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Street
Kids’ Ordeal in Addis
Wondirad Seifu, May 27, 2007, Addis Fortune
Addis Ababa is chained by unprecedented rate of
marginalisation of its poor. If you have nothing you may be back to the
bush. Street dwelling is another alternative. But the kids I have
discovered in the dark, sitting on the tree branches, have suffered from
both modes of survival.
The tragedy is happing in front f the Spanish Embassy
and at the junction where the US Embassy is within view. A colourfully
painted advertisement is installed adjacent to the three exhorting: “Stop
Child-Labour Exploitation.”
The kids have nothing: no home, no custodian and no
family. What they have in common is not only a miserable life, but also the
language of their origin, Wolayta Sosdo/ Dorze Hizo.
Wolayta
is a highly populated region in the southern part of the country. It is
popular for its traditional apparel known as “Tibeb cloth”, which its craftsmen
spin artistically. In fact its tribes love art and are best known for their
traditional break dance. They enjoy music in good times and even assume it
during a funeral service.
Although the region is located at about 200km from
Addis, part of its population is residing in the capital, around the area
known as Shiro Meda , close to
the above mentioned embassies. Leaving to historians the whys and hows of the original Wolaytas exodus to Addis, their migration still continue at a
noticeable pace as judge by new-comers who have scrambled to customise
themselves to new the life in Addis.
Shiro Meda appears
to be an extreme contrast to Bole area in the capital-the hub of Africa.
For instance, in Bole you can find
an Internet Cafe or a cosy bar at a close distance to enjoy at a hefty
price or admire at a distance if you are lacking the thick pocket.
In contrast, the internet is alien to these new Shiro Meda migrants;
instead you come across a big congested hall at every footsteps in which “tej” (a local alcoholic drink) is available, affordable
and accessible for all times. Hence, drinking tej is regarded as an essential habit to live life; although a
foul chemistry of tej making is believed to penalise
one’s life duration, much like that of “changa”
in Kenya.
Fortunately, when you want Tibeb cloth, you can go to Shiro Meda,
where it is span and soled everywhere. The producers use manual labour,
applying artistic designs and utilising different colour dyes, sometimes
the low quality or banned types.
Sadly, the units exploit child labour and then expel
them to the street. Some of the victims are those sitting on the tree, and
blame unknown agents that subject them to such conditions, others do not
know the cause of their plight.
As the sun set, the kids have come to hand over the tree
to bring down their night clothes and chat about where to spend the night.
It is common in Addis Ababa for native kids to live on the ground holes and
ditches. To my surprise, one of the kids told me that his sack serves as a
slipping bag. He also told me that he sometimes spend the night on the tree
when his elders bullied him. The other common place for street dwellers to
hide their seemingly out of use property is on the stations roof of the Anbesa city Bus centre, which its commuters dub it
“doomsday”. In fact, the space under the roof serves as a comfortable gust
house to spend the night.
In general, street kid’s problems are exacerbated by
day. For instance, the occurrence of kids renting for begging purpose is
rampant. Many such unbearable plights have left kids without hope.
Curbing the problem seems to be a daunting task,
particularly for a country like Ethiopia in which the sources of its double
digit inflation is a controversial issue and its assumed economic growth
boils down to an unprecedented poverty quagmire.
In spite of such burdens, Addis Ababa is smiling with
its shiny new buildings, while contemplating its postponed grievances on
the eve of the 2nd Millennium. In the city , we have seen a
shower of new business everywhere; some of which is pressing us to use life
style and saving drugs; others exhorted us to stop AIDS, rape , female
gentile mutilation, corruption and malnutrition, amongst others such as
child slavery.
We know that an abundance of NGOs and government offices
claim to play a role behind such messages as they cruise the streets in
four-wheel drive vehicles. An advertisement by itself is nothing, unless
its meaning is translated into action. Because sometimes the talk disguises
the problem and people consider it corrected.
Here is my message: “Stop child slavery in Action”.
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