A dozen street children living and working around the King Jimmy market in the central part of Freetown have expressed dissatisfaction over their current conditions.

“I was in Class 6 when I lost my dad and my mother refused to pay for my school,” says Mohammed, an11-year-old selling water.

His mother is currently in the northern part of the country and he ended up in Freetown working for an aunt. He no longer attends school and is living in Kroo Bay.

“I would really like to continue school if somebody can help,” he says.

Many of the children in the area spend their time gambling, smoking and drinking to pass the day. But not all of them. Ibrahim is a boy of about 11-years-old who lost both of his parents last year. He spends his days making toys and radios out of materials that he finds in the surrounding area. Quiet, and shy, the other children tell us he is different than most. He doesn’t spend his time engaging in bad activities.

“I find it difficult to survive. If anybody can help me I’ll go to school,” he says.

Sheku, a boy from Lungi, left his parents and came to Freetown with the hope that he can be a good child by going to school but he let his sister down and came to the streets.

He was arrested by a Metropolitan police officer in front of Central Police Station due to a new bye-law proposed by City Council trying to stop children from selling in the streets during school hours.

“I was released immediately because they knew me from the King Jimmy area,” he says.

They did not press any charges.

None of the children are aware that there is a proposed new bye-law by Freetown City Council that states any children caught selling during school hours should be arrested.

According to the Deputy Education Officer for the Freetown City Council, there is a high-influx of children coming to the city from the provinces.

“We caught them for a while and sent them to education facilities but there are still many children on the streets. We aren’t sure if they are the same ones or if more children are coming from the provinces,” says Reverend Cooper, Deputy Education Officer.

He goes on to say they have not fined the parents for having their children working. He says they have children coming in every day that have been apprehended and they make sure they are given money for school.

“Yesterday alone we had five children come in,” he says.

The Council is also offering grants from primary to tertiary for schoolchildren.

According to Henry Fyfe, Education Officer for the Council, the bye-law still needs to be sanctioned by the Attorney General after which it can be implemented.

“We currently aren’t forcing the children using aggressive methods, we are simply trying to put them in school,” he says.

He says they try to find guardians for children who are without parents in addition to enrolling them in school.

“We want to get children off the streets whether they have parents or not,” he says.

According to UNICEF, more than 30 per cent of children of primary-school-age in Sierra Leone are not enrolled in school. There are also moderate transition rates from primary to secondary and tertiary education.

Child labour is an area of concern for UNICEF’s Child Protection Department.

“As an institution we frown on child labour. We try to educate communities to stop child labour, especially the worst abuses of it,” says David Lamin, Child Protection Program Officer for UNICEF.

UNICEF looks at all children trying to access education and the factors preventing them from accessing it. They work through partners, child welfare committees and community structures recognized by the government.

“In a country like Sierra Leone, where poverty is rife, child labour is a big problem,” says Lamin.

UNICEF also supports the roll out of the Child Rights Act. Sierra Leone ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in June 1990 and its two Optional Protocols in September 2001 and May 2002. These commitments to international standards were all enshrined in national legislation through the 2007 Child Rights Act. This act supersedes all other national laws and is also compatible with the Convention on Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

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Author: Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
Source: jhr
Original publication date: Nov. 23, 2009
Photography: Nikki Whaites