STREET BEGGING - A MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD FOR STREET CHILDREN

This article explores the working lives of street children especially in Africa, with focus on the analysis of begging. The practice of begging is complex, largely depending on the changing nature of children's livelihood, economic capacity, and relations with both the public and their families. Many children view begging as shameful activity and would prefer to avoid if they had alternatives, but the street children have no choice.

To examine the different means of survival by the street children, there exist three broad categories of informal activity: street begging, street daily labour and street vendor.

There exist casual and consequential correlation between begging, homeless, poverty, and mental illness, inadequate access to housing, income, and health support services.

Factors associated with begging are:

Poverty: Indication of poverty includes poor health care, malnutrition, unemployment and lack of education. These were usually measured with regards to specific calories intake as well as earnings per capita (FGN/UNICEF, 1990). In survey from developed countries, it was observed that a child living in a solo-mother family is five times as likely to live below the national poverty level, especially when both economic and parenting responsibilities fall on only ‘one pair of shoulders; (UNICEF, 1996). In alleviating their sufferings 55% of children were sent out as street workers in Nigeria, by their mothers (FGN/UNICEF, 1990).

Homelessness: UNICEF report stressed that 100 million street children worldwide are homeless, and about 15,000 children in Nigeria alone are homeless. Literature also shown that 43% of beggars were long-term homeless, out of which 71% of them slept rough (Horn & Cooke, 2001). Danczuk (2000) found that 80% of people who beg are homeless.

Break Down of the Family System: Oluwole (cited in Aye, 1996) was of the view that most children ran away from their homes with complaints that their fathers’ wives were too strict or that parents were too busy to care for them. Some forms of separation or divorce exert financial pressure on a partner and results into mothers sending their children out to beg on the streets (FGN/UNICEF, 1990).

Mental illness and Drugs: In a study by Wolf (2005), some respondents attributed the reasons for begging to addictive disorders such as alcohol dependency (41%) and drug dependency (24%) while most of the beggars spent money received from begging on irresponsible and unnecessary items, like drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Similarly, 45-47 respondents experienced drug dependency, 33-45% experienced problematic alcohol use and 50% had a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability (Danczuk, 2000; Jowette, Banks, & Brown, 2001).

Unemployment: In the Nigerian situation, Federal Government of Nigeria and UNICEF (1990) viewed street begging in terms of the economic situation of poor urban families, whereby children were subjected to working conditions, for the survival of the families involved.

Cultural and Religious Factors: In Nigeria, especially the northern part of the country, begging seems to be a cultural practice. For instance, it is common to see most nursing mothers who have twins begging for alms in the market places. They believe that children draw sympathy from passers-by who are moved with pity to give generously so as to help the mothers cater for them. Similarly, among the Indians, it is a traditional practice and a duty to give alms to beggars, especially the ‘Sadhus’, whose traditional way of life limits any income. They believe that even Shiva the Hindu god ran his household from begging alms (Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, 2007).

In terms of religion, alms giving is regarded as one of the pillars of Islam, were by beggars are believed to bring blessings to others and in so doing, provides them with an opportunity for earning merit. Therefore, the wealthy give alms in fulfillment of religious obligation. In Nigeria, the ‘Almajiral’ system of education, which encourages children to move from place to place, contributes to destitution. The Almajirai is a system of Qu’ ranic education in Northern Nigeria, which existed before the 18th century jihad of Usman Danfodio. It was observed that the system is now a problem for being responsible for rural-urban migration (of children in particular), breeding touts and criminals as well as denying the potential leaders of tomorrow the opportunity of good life. The pilot study conducted by the National Council for the welfare of Destitute (NCWD) in 408 Almajirai schools in three towns in Kaduna State, revealed that there were over 30,000 Almajirais in these towns. This also noted that 21 million Nigerian children are out of school (Formal Education) as a result of destitution. Similarly Adefowokan (2007) observed that the ‘Almajirinchi’ refers to a practice of being an “Almajiri’, whereby young boys study under Islamic clerics. The ultimate expectations for the boys leaving their families to be become Allah’s servants and to gain support financially and materially from communities but unfortunately many of them end up in the streets, begging.

Consequences of Street Begging:

Some of the consequences of begging as a means of livelihood for street children includes:

Sexual Abuse: The dependency on public individuals by street children has its dangers. One of such is that some of them have been identified as victims of HIV/AIDS. The chances of contracting AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases are much higher for these children. Young girls are the most vulnerable, chances are that they end up with unplanned pregnancies, as seen in the case of most female beggars in Nigeria.

Kidnapping and Prostitution: Trafficking in children in recent times is most distressing and inhuman, as a result of poverty. The street children are at the risk of kidnapping and the female among them are forced into prostitution by individuals. These children are left with no choice because they want to survive.

Crime and illegal drugs trade: The street children are victims of illegal drug trafficking, due to promises of better life by ring of traffickers.

Accident risks: Street begging could be risky to life especially in areas where there is heavy traffic. The street children stand the risk of being run over by careless drivers.

How can we help ?

·    Provide them with food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, love, protection and basic rights

·         Prevent conflict within their family

·         Reduce poverty in the communities and homes

·         Reduce the spread of HIV/AIDs

·         Enforce law system to protect them

·         Promote their integration into society

·         Encourage more programs that support them

·         Promote child's rights