Meet the natives of the street

The floors and cardboards have become the homes of many Ghanaians today; these people are natives of the streets. Every open space serves as a resting place for them. They come to Accra with high hopes, but after a few days their expectations fade away as reality dawns on them.

Accra is not a paradise. Accra is governed by the law of survival of the fittest. Accra is a lot more expensive to live in compared to where they come from – that is the reality which hits them, but in order to avoid embarrassment back home they remain and defy the odds, doing all kinds of work to rake in a few cedis the tough way.

For them, each day is another day to survive and endure. You will find them bundled up in front of shops and pavements. They sleep on cardboards laid on stinking drains as the night pierces them with cold breeze. When day breaks, they bundle up their belongings and go about their daily activities. Some are beggars, “kayayes” (head porters), shoemakers, errand boys and girls while some work as prostitutes.

In their quest for greener pastures and a pristine lifestyle, many have fallen victim to homelessness and prey to social vices, slaving away in the sun and left at the mercy of mosquitoes in cold nights.

The United Nations Department  of Economic and Social Affairs defines homeless households as “those households without a shelter that will fall within the scope of living quarters; they carry their few possessions with them, sleeping in the streets, in doorways or piers, or in another space, on a more or less random basis.”

Homeless hopefuls

In spite of the gloomy outlook confronting them, some street dwellers are hopeful. The desperate ones will do anything to survive, but a few are determined to make a change and move off the streets for a better future.

The story of Sarah

“Right after I completed secondary school my dad called me and said to me, ‘My dearest daughter, you know life hasn’t been easy for us. We have tried our best to raise you as best as we can, education-wise. This is how far we can go; you have now completed secondary school. We can’t afford to do anymore.

“I felt really sad, but I had to bear with them. Soon, most of my mates began to get married. Others got pregnant out of wedlock. Then it hit me…did I want to end up like them? No, I wanted much more than be someone’s housewife and make babies.

“I sought work in one of the farms and saved enough… and I ran away from home to seek greener pastures. It didn’t occur to me that I knew nobody in Accra. I just sat in the car to Accra...We arrived in Accra at 12pm. I got down and took a 360-degree look around Accra. The place was crowded; everyone seemed to be in a hurry and a few people pushed me aside as they hurried off.

“The first few months were horrible. I got a rude welcome on my first day as by morning everything I owned had been stolen. I had slept in front of a shop on the hard cold floor .There were people everywhere, so I felt safe. But to my dismay the next morning, I was lying there alone. My slippers had been taken away. I didn’t take my bath for two days. I soon discovered that those of us on the streets had to queue and pay each morning to have a bath… The streets had been cruel but I never lost focus. I came here with a goal and I was determined to achieve it… I got a job at a gym and was paid GH¢150 a month. It wasn’t much but I learnt to manage and saved part of it for school… Little by little I got enough to pay to rewrite my November-December exams and a little to rent a room.

“I am off the streets now awaiting my results… I do send money home to my parents. They are very proud of my achievement and have forgiven me for running away… I hope to become a doctor one day. The possibility is quite thin but I still keep the flame burning and will be pushing as I hope for the best.”

Statistics

Official figures on the state of homelessness in Ghana are quite scanty. However, child protection experts estimate that the total number of street children in the Greater Accra Region alone hovers around 90,000.

A report titled “Census on Street Children in the Greater Accra Region” revealed that there were 61,492 street children in the region as at 2011. In 2012, an additional 24,000 street children were also identified in the same region, ballooning the figure to 85,492.

The document revealed that girls, some younger than 10 years, constitute 36,280 or 59 percent of the total number of street children loitering about on the streets of Greater Accra.

Causes of homelessness

Poverty has been a major contributing factor to this problem. The economic state of the country has driven most rural folk to the urban areas in search of better livelihoods which barely exist. Most people are struggling to make ends meet in the countryside, hoping for a better and more flexible source of income. They will resort to any means to better their standard of living, thus the rural-urban drift.

These people migrate from the rural areas in search of better economic prospects but lack any employable skills and are forced to do hard labour with meagre wages. 

Some homeless people have run away from homes where they were victims of physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Most children on the streets ran from home because they were being abused by a guardian, and according to research, a quarter ran because they were either sexually abused or feared being sexually abused.

Some parents will rather see their children married off at an early age so they can live off them rather than invest in their education. A lot of would-be victims of early marriages flee to the cities and get exposed to the dangers of “streetism”.

Majority of homeless young women either ran away or were kicked out of their home due to pregnancy. A tenth of homeless and runaway girls are reportedly pregnant. Most often than not irresponsible parenting is linked with homelessness.

When people in such predicament leave their homes, it is the “welcoming” streets that become their permanent abode – they pay no rent and no utility bills.

Though the government has tried to do something about the problem, its efforts have not yielded much fruitful results.

No matter how you look at it, there is a cost to not addressing homelessness. Homelessness in Ghana today cannot be completely avoided, but we can start from somewhere. The problem is demeaning and something must be done to eradicate it.

It is the duty of all Ghanaians as well as the government to hold constructive discussions to build a national alliance to end homelessness and “streetism”.

Creation of more jobs in the rural areas could be a starter. Stable permanent housing as a primary strategy would also be helpful. We should bear in mind that not everyone is able to afford their own home. That is why there is need for government-assisted rental housing programmes.

Creating awareness for communities to accept that homelessness is inhumane and costly and encouraging creative solutions to address homelessness in a manner that best fit the needs of the community is one of the ways forward.

Finally, parents should also be responsible. If you not ready to be a parent, why bring a child into this world to be left to survive on the streets without any form of care and supervision?

- Esther Asabea