ACCRA (GHANA)

CHILD LABOUR

In Accra (Ghana), we focus, together with our partners from ASSITEJ GHANA, on children and young people who are forced to work from an early age – specifically the Kayayei: young women and girls, sometimes still children, who work as porters in the markets. These girls often migrate at a young age from poor northern regions to urban areas. Extreme poverty forces families to pull their daughters out of school and send them to the cities to earn money. Many end up on the markets; some girls, as young as nine, are found working as porters. Here, they carry loads on their heads under the scorching sun for long hours – loads that often match or exceed their body weight. Many are financially exploited, and some customers abuse their vulnerable position by paying very little – or nothing at all. It is estimated that over 100,000 Kayayei are working in Ghana. Many of these girls become mothers at a young age – due to lack of knowledge, but more often as a result of abuse. Their living conditions, and those of their children, are extremely harsh. They live in overcrowded slums or sleep outside unprotected, making them easy targets. Kayayei children grow up in unsanitary and unsafe environments. They have little access to healthcare, clean drinking water is hard to come by, and their food consists mostly of cheap, starchy products. Education is often out of reach, and the risk of abuse and exploitation is extremely high.