Pupils by day, hawkers by night: Where children are forced to play family breadwinners

Picture this; a home so burdened with financial needs that the parents have no choice but to engage the children in income-generating activities at a very young age.

At many schools across the country, including at the Daraja Mbili Primary School in Kisii County, children as young as 6 years old are engaged in hawking and other businesses at the wee hours of the morning on market days and students by day.

At the school, a class is in session. A visit to one of the classrooms paints a picture of what learners have to put up with; congestion is the order of the day as students are forced to sit on the floor to quench their thirst for education.

Despite these glaring challenges, we are introduced to two pupils, Job and Nyaoka (not their real names) who are facing an even greater challenge.

They come from the same family and have been forced to play a breadwinners role in their family; students by day and hawkers by evening.

Their physical appearance shows fatigue and despondency. This could be because on Mondays and Thursdays they are usually absent from class to help their parents hawk paper bags within the adjacent market.

“Sisi huwa tunaenda sokoni kuuza paper bags kusaidia wazazi kwa sababu ata chakula kununua,nguo na ata kiti shuleni ni ngumu sana kwetu kupata,” Job says.

Some of them go as far as picking mangoes in the market, their teacher Nancy Manwa says, adding that what encourages them to go to the market is lack of fence in school and extreme poverty from their families.

Keen to witness the transformation of these two students from seekers of education to hawkers, we follow them to the Daraja Mbili market, arguably the third largest market in the country after Gikomba and Kibuye in Kisumu.

This is what they have to go through to put food on the table. As they continue with the business freely within town oblivious of the repercussion of child labour, we secretly record another young boy less than 10 years old selling drinks, he also tells us the same story of how abject poverty drove him to this.

From the market we trace the home of Job and Nyaboke. Isaack Makori, their father, who lives with his wife and their seven children in this single room home separated by a dark stained curtain.

Makori says they live here at the mercy of their landlord, though he does odd jobs together with his wife unfortunately they do not make enough money to sustain the whole family, thus the children are incorporated in the daily hawking business.

“Hii nyumba hatujalipa for the last six month , sisi ni maskini sana ata pesa ninapoenda kulimia watu na kuuzia paper bags sokoni hazitoshi ...gharama ya maisha iko juu sana,” he says.

Godfrey Obara, their landlord, says “nimeishi nao hapa wako na shida ya nyumba hajanilipa for 6 months...as a landlord feeding your tenants na hawakulipi ni shida kweli.”

The landlord lays bare what happens at night when bedtime beckons for this family of seven.

“Mila ya kikisii hairuhusu mtoto mvulana kulala nyumba moja na babake na mama, wanatumia hii corridor kuweka malazi yao hali ambayo ni ya kusikitisha sana,” Obara says.

Reubena Kerubo, Makori’s wife, says “mimi kama mama yao kinacho niuma ni kuona jinsi umaskini unafanya watoto wangu wanateseka hadi darasani wanaketi tu chini.”

Back at the school, the teaching staff makes us aware of another challenge that they face as they are at times forced to go out of their way to provide food for destitute children. that option is not sustainable due to the soaring student numbers.

Nancy Manwa, a teacher says majority of the learners are unable to afford sanitary towels, cloths and food.

“They forego daily meals because their parents are unable most of the time we meet our pupils hawking at Daraja Mbili....you can never teach an hungry child we need to get feeding programs for our learners,” she says.

Kisii County Director of Education, Pius Ng'omaN says the scenario at Daraja Mbili primary school is a worrying case which needs a multi-sectoral stakeholders approach in finding a lasting solution.

“It is so unfortunate that this is happening in our society, no child is suppose to be subjected to that kind of labour, the report we are getting from Daraja Mbili is worrying we call upon stakeholders to come together to mitigate the situation,” he says.

Section 56 of the Employment Act makes it illegal to employ children under the age of 13. Children between the ages of 13 to 16 can be employed in “light work” while those between 16 and 18 are considered employable.

Kisii County Commisiner Tom Anjere has promised to rally his troops in combing the county's major market centres in an effort to flush out under age individuals doing odd jobs during school hours.

This is in addition to revamping the fight against drug trafficking within schools some of which have porous borders.

Education stakeholders in Kisii are now waiting to see whether the authorities will take action to help destitute families access quality education and a dignified lifestyle.