By Emmanuel Mafelah; mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
GBARNGA, Liberia- Child labor is said to be on the rise in Gbarnga, Bong County, and surrounding areas with hundreds of children between ages 5-16 serving as bread winners for their respective homes.
In the provincial capital in the central region, these children are found in almost every economic segment—especially in garages market places—where they get family’s livelihood needs from sale of plastic bags, cold water, drinks, potato greens, cassava leafs, fish, chicken, among a host of other others.
In almost all cases, most of the kids interviewed by the reporter of News Public Trust said they have not been enrolled in any school yet.
The UN Convention on Child Labor sets “18” as the “minimum age for admission to any type of employment”.
The number of children affected, according to our investigation, is around 750-800.
Our investigation further uncovered most of the kids being forced to serve as breadwinners were brought from the towns and villages and denied opportunity of education.
Article 111 section 20(1) of the children’s law of Liberia calls for the protection of children against practices that threaten their educational, moral and spiritual development.
Some of the garage owners spoken to denied ever maltreating children.
“We don’t force people to work here. Not all the children you see here are not in school. Some go to school in the morning, some go in the afternoon, and some in the evening,” Mohammed Sheriff, a garage owner explained.
He admitted as well that some of the kids were not in school, and that not everyone can obtain formal education.
“Some people want to learn trade like mechanic, carpentry, or do business,” Sheriff pointed out.
Statistics released by the Business Department of the Gbarnga City Corporation shows that the total number of registered motorcycle garages within the Gbarnga is 25, the record on car is also 25.
Besides the garages, the market places appear to be one of the breeding grounds for child labor.
Blessing Queah, 10, who lives on the Kokoyah road with his mother–a single parent—sells plastic bag in the central market in the heart of Gbarnga.
Speaking in a plaintive tone to our reporter, the single parent said she feels bad whenever she sees her peers dressed in their uniforms heading for school.
“My mother promised to send me to school when I make plenty money for my school fees,” little Queah said.
However, Ms. Queah said she is optimistic of entering school soon.
Marvline Queah, mother of little Blessing Queah, told our reporter that the death of her husband has caused economic hardship for her, which has made providing education and feeding her children extremely difficult for her.
Blessing’s earnings from street peddling do not only go towards feeding the home, but solving other problems facing the family, mother said.
“I’m not happy to send my only daughter to sell, but it’s because I’m old and there is no means of going anywhere. I used to go on the farm, but since my husband died, I am not able to do anything,” the single mother said to the News Public Trust at her business point.
Another child, Nowai Korkoyah, 12, from the Telecom Community, is also a family’s breadwinner.
She said she has been selling for the past five years and has been enrolled in school several times, but never completed a school year due to lack of money.
Like Blessing, she equally endures the misery of standing aside and watching fellow kids happily go to school.
“But I cannot disobey my mother by refusing to sell, because I am the only person she has as her best friend”.
Other children interviewed by News Public Trust’s reporters spoke of personal economic and educational cases, which spell ‘double trouble’.
One of them, Stephen, which is not his real name, rushed into the interview to explain some of the maltreatments he is enduring.
“This woman you call my mother is not my mother!” he confessed to this paper. “ She is my aunty, and she can treat me like dog. My mother sent me to her to go to school, but that is not what happening. I have not eaten for two days.”
Meanwhile, a non-for-profit local civil society group, Nasser Youth Initiative (NYI), working with young people cross Bong county and other parts of the country, is on an advocacy calling for stringent actions persons involved in labor abuse against children.
The Chief Executive Officer of the organization, Mohammed Nasser, said such action would deter abuse of children and compel the abusers to send them to school.
“I strongly believe that some of the crimes being committed in the county are done by some of these vulnerable youth, because their rights are being abused,” the NYI’s E.D. said.
The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission’s Regional Coordinator for Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties, Mr. George Philip Mulbah, said to News Public Trust: “We will not rest, and we will use all possible means to ensure that our citizens enjoy the peace and tranquility they deserve.”
He said the issues of awareness on local community radio stations and other media is a great milestone in the fight against forced labor in Liberia.
Bong county superintendent, Esther Y. Walker, added: “I sometimes feel very frustrated in the way children that supposed to be in school are instead in the streets, selling.
“At times you get to some of their parents and they will tell you that their children’s father died. So because of that they send their children to the streets or in the garages in order to hustle for their survivor.”
One way to address child labor, according to Bong County, County Attorney Atty. Jonathan N. Flomo, is through the involvement of every at individual levels.
“Businesses can take meaningful steps to eliminate forced labor from their supply chains. By working together, governments, civil society organizations, survivor advocates, and faith communities can reverse this troubling pattern,” Atty. Flomo stressed.