For International Children’s Broadcasting Day 2002, Children's Express journalists Gabriella Gay, 16, and Zak Garner-Purkis, 14, report from Ghana on the continuing blight of child labour.
Every morning, 11 year old Sammuel Fianu and his friend Sylvia Afful, 12, head for school on the outskirts of Ghana's capital, Accra.
Two years ago things were very different, and neither were getting an education.
Unaffordable fees, and the cost of books and uniforms meant their parents, like countless others throughout the country, couldn’t afford to send them to school. Instead they had to work for food and shelter.
146 million children are involved in child labour around the world - 18,000 of them are in Accra. They do everything from portering to prostitution, farm labouring to servants. They should be in school getting an education
Child labour is illegal in Ghana, but evidence of it can be seen everywhere.
Sylvia used to live and work in a market held on the tracks of the city’s railway station. She used to work late into the night carrying spices on her head, for just a few pence a day. Here mother still lives without proper shelter in appalling conditions.
Sylvia said: “I feel so bad staying here because there are armed robbers, some people who get pregnant. There was a girl here, nine years old, who gave birth – that is a bad behaviour.”
In a stone quarry on the outskirts of the city, children are working in equally distressing conditions. Breaking up stones into tiny pieces for construction materials is a hazardous job.
Many children suffer hand and eye injuries. The dust can be cancerous.
Sammuel started working here when he was six: “Life was very difficult in the quarry. It was a very difficult time for me and my mother. We sometimes wake up at four o'clock, sometimes don’t take a bath, we walk from the house to the quarry. We work six 'til six. We sometimes don’t eat.”
These days, however, Sammuel doesn’t have to worry about food. He and Sylvia, along with others, are now being looked after by the charity Children in Need Ghana. It runs a foster home and pays for children to go to school.
As well as getting an education the children here can learn a craft or skill to make them self sufficient in later life.
Ken Amoah, a social worker from Children in Need Ghana, says there are things about life here that should be brought to public notice. “On my motorbike one day in the hills I was shocked for the first time in my life seeing children as young as three holding hammers under the scorching sun in 40 degrees breaking rocks. I felt this is something everyone in this country should see [so they can find] a possible solution to end it.”
Back at the quarry, some solutions to end child labour are being explored.
The charity has set up a classroom for the children who work here to learn basic English and maths. Gloves and eye goggles are being handed out to help protect the workers. Much bigger projects, though, are planned here. The aim is to replace the children with machines.
Joseph Tetteh Dorman, a quarry owner told us: “I feel pity about the way the children are scattered all over the quarries doing hard work. It’s very tedious work... children are suffering to do this kind of thing. It will be better when the quarry is mechanised and we can get the children out from the quarry so they will be attending school.
Sammuel and Sylvia also have plans to make a difference in the years to come. Sylvia hopes to be a musician and help children. Sammuel says: “I feel so bad about children suffering in Ghana. I pray that one day I can be somebody great so I can have my opportunity to help children who are suffering here.”
There are children working in terrible and dangerous conditions in Ghana but small steps are being made towards improvement. At the end of the day it’s down to government and those who employ children to make the real difference.
About the team
This story was produced by Gabriella Gay, 16, and Zak Garner-Purkis, 14. It was adapted from a film broadcast on Sky News.
