not to take delight in streetism but strive to be committed to the training and apply the skills they have acquired more profitably.
Mr Anthony Agyemang, the Kumasi metropolitan Director of Social Welfare, commended the foundation for their care for street children and advised the youth to plan their lives well in order not to give birth to children who may turn out to be liabilities on society. Feb. 06 05
MicroFinance For Street Children
news
Kumasi: Micro Finance Scheme Launched in Kumasi
The Street Children Development Foundation (SCDF), a Kumasi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has embarked on a micro finance scheme for porters and street children in Kumasi.
The scheme aims at helping them save little incomes from their work.
Mr George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the SCDF, said this when he launched the scheme in Kumasi. He said the organisation had so far registered 670 porters and street children and they would contribute between ¢5,000 to ¢10,000 daily.
Mr Owusu-Afriyie said the organisation hoped to re-unite them with their families back in their hometowns and support them to educate their children. He said the organisation would organise workshops on personal hygiene and HIV/AIDS.
Kumasi: Micro Finance Scheme Launched in Kumasi
The Street Children Development Foundation (SCDF), a Kumasi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has embarked on a micro finance scheme for porters and street children in Kumasi.
The scheme aims at helping them save little incomes from their work.
Mr George Baffour Owusu-Afriyie, Executive Director of the SCDF, said this when he launched the scheme in Kumasi. He said the organisation had so far registered 670 porters and street children and they would contribute between ¢5,000 to ¢10,000 daily.
Mr Owusu-Afriyie said the organisation hoped to re-unite them with their families back in their hometowns and support them to educate their children. He said the organisation would organise workshops on personal hygiene and HIV/AIDS.
LIFE IN KUMASI
Every single day in Kumasi is a very busy day and people go by their duties and The street children among also suffer and we do not pay attention to them and this is also very important to me and you too out there should care about this and look out to the street children.
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