Abena [not her real name], a fourteen (14) year-old teenage girl, is the fifth child of eight (8) children born to her parents in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana who travelled to Kumasi in April 2015 with the hope of a better standard of living.
She narrated how she was inspired by other very young girls who left Bolga to work in Kumasi and later came back with assurance of a breakthrough in life; parading around with expensive phones, clothes, foodstuffs, money and other gadgets every teen dream of.
Abena is one of many victims many of the rural urban migration.
Although Ghana’s economic journey over the last decade has seen an upward progress, the rural-urban gap remains glaring. Many young boys and girls – often unaided – leave rural towns to urban centers in search of better economic opportunities and greener pastures, unknowingly what awaits them. Regrettably, most of these young people end up on the streets.
Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, is the second largest city in Ghana with huge commercial and industrial potential which attracts a lot of young migrants who move from various rural towns in search of opportunities and better economic conditions, some temporary and others permanently. The city prides itself as a vital trade center for gold, cocoa and timber with a population of about 2 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area according to the world data review.
Teenage girls are a significant part of the youth who migrate to this historic city – most of them take to working on the streets, usually as “kayayei” or head porters. Kayayei is a Ghanaian term that refers to female head porters or bearers.
Most kayayeis are young girls often less educated or uneducated, unskilled, and poor from the rural and semi-urban parts of the three northern regions of Ghana.
As a result of the less paying menial jobs they mostly engage in, they often earn a little too insufficient to survive the harsh realities of urban living. Hence, these young girls take to prostitution – a situation which has become very alarming.
With high hopes that her story will be as glorious as those who motivated her, Abena begged to join her elder brother who was coming to Kumasi. “We came with a mission to hustle, survive and make money.” Abena said with a visible expression of disappointment on her dried up, hungry-looking face.
“Because I have never been to school, I could not get any job to do so I joined the other girls of my age who were already in the ‘kayayei’ business in Kumasi. I had nowhere to sleep so I would gather empty cartons, spread them in front of a closed shop or kiosk and sleep at night. My brother visited me from time to time and encouraged me to work hard. After a month, my brother seized visiting. I had no idea where he lived and I knew no one. Soon, I got used to living on the street.” Abena added.
She continued with her narration “I made friends who introduced me to my current sleeping place where I pay an amount of GH¢5 rent weekly. When I moved into my new home initially, I realized that my friends always went out at night in nice clothes and returned at dawn. My roommate invited me to come with them when they were going out one night and that was when I realize that my friends were ‘kayayei’ during day time and prostitutes at night. My friend told me that kayayei alone can’t take care of my expenses so I should do what they were doing to support my upkeep. When she showed me some of the things she was able to buy for the money she made at night, it convinced me that I could also get those stuff if I joined them at night.
I was at first skeptical about the shame and the way society frown on such acts, not forgetting the diminishing in moral standard and the taint on the person involved. “I was trained with high moral standards, but she sighs’,” come to think what good is morals if one dies or lives in poverty. I had to battle with myself for days until I finally yielded to the act.”
“During the day I will go out to do “kayayei;” we usually charge between GH¢1 and GH¢5 depending on the weight of a luggage; then at night I charge GH¢10 for every man I sleep with. I have done this ‘night business for seven months. I am not very happy to be doing this at night, but it pays my bills. I do not intend to do this forever, but I currently have no option so I carry goods by the day and trade sex at night.” She concluded.
Ama’s story is not any different from Abena’s. She is a 17-year-old girl who travelled from Dago, a village in the Eastern Region of Ghana, to seek greener pastures in Kumasi. She also joined the ladies who carried goods for money.
