AN UNHEARD PLEA
“My father said he was going to work and take me to school,
but he went to work and died there”. Those were the words of little Yakubu as
he told me his story.
On the 25th of July last year as I sat in the
offices of Diamond FM in Tamale, a boy of about nine years old walked into the office
as he made use of the open door. It was a Wednesday, so I wondered why he was
not in school, but the box he held in his hand said everything, he was a
shoeshine boy. The little boy did not know his age and neither did not know a
word in the English language.
Driven by curiosity, I enquired more why he was not in
school and that was when he said the above quotation to me. There was just one
thing this boy asked for; he wanted to be in school. According to Yakubu, his
mother was married and lived at Choggu away from where Yakubu lived with his
aunt. He had to work for a maximum of four cedis a day to support himself and
his aunt. This explained why he was not in school. Whenever little Yakubu falls
sick, he is taken from the capital Tamale to a village in the Northern Region
for treatment.
This is the situation of many children in Ghana, capable of
drawing someone to tears as they do not have the opportunity to attend a school
in their lifetime or get three square meals a day. Access to quality health care
is a dream yet to become a reality and most of all, child labor is increasingly
becoming a major problem in the country.
Mothers go through a lot of challenges to bring forth a child.
These range from the physical and emotional stress in carrying the pregnancy
for thirty six weeks and the pain in labor and caring for the newly born child.
These are roles played by women alone. Mothers give comfort, they love and most
of all perform a balancing act between work and housekeeping. Could this explain the rationale for all the
blame being heaped on the mother in times where the child goes wayward or does
not live a fulfilled life per the estimation of society?
The upbringing of a child is not just the responsibility of
parents and mothers especially, but on society as a whole. This is because most
children of school going age spend most of their time in school and social
gatherings such as the church. Other systems put in place to seek the welfare
of children and young people in the country are also responsible in the
upbringing of a child. In Ghana, the state through the Department of Social
Welfare and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection seeks the
welfare of these people who are considered to be the vulnerable in society.
The United Nations Population Fund is one of such
organizations which seeks the interest of women and children in the country.
The UNFPA believes in a world where every pregnancy is
wanted, every birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.In
the midst of the fast developing world where sexual adventure is becoming very
common among young people and adolescents, the UNFPA preaches Adolescent
Reproductive Health and contributes a great deal to reducing HIV/AIDS, Maternal
Mortality and improving the general welfare of children, women and youth in the
country. This is evident in the recent media training workshops and the launch
of the World Population Day celebration held in Techiman on the 13th
of July this year on the theme “Adolescent Pregnancy”. UNFPA believes that
every birth should be wanted to help children live to fulfill their full
potential and maximize their energies towards building their country in future.
The UNFPA Ghana office I must say is undeniably pursuing their mandate to
achieving a society where Maternal Mortality, HIV/AIDS, Teenage Pregnancy and
diseases in women such as Fistula are reduced drastically.
The 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana gives the right
to every child to free compulsory universal basic education, which is a duty of
the country’s leadership to fulfill to its people.
So in a country with a vibrant media which should focus on
Human Rights and Development Journalism, the question of who really appreciates
and defines development journalism leaves many in a conundrum. This is due to
the undeniable fact that the reality of who really cares for the welfare of children
in a country like ours is a big issue to worry about. Various political party
manifestos are embellished with promises of ensuring good quality education,
access to quality health care and the general well being of the Ghanaian child,
yet the assurance of a country with an absence of child labor is not assured.
The untold truth is the fact that the Social Welfare
institutions and the ministries responsible for the welfare of poor and needy children are not fulfilling
their mandate to creating good conditions for fulfilled lives of children in
future. This also raises questions of the impact of the Non-Governmental Organizations
flooding the Ghanaian society.
It is up to us to recognize the fact that needy children are
not just children on the streets but there are more who are actually vulnerable
and live in worse conditions in their homes. This fact when considered makes us
notice the exponential rate at which child vulnerability is growing in this
country.
It is therefore a collective responsibility of the media,
especially students of journalism to contribute our quota to children’s rights
and development by studying in fields of Human Rights reporting and
Developmental Journalism. This is to acknowledge that providing a good and
comfortable life is not a privilege, but a right. The right of one child is the
right of all children and justice for a child is justice for the whole nation.
THE WOMAN IS THE BACK BONE OF EVERY CHILD'S LIFE, IT TAKES JUST A LITTLE
BIT OF HELP FROM SOCIETY TO MAKE IT BETTER.
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