By Hassan Ibrahim Conteh
Hawa Sesay, aged 18, is a commercial student who sells ripe bananas every morning at Dove Cot market in Freetown.
She said her life became suddenly unbearable after the death of her parents during the Ebola epidemic that claimed thousands of lives in Sierra Leone and neighbouring countries in West Africa.
The scourge left many children orphaned and made widows of many a young wife, and its effect is still being felt by a number of children, women and men.
Hawa and her family used to live at Do Bis village, about a mile from Masiaka, Port Loko district.
Intending to help, she narrated that her aunt who trades in ripe bananas decided to bring her and her little brother and four younger sisters to Freetown.
Her move followed repeated promises by government to take care of Ebola orphans through financial benefits, which later fell on deaf ears; in other words, such promises never came to reality.
“I don’t want my late sister’s children to go astray since government abandoned them,’’ said Orforla Turay, who is Hawa’s aunt. Hawa recalled that life was very comfortable for them as they hardly struggled for anything when their father was alive.
“When our mum and dad died, we didn’t have any helper. So, in 2015 our aunt went home to take us,’’ she explained.
Dove Cot, otherwise known as Guard Street, is the biggest and busiest market in the east of Freetown. It is also sadly one of the coldest places to visit because of the economic hardship in the country compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The market is also one of the oldest and popular places since the colonial period. It is highly known for its crowed nature with variety of agricultural products brought from the provinces. The market stretches from the Princess Christian Mentality Hospital (PCMH) at Fourah Bay Road to the Old Railway colonial bridge in the Freetown CBD.
Originally, some sellers said Dove Cot took its name from a poultry that was meant for the rearing of doves. The place was also a zoo where animals like sheep, goats and especially cattle were reared.
One of these places was later referred to by the people as ‘Cow yard’. The name ‘cow yard’ is still known by sellers and buyers who often go there to purchase animals and butchered meat.
Like Hawa most children especially girls whose parents or guardians sell at Dove Cot market usually bring along their uniforms with them and eventually dress up for school after selling. The parents or guardians enroll most of these kids at the nearby schools to prevent them from being late. Hawa attends Ansarul Islamic Secondary School situated very close to Cow Yard on Guard Street.
Sadly, a good number of the girls who sell at this market have become dropouts as the love for money over education took its toll. Some fall pregnant early as they are lured by money from some men who take advantage of their vulnerable status.
Hawa has to sell in the morning first before noon to catch up with the afternoon shift. But lateness, Hawa said, has become part of her habit as most teachers clearly recognize her because she is often late for school and would usually miss out on some lessons. Sometimes, she gets flogged by teachers for being so late, which she attributed to the selling and cooking at home.
Sometimes she must finish selling a basket of bananas as her last trip before going home to prepare food. At home, Hawa pulled up a tiny plastic material where she’d placed the money she had made from selling.
After her aunt had counted the money, half of it was given to her to buy some condiments for the evening cooking. She told Nightwatch that she has always dreamt of becoming a banker. But, from all indications, her dream seems to be affected by everyday selling and domestic chores which live her little concentration for her studies.
Hawa is expected to take the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) early next year. This means that she would have to prioritize her daily routine such as cooking at home and attending evening classes.
Her story is not different from her friend, Fifie Sandy, who also sells ripe bananas at the same market. The business of selling such perishable goods and other products often comes with heavy tiredness. Hawa and Sandy narrated similar experiences of lateness for school and tiredness resulting from selling which have directly affected their academic performance.
Sandy stood helplessly in the middle of the market with few rotten bananas left on a tray. Sandy, on November 20, which was ‘International Children’s Day’, was selling in the market. Every year, November 20 is widely celebrated as International Children’s Day globally.
Sandy hasn’t any idea of such a day. But she probably knows of the Day of the African Child. And that day was a school day but Sandy never stayed longer in school than expected as she was at Dove Cot selling as usual.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) provides that children should be afforded necessary protection and assistance under ‘‘an ideal environment for their growth and wellbeing.”
But the situation in Sierra Leone paints a sharp contrast as children’s issues are given crawling attention by government. The children especially girls also live in deplorable conditions at home owing to lack of parental care and supervision.
Most of the traders largely depend on small businesses to upkeep their children and to take care of their relatives’ kids who are brought from the provinces for schooling yet find themselves selling goods for theirs and their guardians’ sustenance.
The idea of bringing children from the provinces occurs in different ways. Some villagers voluntarily give out their kids to be raised up by other descendants from the same village who command huge respect and trust among the local people.
Most children whose parents are no longer alive and are faced with such unbearable situations, are forced to stay with other relatives in the cities to whom, without choice, they would have to render assistance including selling agricultural goods, vegetables and condiments as the case may be.
Some sell cold water, plastic bags and other items to fetch money for their education. Sandy hails from Kowadu, one of the many villages in Sierra Leone. Upon her aunt’s request she and her sister were brought to Freetown where they live in a corrugated iron sheet (pan bodi) house with the rest of the family.
“I attend Church of Christ School at Moyiba, east of Freetown. I am in class six. Every day after school I come meet my aunt at Guard Street to help her sell the bananas. I went to school this morning but the teachers told us to come home since there was no better learning. So I had to come to the market,” she explained.
Living in a zinc house comes with some discomfort for Sandy and her sister who gets tormented by the heat from the scorching sun.
Her sister always stays home to cook while she sells at the market.
Sandy is expected to sit next year’s National Primary School Examination (NPSE). Most children in Sierra Leone live in impoverished and crowed homes, which atmosphere disturbs their studying and abilities.
These clues are compelling indicators of pupils’ poor performances in public exams in recent years. The Free Quality Education (FQE), however, promises free access to education to all children in Sierra Leone. At the height of the country’s rallies, there were glaring talks of parents’ arrests in an event of children seen carrying wares on the streets instead of going to school.
President Bio, in 2018, immediately after the elections, also discouraged such a practice of parents sending their kids to sell on the streets. But what he did not make clear was how to lift these poor traders, who largely depend on the children to assist them with selling different goods, out of poverty.
“I don’t have any helper except these ripe bananas which we sell to get our living. I thank God for this free education because I don’t pay school fees again. But to give my children some money for their launch is not really easy for me,’’ said Hawa’s aunt.
Orforla Turay, Hawa’s aunt, said while President Bio’s free education has helped her, however, her business has stagnated, which is affecting them a lot. With Christmas approaching, Turay said business should boom, as the selling goes on faster during the festive season. But sadly this year, the crowds are not expected as in previous years, including smaller quantities of goods on the stalls.
“We also have more sales during fast month (Muslim fasting period),’’ she added.
Turay also blamed the slow rate of sales on Sunday selling which the Bio administration overturned after it was previously banned by ex-President Koroma. “Most customers buy goods on Sunday, so the following two days have slow sales,’’ she narrated.
The inflationary trend in the country has strained people’s purse strings as export of mines and agricultural products has dramatically declined over the years.
The situation is adversely worsened by the soaring prices of commodities which now require families like Hawa’s to jointly explore different means of getting money to keep the home alive.
Hawa was holding an empty basket with a torn cloth used as ‘head-saddle’ as she hurriedly walked toward a wooden stall where her aunt was seated while being interviewed by Nightwatch.
“Look at Hawa coming. You can talk to her as well,” said the aunt.
Hawa said that at night she gets bored and tired in a crowed environment which brings much more discomfort to her. But she hasn’t a choice but to push back. “Six of us sleep in the parlour while my aunt and her husband sleep in the room. The place is just a room and a parlour,’’ she explained.
The need therefore to survive when juxtaposed to going to school plays a very crucial role in the lives of these young children from the provinces and elsewhere in ‘Salone’, but more so for the girl-child who is susceptible to a lot of vices by unscrupulous men and women.