Children selling to survive

WHILE OTHER children are watching cartoons, playing in their front yards or at the beach, 12-year-old Dwayne spends his weekends selling pillows in the Liguanea area of St. Andrew.

The August Town Primary School student, with his shy smile, says he works to help his mother who also sells pillows. His three older sisters sometimes give money to their mother, but that's not enough, says Dwayne who also turns over every cent he earns.

Dwayne is not alone.

There were an estimated 22,000 working children and 2,500 street children in 1997, according to a recent United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study entitled 'Changing the future of Jamaica's Children'. However, experts note that the figures are, at best, guesstimates so currently studies are underway to determine the actual number.

Although legislation like the Draft Child Care Protection Bill to protect the interests of children is on the horizon, child care specialists say that until the legislation is enacted and enforced, and the lives of the parents improved, Dwayne and others like him will continue to be among the children who the UNICEF study deems "most at risk of having their basic rights to survival, protection and development denied."

On a hot Friday afternoon in downtown Kingston, The Gleaner spoke with 14-year-old Tasha who works with her five-year-old sister selling domino sets, key rings and camphor (moth) balls.

"Mi ah sell from mi 'bout seven or eight because mi haffi help mi maddah," Tasha explained.

The third form student of Melrose Primary and Junior High dreams of becoming a doctor or a lawyer but admits that she misses school sometimes because she has no money. "Sometimes mi sell fi mi lunch money."

Sporting a black and white bandana, Tasha says her father does not live at home and contributes nothing to the family.

"Mi nuh know whey him ah gwaan wid," she says, gesturing to passersby. "Fifty dollah gi you key ring! Key ring fi fifty dollah, mi have!"

Tasha also buys merchandise from money that her mother gives her and sells for herself because "dat is the way mi see you can mek it in this life. You can't jus' stay home so. You haffi sell somet'ing or work fi survive".

The UNICEF study explains that "the economic marginalisation of women is a key factor in determining which children are most at risk, with the children of poor women more likely to be affected."

The study notes that close to 45 per cent of Jamaican households are headed by women and that these households "are more vulnerable to poverty." Working and street children, it adds, are often the result of the harsh economic climate of female-headed households.

"In most cases with single household mothers, it's not because they don't want to give. They give as much as they can but they are stretched to the limit," says Parenting Counsellor and board member at the National Initiative for Street Children (NISC), Carol Rose Hagley during a seminar on "The Plight of Street Children" held in May at the Anglican Church House in Kingston.

Nadia Leng, who sells fruits and vegetables on Orange Street in downtown Kingston agrees.

Nadia is a mother of three children and has been supporting them alone since their father, a sculptor, died last December from a brain tumour.

"Sometimes it tough but ah just tek it one day at a time and give thanks to God, "she says. Her children are lucky because Nadia insists that they all go to school everyday. However, on weekends they walk the plazas with her to help out.

Not all the children sell, some, like Patrick and Oneil wipe windshields and beg.

Oneil is a veteran of the street. The 13-year-old has been bunking with relatives since his mother died when he was five. His father died before he was born.

Oneil is not working now, but last year this young boy intelligent brown eyes and spare frame, pushed trolleys at a business place in Liguanea, Kingston. Before that, he packed bags at a supermarket and at 11 he was opening doors for customers at a popular Kingston restaurant.

"Ah do it (working) to help mahself," he says.

Now he begs to earn his keep.

"Sometimes he walk on de road and beg and buy him t'ings, whatsoever him want, says one of his aunts who asked the Gleaner to call her T.T.

T.T. points out the extra money helps because some of Oneil's earnings supplement the little that the 15 members of his extended family can afford to give him to remain in school. "Sometimes him go to school t'ree day fi di week or four day fi di week."

"The numbers are increasing daily and the age group is becoming lower and lower," says Mrs. Hagley. "You can see the children at Matilda's Corner, Half-Way Tree every afternoon and even mornings now. You can see little ones from like seven or eight sometimes and that's recent over like the last year or so. Before that, they were mostly 14 and older.

"You can't help children unless you help parents," she adds. There's a need for more low cost housing and job opportunities as well as urgent intervention strategies to halt and prevent the conditions which facilitate homelessness, she says.

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