Their
filthy clothes, unkempt looks and raucous language mark them out in any
crowd as street kids. Even as many people loath them and would not
touch any with a twelve-foot pole, they hardly care. Confident and adept
in street life, they go everywhere to beg or scavenge for food.
Their numbers increase daily as many others attracted by the frills of the life of freedom in the
streets wander away from home or are sent away by parents for being “witches” responsible for
their ill fortune. With ages ranging from three to seventeen, the tales that took them to the streets are as varied as their faces and as bizarre as their scraggy appearance.
Homeless, and far away from parental care and infusion of prerequisite societal norms and values, these kids sleep rough, roam the streets and live wild by scratching their existence by running errands for prostitutes, stealing, pick- pocketing, pilfering in the streets of Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Essentially, the drive to stay alive seemingly carves a common bond among them, which
ties them into groups that they consider convenient and amiable to function, sometimes in three, five, seven or ten and in some cases fifteen. They concentrate mostly around areas where they can find leftover food, “rich” dustbins like around the Cultural Centre Complex, Unical, Atekong Junction, State Housing Estate. As they wander about, many people avoid them and even the law enforcement agencies keep a safe distance from them conscious of the mischief they are capable of causing at any given moment.
The operational modus of one group during the day may differ slightly from those of the others but, at night, they converge in designated spots, particularly around Atekong Junction, the haven for prostitutes and their clients. For instance, while some engage in playing football on the several green lawns in the city waiting for night fall, others drag carts from place to place to scavenge for metals, iron rods, and other discarded materials, which they sell in kilos to discarded metal merchants. Some idle around drinking spots, prostitutes’ hostels, suya shops, and other eateries to wait for leftover beer and food.
A testimony to their horrifying experiences in the streets is that each of them ts scar or fresh wound on one part of the body or the other sustained during brawls amongst themselves or inflicted by victims of their mischievous acts. One of them, Samuel Akpan, nine years old, who has a deep cut running diagonal on the left side of his head, said he and his friend Etim were sleeping one night on the corridor of a palm wine bar on Uwanse street when an assailant came after them in the middle of the night.
The wound, roughly stitched, obviously by a non-professional, still emits stench and pus, but hardly
does it bother Samuel, rather the desire to raise money with which to get food preoccupied his
mind. He was desperate to sell an Airtel SIM card which he said he fetched from a dustbin, but might
as well have been pilfered from a shop somewhere. Asked what the content of the white bag worn across his shoulders was, his brisk answer was “iron”.
Another kid, Idorenyin, who was scavenging for metals, told Sunday Vanguard that most of his time is occupied with ransacking refuse dumps, mechanic workshops, and electronic repair shops for the materials which he sells at Bogobiri, the Hausa settlement in the city. A peep into the bag revealed
an assortment of iron metals, disused radio and television components which he sells at N10.00 a kilogramme to one Barau, an Hausa trader
Another six years old, kid, Kingsley Okon Essien- Mensah, said his parents are dead and was taken in by an Hausa trader for whom he was hawking sachet water but his elder sister, who was not happy that he was not living at home, went to his benefactor and made a story which led to his being sent away.
for Hausa people? “Small girl, can she take care of me?”, exclaimed the urchin, raising his hand to his shoulders to depict the height of the sister, whose name he gave as Esther.
Ita Asuquo, Kinsley’s group member, aged about eleven, on his part, said what brought him to the streets was the separation between his parents. “My father drove my mother away and married another woman and the new woman said I should go and live with my mother and when I went to my mother she sent me back to my father that she has married a new husband and I should not come and disturb her home”, he said, giggling.
However, these sordid tales have ended for many of the urchins through the milk of kindness of Mrs Obioma Imoke, wife of the Cross River State governor, who has given a special place in her heart to them. Her Destiny Children Home, located in Calabar, has taken in over two hundred of these kids where they are quartered, counseled, given good food, and regular medical attention.
Effectively, many of them are being reformed, rehabilitated and given qualitative education thereby reshaping their lives and changing their destinies. From potential criminals and subsequent imprisonment, they now have hope for the future: the hope of not just becoming useful members of the society, but contributing meaningfully to it.
She regularly visits the home to fete the kids. During Governor Liyel Imoke’s 52nd birthday on July
10, 2013, she took time to visit the home with her husband. Addressing the kids, she said birthdays are
times of joy, happiness, caring for one another, and, most importantly, showing of love to one another.
She said the purpose she is committing her time and energy is to ensure that the lives of the children get better like the children who are under the care and custody of their parents.
Dije gave the children a sense and feeling of love. Outside the house party, she also presented them with items ranging from cooked and uncooked rice, noodles, biscuits, vegetable oil to beverages, assorted drinks, toiletries and exercise books. Some of DCC children born in the month of October also joined her in cutting her birthday cake.
Essentially, the action of Mrs Imoke has snatched these children from illicit drugs, alcohol, prostitution and armed robbery which many of them would have taken to.
Their numbers increase daily as many others attracted by the frills of the life of freedom in the
streets wander away from home or are sent away by parents for being “witches” responsible for
their ill fortune. With ages ranging from three to seventeen, the tales that took them to the streets are as varied as their faces and as bizarre as their scraggy appearance.
Homeless, and far away from parental care and infusion of prerequisite societal norms and values, these kids sleep rough, roam the streets and live wild by scratching their existence by running errands for prostitutes, stealing, pick- pocketing, pilfering in the streets of Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Essentially, the drive to stay alive seemingly carves a common bond among them, which
ties them into groups that they consider convenient and amiable to function, sometimes in three, five, seven or ten and in some cases fifteen. They concentrate mostly around areas where they can find leftover food, “rich” dustbins like around the Cultural Centre Complex, Unical, Atekong Junction, State Housing Estate. As they wander about, many people avoid them and even the law enforcement agencies keep a safe distance from them conscious of the mischief they are capable of causing at any given moment.
The operational modus of one group during the day may differ slightly from those of the others but, at night, they converge in designated spots, particularly around Atekong Junction, the haven for prostitutes and their clients. For instance, while some engage in playing football on the several green lawns in the city waiting for night fall, others drag carts from place to place to scavenge for metals, iron rods, and other discarded materials, which they sell in kilos to discarded metal merchants. Some idle around drinking spots, prostitutes’ hostels, suya shops, and other eateries to wait for leftover beer and food.
A testimony to their horrifying experiences in the streets is that each of them ts scar or fresh wound on one part of the body or the other sustained during brawls amongst themselves or inflicted by victims of their mischievous acts. One of them, Samuel Akpan, nine years old, who has a deep cut running diagonal on the left side of his head, said he and his friend Etim were sleeping one night on the corridor of a palm wine bar on Uwanse street when an assailant came after them in the middle of the night.
“Somebody pursued us in night with a knife while we were sleeping in a palmy shop and gave me a cut on the head and cut Etim on his back, he nearly killed us”, Samuel narrated.
The wound, roughly stitched, obviously by a non-professional, still emits stench and pus, but hardly
does it bother Samuel, rather the desire to raise money with which to get food preoccupied his
mind. He was desperate to sell an Airtel SIM card which he said he fetched from a dustbin, but might
as well have been pilfered from a shop somewhere. Asked what the content of the white bag worn across his shoulders was, his brisk answer was “iron”.
Another kid, Idorenyin, who was scavenging for metals, told Sunday Vanguard that most of his time is occupied with ransacking refuse dumps, mechanic workshops, and electronic repair shops for the materials which he sells at Bogobiri, the Hausa settlement in the city. A peep into the bag revealed
an assortment of iron metals, disused radio and television components which he sells at N10.00 a kilogramme to one Barau, an Hausa trader
Another six years old, kid, Kingsley Okon Essien- Mensah, said his parents are dead and was taken in by an Hausa trader for whom he was hawking sachet water but his elder sister, who was not happy that he was not living at home, went to his benefactor and made a story which led to his being sent away.
Asked why he could not go and live with the sister since she does not want her to sell pure water“I was staying with an Huasa man, Yellow, in Bogobiri to sell pure water but one day my elder sister came and told them that my mother and father are alive and that they should send me home and the man drove me away”.
for Hausa people? “Small girl, can she take care of me?”, exclaimed the urchin, raising his hand to his shoulders to depict the height of the sister, whose name he gave as Esther.
Ita Asuquo, Kinsley’s group member, aged about eleven, on his part, said what brought him to the streets was the separation between his parents. “My father drove my mother away and married another woman and the new woman said I should go and live with my mother and when I went to my mother she sent me back to my father that she has married a new husband and I should not come and disturb her home”, he said, giggling.
However, these sordid tales have ended for many of the urchins through the milk of kindness of Mrs Obioma Imoke, wife of the Cross River State governor, who has given a special place in her heart to them. Her Destiny Children Home, located in Calabar, has taken in over two hundred of these kids where they are quartered, counseled, given good food, and regular medical attention.
Effectively, many of them are being reformed, rehabilitated and given qualitative education thereby reshaping their lives and changing their destinies. From potential criminals and subsequent imprisonment, they now have hope for the future: the hope of not just becoming useful members of the society, but contributing meaningfully to it.
She regularly visits the home to fete the kids. During Governor Liyel Imoke’s 52nd birthday on July
10, 2013, she took time to visit the home with her husband. Addressing the kids, she said birthdays are
times of joy, happiness, caring for one another, and, most importantly, showing of love to one another.
She said the purpose she is committing her time and energy is to ensure that the lives of the children get better like the children who are under the care and custody of their parents.
“You are not less human beings like the children whom mothers tell bed time stories and sing them sweet songs to sleep”.To kick start the goodies that await the children this 2013 annual Christmas Festival, she brought on stream the Miss Carnival, Miss Sophia Dijeh, on Friday, October 25, to celebrate her birthday with them.
Dije gave the children a sense and feeling of love. Outside the house party, she also presented them with items ranging from cooked and uncooked rice, noodles, biscuits, vegetable oil to beverages, assorted drinks, toiletries and exercise books. Some of DCC children born in the month of October also joined her in cutting her birthday cake.
Essentially, the action of Mrs Imoke has snatched these children from illicit drugs, alcohol, prostitution and armed robbery which many of them would have taken to.
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