The youth and green pastures

By Helena Selby
Economic hardship is the commonest problem in all the continents of the world, even in developed countries, and especially developing and underdeveloped countries. Due to this worldwide economic hardship, the standard of living in under-developed and third world countries is high, and coming by money for three square meals a day is difficult. To most people living in extreme poverty, and without any means of livelihood, apart from engaging in unlawful activities, seeking for help from close relatives is the only alternative. It is terrifying to know that many people, from the tender stage of life, are condemned to a future of hustling in poverty.
Africa and economic hardships
The harsh economic state of the country is experienced in many parts of the world, especially Africa. Economists use a country's per capita gross domestic product, and the value of all the goods and services it produces, as an indicator of the quality of life. The United Nations (UN) produces an annual "Human Development Index", which assigns a score to each nation, based on three broad sets of indicators: Health and Longevity, Knowledge and Education, and Standard of Living, measured by purchasing power.
By these measures, the UN, in its conclusion, described Niger in West Africa, as the worst place to live in the world, because life expectancy there is 44.6 years, with 71 per cent of its adults illiterate, and 79 per cent of children do not attend school.
One might not understand why Niger is being described as the worst place to live on earth, but it must be noted that citizens trekking from their country to seek greener pastures, even in developing countries like Ghana, tell how severe the economic hardship really is.
If in Niger 71% of adults are illiterate, then the availability of white-collar jobs in the country will be low. In this case, manual jobs will be the commonest.
In Ghana, many of the youth, without the capital for starting a business, or entering into a vocation, end up engaging themselves in menial jobs such as the carrying of luggage for money, popularly known as Kaya Kaya – the females are referred to as Kayayo. Though it is not very much of a decent job, majority of these youth believe it is better than engaging in robbery, which would land them into jail.
Why this business?
The kaya kaya business, very surprisingly, is mostly practiced by the people from the Northern Region. Despite the fact that the north is very far from the south, Accra, they prefer to do business in the capital city.
According to Abudulai Amidu, who hails from Bawku, he and his family moved from Bawku five years ago, in search of greener pastures in Accra. Living in Accra, he said, though difficult, cannot be compared to that of Bawku.
It is his very wish to enter into a vocation, but the problem is he seems to be the breadwinner of the family. After five long years of engaging in the kaya kaya business, all he does with his money is spend it on his mother and kid brother, who is in school.
To him, though it is his desire to also go to school, his capital at the moment, is not enough to cater for his mother, brother and himself.
The central idea of people engaging in this business is to save money, to be able to establish some form of small scale business. Men are not the only ones who go through the ordeal of engaging in this business, but women especially. For some of these women, the ordeals they have to undergo, even to get a single load, is painful. According to them, if one wants to make a good market for the day, there is the need for one to begin as early as 5:00 .a.m. The number of luggage one gets to carry for the day depends on how smart and strong one is. Bringing to mind the saying, “Only the strong shall survive” and “No risk no reward.”
What are some of the challenges they face?
Each one for himself, God for us all, is the policy some of them adopt, according to them, though they might be friends or be of the same tribe, when it comes to fighting over luggage, they put all concern for each other aside, and fight for their daily income.
The ugly part is that friends, within a short while, fight among themselves and injure each other terribly, all because of sometimes a single piece of luggage. This results in them ending up at the police station, using their income to pay for their bail in the long run.
Despite the very little income they get for the day, the police and other authorities always try to tax them on whatever they manage to acquire. According to them, they used to pay at first, but as time went on they realized it affected their income greatly, so decided to stop paying. To avoid taxation, the only alternative they have, is to run away when they see the tax collectors coming, which sometimes prevents them from coming to work the next day.
Despite the fact that some are as young as 10 to 15 years, they are generally engaged in adult activities, carrying very heavy loads, in order to fend for themselves, and some of them, including the grown ups, live in uncompleted and abandoned buildings, parks, containers, pavements, kiosks or on the street itself.
They sometimes wake up the next day, only to find out that they have been robbed off their monies and belongings.
Most times females, who spend the night on the street, become victims of defilement and rape. Men always take advantage of their physical weakness, and harass them sexually.
Females, who have been sexually abused, often turn to prostitution, since they do not see anything special about their bodies anymore.
The dreaded scourge HIV/AIDS is also rising, at an alarming rate, due to some of these ordeals they go through.
At times people take advantage of their desperate need of money, and introduce them to drugs. Some of them are forced to take dangerous drugs like cocaine, and also manipulate them into swallowing some of these drugs for trafficking. Most of these kayayos end up becoming addicts, unable to free themselves till death, or they are caught and put in jail.
Some of these youth sometimes end up becoming armed robbers, leading to them becoming a danger and nuisance to society.
The health of kayayos is generally poor. Many suffer from chronic diseases like TB, typhoid, malaria, jaundice, liver/kidney disorders, pneumonia and severe body aches, due to the heavy loads they have to carry.
National youth employment
Creating employment opportunities, to enable the youth engage themselves productively, as well as to prepare for the future, is one of the greatest priorities of the government, which is the reason why the government of Ghana introduced the National Youth Programme Employment (NYEP).
The main idea of the youth employment programme, is to empower the youth, to be able to contribute more productively towards the socio-economic and sustainable development of the nation. Some of the categories for the employment include industrial attachment, health extension workers, urban afforestation and community protection.
Though the jobs provided are not permanent, its main aim is to equip the youth, in terms of skills, to get enough experience for permanent jobs. It is also intended to make busy, the idle youth, and prevent them from suffering, since it is their basic human right to work and contribute to the progress of the nation.
The existence of the youth employment programme, despite the fact that it has really helped some of the youth to get a source of income, for some who are not fortunate, they complain of not getting vacancy in any of their categories for employment.
According to Gershon Kpodo and Abudulai Amidu, they went to seek for employment four months ago, at one of their offices, but their effort was futile as an official told them there was no vacancy. They expressed the desire to be part of the working crew of the national youth employment, since they believe it was more lucrative than their present kaya kaya work.
It will be a happy moment for them, if the government could help the rest of the youth get out of this business, of carrying the loads of people, since apart from it not being lucrative, it gives them too much stress and health problems.
Conclusion
The youth of this country can only help brighten the future, only by creating a brighter future themselves. Though it is their right and responsibility to work, and fend for themselves, the government, through immense effort, can help speed up the journey towards the youth getting a brighter future.


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