Child abuse on the increase
Reports on the local press in Sierra Leone indicate that the abuse of children is not uncommon place in this country.
The reports claim that children born in the country are much deprived of their basic human rights which include the right to liberty, right to their welfare, right to human dignity, right to education, right to home care and support and also the right to their decisions and choices.
It has been also discovered that children supposedly under the age of care and support were seen to be engaged in economic activities, domestic servitude and other vices that is very telling on their mental, physical psychological and emotional wellbeing.
In different parts of the country, it was discovered that children are in the common practice of petty trading and doing menial jobs, engaging in early sex, taking dangerous drugs and thieving.
Kadiatu Mansaray, twelve, said she was attending the Muslim Brotherhood Primary School in Makeni and that she was in Class II when she lost her father.
“My mother only does petty trading to eke out a living she told a local journalist.Â
My sister passed away after a short illness because my mother did not have money to take her to the hospital. Since my mother could not take proper care of me she gave me to my aunt who promised to send me back to school in Freetown but when we got to Freetown I was not sent to school but became the servant in the house while her children went to school. As you can see I am on my way to the stream to do the day’s laundry,’ she recounted.
Rugiatu Kamara, eight, and Husainatu Kargbo, seven, both vend sachet water in the streets of Freetown. They explained that they reside at Mount Aureol Hills in the East of the city but come all the way to the centre to conduct petty business to help feed the home.
“We normally come down the hill to sell cold water for one Mammy Jartu who gives us five thousand Leones per day which we take home to our aunt for cooking. Sometimes when we fall ill our only medical option is native herbs since we cannot afford a square meal per day not to talk of medicines.
Our dreams of going to school are now dead because there is no one to help us go to school,†Rugiatu recounted.
Morlai Bangura, thirteen and his colleague, Momoh Conteh, fourteen, pick out metals from the dump sites. “We normally sell these metals, tin cups and plastic rubbers for us to be able to make a living. Life is not easy in Freetown but we will not sit by and allow hunger to kill us,†Momoh Conteh who appeared to be the spokesman explained.
“We are Christians and by the grace of God we are going to get education and be big men in future,†he asserted.
“We attend the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School at Kissy Dockyard. When school is over we remove our uniforms and go to the car wash places where we will patiently wait to wash vehicles. Sometimes we go home with five, ten or twenty thousand Leones which we mostly use to pay for pamphlets and lesson fees,†he concluded.
Memunatu Kanu, fifteen, has just dropped out of school because she has no one to take care of her and now she moves around the city trading her body to make a living.
Mr. Philip Kamara, a human rights activist, asserted that children’s welfare and their issues are of great concern to them given the fact that they are tomorrow’s leaders.
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