Escaped forced marriage from north only to become victim of rape down south: Harrowing story of 12-year-old Ubaida
Her dream of becoming a
professional nurse in the near future who could lend her support to doctors in
a bid to provide adequate healthcare services to patients in the hospital
became shattered from the very first day her parents decided to give
her hand forcefully in marriage at a tender age of 12 due to poverty.
Twice she had
resisted the awful attempt by parents to be married off forcefully to a man
older than his father’s age in order to attain her personal freedom and pursue
her future dream.
But for the
third time, escape was her only way out of oppression.
Her story could
be likened to that of a popular quote: “jump from frying pan to fire”, no
doubt!
Ubaida,12,
Kayayei (head porter) in the streets of Accra recounts the harrowing accounts
of how she escapes from the grips of her parents in the north only to be raped
down south amidst myriad of challenges she had to battle with in her everyday
work as a head porter in the Accra.
It was the most
difficult decision ever to be taken by a young girl; who had to abandon her
family, friends and travel several miles away from home to a strange land in
search of a better life.
A decision most
adults would not arrive at, out of fear and cognizance of the risk involved.
But little
Ubaida did the unthinkable with the hope to survive in a bid to see her future
dream become a reality.
She spoke in
Mamprusi translated into English.
“I dropped out
of Junior High School(JH1) at a tender age 12 since my father can no longer
afford to pay my fees”
“He decided to
marry me off to his friend, an old rich businessman in his 60s so he can cater
for my needs.
“Such decision
did not go down well with me so I escaped from my hometown Walewale, (a small
town in the Northern Region) with a money I’ve borrowed from a friend.
My intention
was to raise money to finance my education and be free from being forced into
an early marriage”.
Ubaida averred
that it took her hard decision, not knowing anyone in Accra or any idea about
how life would treat her before coming.
But maintained
by the grace of God, she has been living and working as Kayayei for the past 3
years in Accra.
One of her
shocking revelation was to be raped on many occasions by some miscreants
who also live in the streets of Accra.
“There were
times I’ve been raped at night by some of miscreants who also live on the
streets of Accra” Ubaida said although she sometimes feels like going back
home, she’s always feared she would get married off by her parents to that old
business man if she dares step her foot over there”.
Sharing her
woes on the city life, Ubaida said:
“Life is very
difficult for me. On a good day, I make GHC5.00 carrying people’s shopping
items. I get GHC1.00 for carrying heavy loads and GHC 50 pesewas for lighter
items. I sleep in front of people’s shops every night”.
When asked what
would she like to do whenever she get help, Ubaida quickly said: “I would like
to continue my education.
My dream is to
be given a home and an education. I know I can make it if I just get the
chance”.
These are
harrowing experiences shared by Ubaida. Even worse more of these experiences
you’re likely to hear from most Kayayei in the streets or Accra Kumasi,
Techiman including other parts of the country.
Kayayei is a
term used to describe women and girls who earn money by carrying loads on their
heads in urban lorry parks and markets in urban areas and cities of Ghana.
They
predominantly migrate from the three Northern Regions of the country namely;
the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.
The majority of
them without little or no education tend to leave their home state around the
age of 13-17 and stay in their destination cities for a maximum of five years,
sometimes return home(returnees) and migrate back to the cities.
Kayayei
represent a highly marginalized and vulnerable group of girls and women in
Ghana. The work is precarious, no job securities and worst of all they are
poorly paid. They lack access to a number of key services including shelter and
healthcare.
Kayayei live in
poor sanitary conditions in overcrowded and deprived neighborhoods and are
particularly exposed to communicable diseases such as malaria, skin infections
and water-borne diseases. Many also sleep in the open, especially in front of
shops and are further exposed to abuses including robbery, eviction, and sexual
violence.
Currently the
total number of Kayayei in the country is unknown but a mapping exercise which
began in 2017 by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social with support of
UNFP is believed to soon provide additional information on their volumes and
trends.
But so far
available statistics indicates that over 60,000 of Kayayei (vulnerable young
women and girls) lives under worst conditions in the streets of Accra, Kumasi
and Techiman in Ghana. Like Ubaida, all these girls need care, attention and
serious help to go back to school.
Ubaida’s plight
has really touched the hearts of the Purim African Youth Development
Platform(PAYDP), an NGO that supports Kayayei to understand their legal rights
through legal literacy training, livelihood empowerment training and gives
sexual and gender based violence information and services to these vulnerable
girls.
The NGO has
therefore decided to embark on a project to raise money to support her including
other 200 street girls to go back to school in a bid to guarantee them a
brighter future.
Under the project dubbed “Support 200 street girls to go back to school”, PAYDP is committed to raising an amount of $3,000 through public support via gofundme fundraising portal(www.gofundme.com) to achieve its dream.
Let’s all join
in the fight to end gender-based violence and forced marriage which is being
perpetrated against our school-going age young girls.
Girls like
Ubaida need our support to go back to school therefore let us all put our hand
to the wheel and render our support by contributing generously to support the
above project for a better future of these young disadvantage ones.
Winning this
fight is easy and equals to Ghana achieving the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals which deserve a concerted effort, not only from government
but from all of us.
Let’s all
support this cause to save our girls from forced/early marriages, sexual and
gender based violence and harmful practices to secure them a better
future.
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