Special Kids

 

Obioma Provides Facility for the Homeless

&ldquoAbi na only me go sleep for this bed?&rdquo As he asks this question in Pidgin English, he hurriedly grabs the towel, soap and other toiletries on the bed just in case anyone tries to take them from him.

These are words from a child who spent probably more than half of his life living on the streets of Calabar, up until yesterday, when about 54 children were taken from the streets and moved into their new home. Another child, Michael talks about how anxious he is to go back to school, as he proudly shows off his hair cut and new clothes. He also hopes to be a professional footballer someday and sees his new home as the ideal practicing ground.

Their new home, a far cry from shacks made from cloth banners, sticks and in some cases wood and zinc, was made possible by the Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Obioma Liyel- Imoke, through her initiative ASFAC, a State fit for a child. &ldquoGovernment is about serving the people who need government most. If these children are not served, then we have failed as a government.&rdquo

The children run around excited in their new home. For them, it is a dream come true. No more having to sleep on torn mats in houses made of cloth banners and supported with sticks, and when it rains it&rsquos okay, because they are more than adequately sheltered in their new home. Their new home is a solid structure that adequately caters for at least three hundred people. For the first time, the boys will have their own dormitories separate from the girls, complete with toilets and bathrooms, constant electricity supply and potable water. They will also be no need to worry about sharing bed space as about 150 sturdy metal bunk beds have been supplied. Most of them scramble for the top. &ldquoThe kin sleep wey I go sleep today, no bodi go fit wake me,&rdquo says another excited child, in Pidgin English.

The facility will not only be a place of rest. It will be fully equipped with medical, educational and recreational facilities. Social workers, medical experts, educationists, faith based officers amongst other groups and individuals will work round the clock to facilitate the full rehabilitation of these children. They say it is important that these children are kept busy at all times and their minds worked on so they do not go back to the streets. &ldquoI do not want children living on the streets,&rdquo Imoke says.

However about a month ago, the story was different- the voices were different.

The Beginning...

&ldquoI am a child with no choice. I am a child with no voice. Pain and anger is all I know. I believe in hatred. I believe in violence. I have no voice. I have no choice. I have no vision. I believe I am what you call me.&rdquo

Welcome to the disturbing world of the street child. The child with an amazing destiny but is left to roam the streets without a future, as a result of extreme poverty and the negative voices of society. Consequently, that child becomes an impediment to the growth of the very same society that has cast him out.

&ldquoI do not want to stay here any longer&rdquo, says an emotional and perhaps angry 10 year old Victor, tears streaming down his cheeks. He referred to the shack he shared with about 34 other people. Victor, who had been on the streets since he was four years old, said this in Calabar recently when the Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Obioma Ledal Liyel Imoke took food and provisions to the street children. She took him off the streets immediately, and his life has never been the same ever since. A much happier Victor is now in school and wants to be a governor when he grows up. When he becomes governor, he will make sure that every child has a home and will provide good offices for people who have a passion for getting children off the streets.

Up until recently, Victor shared a home with about 34 other children aged between nine and 18 years. Victor and his housemates refer their home &ndash a shelter in the bush as &ldquoAdam and Eve City.&rdquo The fact that Calabar is one of the cleanest and well organised state capitals in the country makes it hard to believe that there is a thriving community of street kids out there. &ldquoThis is totally unacceptable, says the Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Obioma Liyel- Imoke, Government is about the people, particularly people who need government most. These children definitely need government the most. Some of these children are the same age as mine.&rdquo

According to reports from organisations who have been dealing with street kids, a large number of these kids come from different locations- from the neighbouring state and country, Akwa Ibom State and Cameroon respectively, through the west, and all the way to the north&ndash the other end of the country, to seek refuge on the streets of Calabar. Victor&rsquos former abode ironically, is nicely tucked away on the other side of the fence behind Okoi Arikpo House, the tallest building in the city. This is also the secretariat of the Cross River State Tourism Bureau and the Carnival Commission and the Cross River State Export Promotional Council.

Getting to the deplorable Adam and Eve City was an experience on its own. The Wife of the Governor was told that her team had to be there before 6am in the morning if they wanted to see the kids in their habitat, for the simple reason that they are extremely busy children and go off to find food early. She went on a Saturday. Interestingly at this hour, children in more affluent homes are fast asleep, totally oblivious to their contemporaries on the other side of life...   

Most of Victor&rsquos former housemates were rejected from their homes for various reasons. Some of them from the outset never experienced the love and care from a stable home, some were severely abused by their biological parents, others were cast out by their communities as problem children, it just goes on and on. However, the reality of it all is that for as long as these children are out there in the streets, they are victims of armed robbery, prostitution, ritual killings, occultism, rape, drug abuse and a myriad of other social ills. Their health is also threatened as they are exposed to diseases like pneumonia, cholera and other diseases as a result of their constant exposure to harsh weather and unsanitary conditions.    

Adam and Eve City, made of sticks and cloth banners stolen from different places is home to them. In the Adam and Eve City, they all convene after a hard day&rsquos job, which could jolly well be sharing the proceeds of stolen goods from the careless and wicked society that cast them out, and plotting their next hit. Indeed, this is their own little world -a world where they are each other&rsquos keepers &ndash a world where they at liberty to do as they please without the stern counselling of adults. In this world of theirs, they find solace in the unlimited use of hard drugs and alcohol. And sadly, when under the influence of these narcotics, as well as invisible and maybe power hungry adults, who use them at will, the children device wonderful schemes on how to get their pound of flesh from the affluent, by robbing them of their possessions and even their destinies.

In their world there is hierarchy. The head of the pack, 18 year old &lsquodrunken man&rsquo is their protector. He earned the title because of his unique dance steps when he hits the bottle. &ldquoI am not drunken man anymore,&rdquo he said, when asked to show some of his moves. Perhaps he too like Victor was tired of the street life, and understandably so. Questions that readily come to mind are: What happens when it rains heavily? How does drunken man&rsquos protection affect 11 year old Blessing, the only girl in the pack? &ldquoBlessing cooks for us&rdquo, they all say, and appear quite protective of her, but surely, Blessing deserves much more than that.

In that same &lsquocompound,&rsquo the kids are putting together another &lsquobuilding -&rsquo a sign of expansion. This building is made of dried palm fronds and is yet to be roofed...perhaps a couple more stolen banners may do the trick....

Sadly it does not stop there. You can find street kids in some of the bus stops in the city- victims of harsh weather and men of prey. A case in point is this particular eerie and deranged blind man, who has made one of the major bus stops, beside the stately Calabar Millennium Park his home. I&rsquoll call him Black Fagin. For those who may or may not remember the story of Oliver Twist, Fagin was a sick, twisted gangster who used innocent children for his evil devices. As long as they did his dirty jobs- mainly robbery, he looked after them. He was their benefactor.

&ldquoThe children are mine! I am their father! I look after them!&rdquo This Black Fagin screams over and over. He clearly needs a good scrub down, and his breath reeks of ogogoro, a locally brewed gin, said to be one of the harshest liquors ever. Indeed he is their lord and they are his subjects...as long as they do what he wants them to do. Some he lures into the begging business, and others sadly, are allegedly victims of his sick loins. Either way, they are his children. &ldquoThat man is not my father,&rdquo says 11 year old Kate (not her real name).  Kate&rsquos biological father is dead, leaving her with an extremely abusive mother. For this reason, she would rather be on the streets. In her mind, Black Fagin is the lesser of the two evils.

Yet again, there is another category of Street Kids. These are the more upmarket ones. Their shelter is more solid, made of wood and zinc. They make a living by collecting scraps of iron in metal wheel barrows rented for them by these invisible adults yet again. At the end of each day, they make about N200, after the rentals from the wheel barrow has been deducted. The iron scraps are transported to the northern parts of the country, smelted and converted into building materials. This is indeed a very lucrative business as the children in Akampa Local Government Area, about an hour from Calabar, are now part of this trade. These children still struggle to make ends meet as a daily meal costs about N150.000. While they may derive some form of satisfaction from this business, the fact remains that the adults who engage them in this trade if caught could face up to five years imprisonment and/or pay a N50,000.00 fine according to the Child Rights Act, which was passed recently in Cross River State.    

Imoke, through her initiative A State fit for a child (ASFAC) is determined to get these children off the streets. She is doing this in collaboration with other stakeholders, people who run Non Governmental Organisations for this specific purpose. David Etim, who has spent the last five years providing street kids with food, drugs, clothes and counselling says it is not an easy task. &ldquoThe challenges posed by these children are quite demanding. They would need to be totally rehabilitated in a home.&rdquo He says, although there have been some success stories. &ldquoWe have been able to reconcile some of them with their biological parents.&rdquo According to Etim, there was a particular street girl whose biological mother worked on very same street where she begged for a living, but had no idea who she was, until she (the girl) was cleaned up and taken back to her mother. Etim describes their union as &ldquovery touching and emotional.&rdquo

Though statistics are yet to be confirmed, it is estimated that there about 150 street kids in Calabar, stretching from 8 miles through Calabar Municipality and Calabar South, most of whom are boys. 

Plans have been put in place by ASFAC and the Cross River State Government to put the street kids in a temporary shelter until a more organised structure is created for them. Noble as this gesture is, getting and equipping the structure with the right facilities and personnel that would permanently get these children off the streets may not be that simple. It would require collaborations from the different strata of society to achieve this.  &ldquoWith street kids one has to be very careful,&rdquo said Etim. &ldquoThey have to be kept busy at all times and their psyche has to be worked on. It is necessary that the proper processes are put in place so they do not go back to the streets.&rdquo

Today...

&ldquoWe will all be good children,&rdquo they say, visibly elated at their new surroundings. Yes, they all formed some kind of strange bond while left to roam the streets they had no one but themselves to look out for them. They were family. They are still family and look out for one another, but this time it will be different. This time they will be under the care of stern yet loving adults who will provide the necessary discipline and structure they need to grow into responsible people in society, and there will be no need for anymore resentment. The Wife of the Governor is determined to see this through. She spends most times right there with them in the centre, listening to their stories, supervising staff...she just goes on and on.

She says the deplorable condition of the street kids was brought to her attention less than a month ago and was dealt with immediately, after consultations with His Excellency, The Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke. &ldquoWe cannot have glitz and glamour all around and have rot on the streets. If government were base their performance on lofty projects and accolades from the media, and have the lives of people remain a perpetual quagmire, then all efforts of glitz and glamour amount to nought.&rdquo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Posted by: Enuma Chigbo on 28 November 2009

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