The Ghanaian Street Child:
Through the use of various “head-counts” S.Aid and its partners estimate that the city of Accra is home to over 25,000 street children. This number is increasing at a staggering pace. In 1999, when the first study was completed by the University of Ghana, there were only 5,000 street children. The street chil...d is defined as a person who is under the age of 18 who lives and works on the street and does not have any financial support. We are now seeing a growing population of second generation street children – children of street mothers who are born into street life.
Most street girls work long hours for a mere pittance. Girls will toil in the markets selling food or ice water and many serve as porters - carrying heavy loads on their heads that seem to defy the frailty of their neck. With the number of street children increasing every day, even these jobs are becoming increasingly scarce and as an unfortunate consequence, prostitution is becoming a main source of income for some street girls. At night, they mostly sleep in the open air, rain or shine, on small mats or cardboard. These children usually sleep in groups to protect and support each other.
Most have migrated from the rural north; however, street children come from every region of Ghana. Their reason for being on the street is mainly due to family breakdown (86%, culled from Ghanaian Street Child 2003 – a book written by Catholic Action for Street Children). Other reasons are related to poverty and lack of basic infrastructure in the rural areas, peer-pressure, and urbanization. Girls also may escape to a life on the streets in Accra to escape a forced marriage in their village. Girl’s as young as fourteen can be married to elderly men as an additional wife.
Many street children have never attended school or have left school at different stages of education. More than half have not completed primary school.
New children arrive in Accra each day only to become street children.
Through the use of various “head-counts” S.Aid and its partners estimate that the city of Accra is home to over 25,000 street children. This number is increasing at a staggering pace. In 1999, when the first study was completed by the University of Ghana, there were only 5,000 street children. The street chil...d is defined as a person who is under the age of 18 who lives and works on the street and does not have any financial support. We are now seeing a growing population of second generation street children – children of street mothers who are born into street life.
Most street girls work long hours for a mere pittance. Girls will toil in the markets selling food or ice water and many serve as porters - carrying heavy loads on their heads that seem to defy the frailty of their neck. With the number of street children increasing every day, even these jobs are becoming increasingly scarce and as an unfortunate consequence, prostitution is becoming a main source of income for some street girls. At night, they mostly sleep in the open air, rain or shine, on small mats or cardboard. These children usually sleep in groups to protect and support each other.
Most have migrated from the rural north; however, street children come from every region of Ghana. Their reason for being on the street is mainly due to family breakdown (86%, culled from Ghanaian Street Child 2003 – a book written by Catholic Action for Street Children). Other reasons are related to poverty and lack of basic infrastructure in the rural areas, peer-pressure, and urbanization. Girls also may escape to a life on the streets in Accra to escape a forced marriage in their village. Girl’s as young as fourteen can be married to elderly men as an additional wife.
Many street children have never attended school or have left school at different stages of education. More than half have not completed primary school.
New children arrive in Accra each day only to become street children.
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