Keywords: Street hawking, child, street children, delinquency, mental illness, personality disorders, crime, substance abuse.
Introduction.
Child Street Hawking. What does street hawking mean? Do children engage in street hawking? Why do parents send their children off into street to hawk? What physical dangers do children that street hawk face? Are there psychological and social dangers that these children face? How does child street hawking affect these child’s education?
In Africa, Nigeria inclusive and other developing countries, it is common to see children selling things on the road. In Nigeria, it seems that street hawking has become part of our culture. But unfortunately, street hawking for children affect their mental development, as well as their physical and mental health.
Parents have different reasons for subjecting their children to such ventures. These parents often feel justified with their decisions. Unfortunately, majority of these parents are not aware of the dangers their children face daily on the streets. Even for those who are aware of the dangers, they believe that they are compelled to toll that path.
What does street hawking mean?
Street hawking occurs when one sells things or goods on the road. These goods can either be stationed in one place by the roadside, or be moved them from place to place. An individual will engage in street hawking, when they are unable to afford paying for a formal shop.
The owners of these goods stationed in one place, make use of make shift structures, to display their goods. Those who hawk these goods by moving from one place to another, have different methods of moving their goods. Some of these people will carry their goods on their heads, having placed them on a trays or cartons. Some will use wheel barrow to move their good from place to place.
While moving their goods about, they have to shout out the names of their goods in order to attract attention as they go from street to street or house to house. And in the cities, these hawkers move along with the traffic on busy roads, in order to sell their goods. As the cars or vehicles move, these hawkers run after them, many a times in order to make sales.
Hawking occurs more in developing countries like Africa, Asia, etc. And unfortunately, hawking has gained so much ground in Nigeria, that some believe it is part of its culture.
Do children engage in street hawking?
Before we continue, let us find out what we mean by children. UNICEF defines a child as someone below the age of 18 years.
So do children engage in street hawking? The sad answer is yes. These children are part of the global street children.
And when children engage in street hawking, it is known as child abuse or child labour. And in Nigeria, child street hawking is the most form of child labour, according to UNICEF.
Unfortunately, the parents that send their children out into the street to trade, don’t see it as child labour. Many of such parents see it as a means of getting the child matured to face the world. Globally, 1 in every 10 children are involved in street hawking, according to the report of International Labour Organization. In Nigeria, 64% of children between the ages of 5 years and 14 years, hawk on the streets. This was according to a report by UNICEF, in the year 2000.
And with the condition Nigeria finds itself today, with all the economic hardship faced by its citizens, the figures could be much higher.
Why do parents send their children off into streets to hawk?
As already mentioned earlier, parents who send their children off into the streets to hawk, have different reasons for such.
Poverty:
Many children who hawk do so, in order to improve the family income. Majority, if not all of these children come from poor families. So their parents send them out on the streets to go make money for the family.
This will enable the family pay their children’s school fees, buy books and uniforms for them. Sometimes the money is used to train the sibling to learn a trade.
Many of these parents are either unemployed, or have poor wages. Some are single parents, who are unable to foot the family bills.
Even the rise in rural to urban migration, comes with its economic challenges to parents. And because these parents are unable to provide for their family needs, they shift the burden onto their children.
Cultural influence:
In many African cultures, Nigeria inclusive, there is the belief that children are gifts from God, and they are meant to support their parents economically and otherwise. Some parents believe that having a child engaged in street hawking will prepare the child for adult responsibilities.
In Igbos culture in Nigeria, boys are trained, not to be dependent on his parents. So from childhood, he is taught to hustle for his livelihood. And street hawking is one of the training methods.
Of course parents that were involved in hawking as children, see nothing wrong with the process. They see it as a socialization process.
Child trafficking:
Some parents choose to have their children live with relatives or non relatives for various reasons.
one reason is financial constraints. These parents unable to support their children financially, entrust them or send them off to more financially stable families. Consequently, these financially stable families may decide to send the children entrusted in their care, to street hawking.
Sometimes, these children are given off to other families to receive moral guidance. So during their stay with these other families, these children may be sent out on the streets to hawk.
In some cases, children are abducted from their parents and sold off to far away families. With this, the children can be sent off into streets to hawk.
Poor family planning:
In developing countries where child street hawking persists, many parents persist to have large families, due to non belief in planned family.
So that during times of crises these children are forced to become street hawkers.
Illiteracy:
Most of the parents who send out their children to hawk on the streets, have poor educational background. They may have received no education or only low quality education.
Being a street child:
All children who hawk on the streets are all classified as street children. However, some children actually live on the streets, either having run away from home or because their parents are also living on the streets.
Many of the children who live on the streets, rely on street hawking for livelihood. Even without funds, they can take the product on credit and pay after sales.
For some children with parents on the streets, they are sent out to hawk as a means of livelihood.
What physical dangers do children that street hawk face?
Children who are exposed to street hawking face a lot of physical challenges.
Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs):
Children involved in street trading are exposed to Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs). As they move about selling their goods, they can be hit by a moving vehicle. Despite their best efforts to be cautious, they dangers remain high. It is important to note, that these children’s brain are not fully developed to make rational decisions regarding road safety. And many a times, these children run after potential buyers in moving vehicle, increasing their risk of being struck.
While rushing to meet prospective buyers, some children may fall and injure themselves. There have been some cases of children having epileptic seizures on the road, while hawking their goods. Unfortunately, some of these children were hit by cars or other vehicles.
The children that are knocked down by a vehicles, or fall, may sustain serious injuries. In many cases, these can be fatal, or cause disabilities.
Physical exhaustion:
These children often end their days, physically drained. Children most often lack the stamina to endure the hustle and bustling that street hawking demands.
Moreover, majority of these children start work without proper nutrition. Many don’t eat breakfast, and some do not eat lunch. Yet, they must work, the hours set by their parents or guardians.
Abduction and killing:
These children face the daily risk of being abducted on daily bases, especially in countries with unrests. With the abduction, the child can either be trafficked and subjected to hard labour.
In some occasions, these abducted children are killed for ritual purposes, for cannibalism, or for organ trafficking. An example is with the one-time Otokoto case, in 1996. In this case, an 11 year old boy, Anthony Ikechukwu Okoronkwo, was sent out to hawk groundnuts. And he met his death at a hotel called Otokoto hotel situated in Owerri, Imo State of Nigeria. The report was that he was killed for money rituals, because he was decapitated, and other vital body organs were removed.
Poor medicare:
These children are often away from home, getting back exhausted, leaves them little opportunity for health complaints. Additionally, those living with guardians may not have access to adequate medical care.
The root cause of child street hawking is poverty, so many of the children are malnourished, or anemic. The possibilities of their getting quality medical care, is quit slim. In one tragic incident, a boy selling petty food stuff with his mother on the road, fell and died. It was revealed that he died of anemia. Despite his complaints of weakness, his mother didn’t pay attention.
Risk of infections:
Being on the streets in harsh weathers and other environmental conditions, is a risk factor for being frequently ill. On the streets, these children are exposed to the rains, cold, dry wind, dust, and dirty environments. They are also exposed to dirty and contaminated foods and drinks.
All these are risk factors for these child to come down with respiratory tract diseases, diarrheal diseases, etc. And because of the life styles they are exposed to on the streets, they are also at risk of getting Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Some of these children could get tetanus, from contaminated wounds, they sustained on the streets.
Due to the combination of poor medicare and the possibilities of infections, mortality or death of these children is high.
Rape and other child sexual abuse:
Street children face significant risks of sexual abuse, with both boys and girls being vulnerable. However, girls are particularly affected. A study in southwest Nigeria documented that 69% of female adolescent street hawking, experienced sexual abuse.
Young girls face a significant risk of teenage pregnancies. These pregnancies bring a host of physical, psychological and social challenges. One of the psychical complications of teenage pregnancy is Vasicovaginal Fistula (VVF). Additionally, some girls may resort to unsafe abortions, which further endangers their lives.
And another consequence of rape is that some of these girls may end up as sex workers. As mentioned earlier, these children face an increased risk of contracting STIs, such as HIV, etc.
Street fights:
Living or hawking on the streets exposes these children to witnessing or engaging in street fights. For the majority of them, it is an act for survival.
In the process of being in these fights, these children are maimed or killed.
Crime and cultism:
Constantly being on the streets require that one learns some survival tactics in a harsh environment. On the streets are both adults and children who can be classified as the good, the bad and the ugly. Unfortunately, the good ones are very few. The majority of the population on the streets are made up of the bad and the ugly. So, one needs to master some tactics to be able to evade being a victim, or evading hunger.
Thus these children will learn to steal and to rob without being caught. And in the process of committing vices, they may murder their victims. Some of these children group themselves into cult groups. And the most successful ones in committing vices, become leaders of the groups.
Are there psychological and social dangers that these children face?
In Nigeria, hawking takes place more in the urban areas than in the rural areas.
Yes, child street hawking may have some financial gains to the family, but the negative consequences outweighs the gains.
Apart from the physical dangers on the streets, these children hawking on the streets also face psychological and social issues.
Psychological issues:
Delinquency and personality disorder –
Many of these children hawking on the streets come from delinquent homes. And while on the streets they learn to consolidate their bad behaviours.
These children learn a lot of bad behaviors on the streets, which they carry to their homes. And the earlier they start engaging in street hawking, the more likely that they will end up with conduct disorder. Thus such children are more likely to be disobedient at home. They are also more likely to use of foul languages. And as these children get older, they end up with personality disorder, such as dissocial, narcissistic, etc.
Loss of self-esteem –
In the above mentioned southwest study, 95.4% of the children interviewed do not like hawking on the streets. They are only doing it because of parental pressure and they must help the family economy wise.
This makes them feel inferior among their peers who don’t do street hawking.
Mental illness –
Concerning the fact that these children are not happy hawking, it becomes a stress factor for mental illness. These children can break down with mental illness such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.
Abuse of substances –
With such harsh environment like that on the streets, these children will look for ways to stabilize their emotions. Most of these children are then lured into the taking of substances. These substances include, cannabis, SK, cocaine, loud, meth or mkpuru miri, alcohol, guzoro, etc.
They use these substances to self-medicate their emotions. Many use it to give them happiness.
But some of the children use these substances to make them more active. Many of these children who hawk on the streets, don’t eat while working, as earlier mentioned.
So these children will use these substances to keep hunger away, or to give them strength to work without food.
Unfortunately, the use of these substances can predispose these children to mental illness, delinquency and crime.
Social consequences:
The menace of child street hawking doesn’t only affect the child, but also the family and the society.
When the child goes out there to learn maladaptive behaviours, he or she will bring such behaviors into the family. The child can become stubborn to the parents and the other children will learn to behave in such manners. Then the entire family will become dysfunctional.
The rest of the society is also badly hit. There will be increase in population, due children from these teenage children. Crimes such as armed robbery, abduction, murder, and insecurity will be on the rise in the community.
There will also be environmental degradation, with trash littered on the streets and the drainage system. And because they urinate and defecate indiscriminately, the environmental pollution will be quite high.
These children may have relationship issues as the get older and into the adulthood. This is because many will end up with personality disorders. So they may encounter more of marital separation and divorce.
How does child street hawking affect child’s education?
Child Street Hawking affects the child’s academic abilities. Some of these children who street hawk are actually not in school. This is because, the majority of their parents are either not educated, or received little education. So they don’t see the value of education for their children.
For the children who are allowed to school, some first go hawking before they go to school in the morning. So that by the time they are arriving in school, the first 2 to 3 classes are over.
There are children who have to go hawking after school. Majority of these children go out on the streets in the hot afternoon without food. And by the time they get back, they are too exhausted to read or do their homework.
Street hawking affects the child’s academia negatively. They do poorly in school and after sometime, many drop out of school.
And because they perform badly in school, majority do not further their education. This will negatively affect their adult lives economically, health wise, etc.
