Can you imagine backing your sleepy baby for hours while you waited for the rain to stop in the middle of a cold night before you could lie on a pile of discarded carton paper spread out on a wet floor?
That's the ordeal Felicia, 22, a homeless nursing mother, and her five-month-old child have been going through since the rainy season began.
The floor of an open hold at the Tema Station in Accra has been the home of Felicia since she was released from the Korle-Bu Showing Medical clinic, where she conceived an offspring following a convoluted nine-month venture.
In addition to being a bus stop for workers in the Ministries enclave, the Tema Station is also home to hundreds of merchants, some of whom take cover on the pavements after business hours.
Before sleep time, Felicia copies the garments of her child on a cool evening and monitors her frail body against mosquitoes with an exhausted mosquito net tied onto bits of stone.
"Since we rest on the floor under the racks, my child regularly falls wiped out. I don't have the means to go to the clinic, so I purchase medication from some medication vendors around for him," she told the Ghana News Office.
The 22-year-old school dropout says she has not focused on the dad of her child, who was a mate (transport guide) at the Tema Station since she was three months pregnant.
She stated, "I didn't see him again for about a week after I told him I was pregnant, and all efforts to trace his whereabouts have not been successful."
Felicia's fantasy about turning into a cook was broken when she exited Senior Secondary School in 2011, following the death of her dad.
Being the first of three youngsters to a worker rancher, the onus fell on her to go from the northern piece of the country to Accra looking for greener fields.
“Before I switched to selling water and other items, I worked as the head potter at Kayayei for about five years. The station has been my home all through," she said.
By selling biscuits at the bus terminal, Felicia makes just 20 Cedis per day, which, according to her, is not enough for her to effectively care for her child.
She was able to procure some clothing to support her baby's upkeep thanks to the assistance of her coworkers as hawkers and traders.
She cannot eat a healthy meal as a nursing mother because she spends a significant portion of her earnings on diapers for her baby.
"Beside the bosom milk I just feed him (child) with porridge," she said.
Felicia asks the general public for assistance in renting a room because she is concerned that the environment could cause health issues for her baby.
She likewise pursued for help to lay out a cooking business to empower her to collect sufficient cash to offer her child befitting consideration.
"I know how to make cake and different baked goods, yet I don't have the money to go into business," she said.
Pediatrician concerned
Responding to the circumstance, Dr Gabrielle Obeng-Koranteng, a Pediatrician, and individual from the Pediatric Culture of Ghana, said Felicia's child could be presented to a bunch of unexpected problems, including jungle fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and loose bowels.
She stated that the mother's predicament could also result in the child becoming malnourished.
She advised homeless mothers in such situations to try to enroll their children in the National Health Insurance Scheme and to stop self-medicating, which could have serious effects on the child's health.
In order to reduce juvenile delinquency, Dr. Obeng-Koranteng called for the implementation of policies that would support the rehabilitation of displaced families in advanced situations and educate adolescents about sexual and emotional health.
Public issue
The Assembled Countries Global Kids' Schooling Asset (UNICEF) assesses that there are in excess of 100,000 road youngsters the nation over. These kids don't have access to a good education, good health, or decent clothes. Sometimes, adults who should be protecting them abuse them.
According to a recent observation made by Child Rights International (CRI) at bus stops in the central parts of the Greater Accra region, between two and seven children are either beggars, helping the elderly or disabled beg for money, or engaged in some kind of trading or service during school hours.
The CRI took the Attorney General to the Supreme Court in March 2022 for “not taking urgent steps to ensure that children receive special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana,” as stated in the CRI's complaint.
Every child is guaranteed the fundamental rights listed in Section 6 of "The Children's Act, 1998 Act 560," which include the right to life, dignity, respect, leisure, liberty, health, education, and protection from his parents.
However, due to the lack of effective social interventions for this vulnerable group, children of "street mothers," many of whom are frequently abandoned by their fathers, are denied these fundamental rights.
Parents are obligated to provide their children with the best possible care. Be that as it may, on account of powerless kids who might be casualties of conditions for all intents and purposes on account of Felicia's child, the State can't look uninterested whiles they hook for endurance in a cruel and unforgiving climate.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0