On my way out with my mum one day, I saw some children begging on the streets. I always see children begging but, on this particular day, they were so close to us and I felt bad for them.
So, I pleaded with mum to give them something. She didn’t’ want to at first but, I really begged her because I felt so sad for them.
Mum told me this, “They all have the right to live a good and healthy life but, most people don’t even share the little they have with them, because, some of them may even be faking.”
She added that because of this we always have to be careful when giving to these street children. While on our way, I thought much of what she said and I kept asking what child rights are.
The big question; What are rights? Rights are moral or legal entitlements to do something. Child rights therefore are a subset of human rights focused on children (minors).
For example, in the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child, Article 2 focuses on No discrimination, Article13 focusses on Sharing Thoughts Freely and Article16 talks about the Right to Privacy.
When you look at the whole document, we realised that not everyone knows their right. We as children must be educated on our rights as humans. This is because we have many rights.
Who is a child?
A child is any person under the age of 18, no matter their gender, ethnicity or religion.
Fun fact: Someone could be seventeen years old and still be a child. (Also eighteen and nineteen year olds are still considered teenagers).
Why I think children are on the street
- They were born into a family that already lives on the street
- Their parents died and they have to beg from the community
- Their family is poor and cannot afford child support so the children have to beg for money
- The government may not have child protection programs.
- The children are being abused by their parents and are forced to run away
Dangers of children living on the street
The problem of street children is very important to our community for many reasons. Immediate dangers of being on the street include dying of hunger (not being given enough food) or being hit by a car or other vehicles. Street children can also be kidnapped or made to do other bad things that can harm people in the community.
Future dangers like not having any education or not having a good education or, stopping school at a point in school life (from primary school to senior high school). This leads to not having a job or not having a well-paying job leading to no money or not enough money to pay rent or pay for the daily bills and family care. These people can be tempted to steal from others and engage in other criminal activities. They can even end up in jail.
How can we help solve the street children problem
Globally it will be quite a difficult task to end the problem of street children. However my main focus in this article is how we can help in the community. We can do that by;
- Giving food and money out to the poor.
- Giving items or money to charities (depending on what the charities need).
- Starting a fund raising like Gofundme page for any street children in your area.
These are ways we can help children on the street to (at least ) live a better life. All children deserve better chances to live and have good health. We children have rights and they need to be fulfilled , most countries have a document or have signed a document for children’s rights yet children are still on the streets begging.
Article number 28 of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child document states that children have the right to education but most children that beg don’t even go to school. Most children don’t even know their rights and they don’t know what they need in their lives.
Please try and help child beggars live a better life, just try and fit into their shoes and look at the kind of life they are living, would you want that to be your life? So please try and help them.
Asaase Radio 99.5 broadcasts on radio via 99.5 in Accra, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 100.3 in Cape Coast and on our affiliates Bawku FM 101.5 in Bawku, Beats FM 99.9 in Bimbilla, Somua FM 89.9 in Gushegu, Stone City 90.7 in Ho, Mining City 89.5 in Tarkwa and Wale FM 106.9 in Walewale
Tune in or log on to broadcasts online: www.asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
Live streaming: facebook.com/asaaseradio99.5. Also on YouTube: Asaase Radio Official.
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
