The Youth And Streetism

Children begging on the street to survive

It is often said, “the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow” but it really saddens me

 with the number of youths found on the streets today and this has become a norm in

 the sight of men of which no one seems to care about.

In Ghana, more than 90,000 children are found on the street. Most of them are found

 in cities like Accra, Temale and Kumasi with Accra bearing more than 50,000 of 

them and this increases daily.

Due to factors like rural urban migration, poverty, parental neglect, economic hardship

 among others, most children are found on the street and have even made the street 

their home. In order to survive they go around begging, cleaning the screen of cars to

 get something to feed on and quite a few also find something to sell so that they won’t

 go to bed with an empty stomach.

In an interview with a number of street-children at Osu, one young man said the street 

has been his home for about five years and begging is his only means of survival. He said “in order not to go to bed on an empty stomach, I have to beg and to some extent when I don’t get any money I am forced to steal”. Some also said they go to houses and at times to refuse dumps in search of food. Some of the children preferred to be on the streets other than any other places due to minor treatment at school and home but has nothing to do with financial conditions. Unlike truancy, some children are born by parents on the streets so automatically, this makes the street their home.

Children sleeping on the street

As a result of these factors, children are exposed to a lot of health problems. Major disease affecting street-children include malaria, cold, fever, rashes, cholera and other infections. Most children also lose their lives as a result of starvation. In Ghana, most of the social vices we face are as a result of streetism and this really posses a greater threat to the nation.

Children go about abusing drugs, becoming armed robbers, prostitutes, kidnappers and all other vices in order to survive since they do not get access to formal education and learning a handy work as well. Most children on the street also find themselves being physically and sexually harassed by strangers and this results in unwanted pregnancy, contraction of diseases and sometimes leads to death.

In order to effectively handle streetism, educating and supporting our youth is the best way to invest in a prosperous future. Through public education, children, parent and guardians will see the effect of streetism to the nation and the danger it poses to the youth.As there is the saying, “we cannot build the future for our youth but we can build the youth for a better future”, this counts on the Government as a whole and the Department of Social Welfare that all youths are properly built because they are the future of the nation.


Photo credit: 1. classicghana,com
                      2. kessbenfm.com