While conducting a Needs Assessment in Akwa Ibom State two years ago, my team stumbled on a group of marginalized people. Thrown out by their families and rejected by society, they roam the streets during the day half-naked or clad in dirty, smelly clothes, living as scavengers – searching through waste bins and drinking from pools of water by the roadside, for they have no one to provide food or clean water for them. They sleep on bare floor at fuel stations at night because they dare not go anywhere near home. Many are sent to untimely graves by cold, hunger or disease. Some are simply washed away in the gutters when it rains heavily. Meet the Street Children!
In life, some stories are simply unbelievable. This couldn’t be happening in 21st century Nigeria. I am familiar with the plight of Street Kids in Northern Nigeria but this is a different kind of situation. I’m told that the street kids of Eket cannot mix with real people. Some parents threatened to withdraw their children from school when a kind-hearted proprietor mentioned that he would give the street kids scholarship. Are they lepers, HIV infected or crazy? No! This time, it is a different kind of stigma – these children are perceived as witches and wizards! Some of them were accused in church. How ridiculous! If indeed these children are witches, whose job is it to deliver them from the stronghold of satan? Can’t these parents see that the so-called ministers of God have failed in their duties? Oh! The things that people do in the Name of Christ!
My curiosity took me to a place called Itok Afaha in Eket LGA where a group of young people under the auspices of an NGO called Child’s Rights Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) are providing shelter for these kids. As we drive into the premises, a multitude of bright eyed, beautiful and lively children – numbering about a hundred, troop out excitedly and surround us. The younger ones (some less than 3 years old), hungry for a mother’s love hold my hands and my legs and smile lovingly into my eyes. Those tiny beautiful eyes bear a passionate plea. Love me. I deserve some love, they seem to be saying. I fight back the tears. Ejiro, be strong! You have not come to increase their sorrows. Some of my team members hide their faces. We can’t afford to let these children see us cry. CRARN has given them hope. So we put up a bold face.
Ifiok is a handsome, intelligent boy of about 9. I’m told that this boy can draw anything and everything. According to Sam, the CRARN coordinator, his mother, a graduate of English Language abandoned him because there was a prophecy in church that the child was a wizard. Listening to the mother’s recorded voice, I felt a sharp pain in my heart. I have tolerated him enough! I don’t ever want him again in Jesus Name!! She screamed. Even as I write this, the tears are welling up again.
Denn is a handsome boy of about 8. When we met him, he was well dressed in jeans and boots. He looked really auspicious compared with the other kids. I suspect that he is from a rich background. Why would anyone abandon this lovely boy? His father had brought
him to CRARN on one fateful day and signed that he never wanted this boy again. The boy’s offence? He is a wizard! How did the father confirm this? Cockroaches and spiders have invaded his home and the man thinks that Dennis is responsible for it. Hmm! Clean up your house man!!
Eti was picked up from the street. He had a nail as well as several cuts. In addition, he had burns on his leg and had been in the gutters for two weeks without food. Someone dragged him out and left him on the roadside opposite Mobil Housing Estate, Marina Road, Eket.
Inyang is mentally ill. A young man was clearing the gutter and he made an accidental discovery. It was a boy’s head covered with grass. On pulling him out, he was found to be alive. This boy needs medical attention urgently.
Inyang is not the only mentally sick child in the home. Nwaeka was picked with a nail in her head. Her body was covered with a church banner bearing the inscription – I am safe! The point where the nail was taken off healed badly, leaving keloids. This girl of 16 is mentally ill. Here is a typical case of man’s inhumanity to man. She badly needs a psychiatrist.
Another little girl, May had also suffered a similar fate. She had deep scars on her face. Her mother poured hot caustic soda on her and threw her into the bush to perish. A hunter found her and brought her back to the village. The villagers at Efoi frowned at the assault and banished her parents from the village.
Two sisters, Abi and Ela (5 and 3 respectively) were abandoned by their father. They were picked by CRARN and now live at the home. Priscilla is 3 and half years old. She and her sister were abandoned at the market in Esit Eket. They previously lived in Cameroon where their father died.
Upon relocation to Nigeria, their mother married another man. This man did not want the children and so they were thrown out to perish.
Listen dear friend, these are not tales from Nollywood. I would never have believed that such cruelty existed anywhere in Nigeria had I not gone to Itok Afaha to see for myself. With a sharp pain in my heart, I summoned courage to ask Mary and Magdalene if they would love to be re-united with their families.
May: [immediately becomes jittery] No. They will kill me! I had to reassure her that I hadn’t come to take her home.
Meg: [Eyes lowered] No. They will pursue me!
Well! Well!! Well!!! This is what I call the shame of a nation. That nation comprises you and me who pretend that nothing is wrong. It is indeed by a stroke of luck that we were not born to such wicked parents. Can you imagine seeing cockroaches and claiming that a child is responsible for that?
It is painful that while these children are dying, plus the fact that Nigeria has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, a Senator from this same Akwa Ibom State is more concerned about legislating on dress code. Madam Senator, could you please channel your energy towards saving these children from the grips of death?
Sam Ikpe Itotuma is the coordinator of the Child’s Rights Rehabilitation Network (CRARN). He, along with two other friends founded the centre 3 years ago. They now have 15 members. The government donated buildings to them to house these children. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has donated a Girls’ Hostel for which the Church paid a three-year rent and provided 15 double bunks, mattresses, blankets and bedsheets. An NGO – Stepping Stones picks 50% of CRARN’s bills. Private individuals also donate food and money. There is no sustained funding and they sometimes run out of food. Sam says it costs N80, 000.00 (Eighty Thousand naira) to feed the children every month. This may be a lot of money to CRARN but chicken feet if we all join hands to give these children a future. Do you want to write your name in gold by making a commitment to CRARN? Call Sam on 08026693099 or 08050547730.