Young Ghanian girls work in a street of Accra. They prepare for their next trudge through the narrow lanes of Accra’s main market in a long day of work that would earn them about three dollars each. Photo: ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images
ACCRA, Ghana (IPS/GIN) - Hundreds of girls and young women labor as porters in the markets of Ghana’s capital, making meager wages and often facing the threat of sexual harassment and rape.
The majority of the girls come from the northern part of the country to find work at places such as Agbogbloshie Market, a vibrant market in the heart of Accra.
Annie Mbawinyi is one of the many young women aged between 15 and 25 who have come south in search of opportunity. “I did not come to Accra to become a market porter,” she said. “Some of my friends who left my home town, Bawku, returned with sewing machines after they worked in Accra, so I decided to try my luck.”
What Ms. Mbawinyi did not know was that her friends had worked as “kayayei,” as porters are called in the local language, Ga. She did not know that they had endured long, difficult hours carrying bags for shoppers for little reward or that their poverty led them to sleep in front of office buildings and maybe to pay security guards with sex to be allowed even that limited shelter.
“It was when I arrived in Accra that I realized the difficulties that I would face. I did not have a place to sleep, and with not enough money I had to do something,” Mbawinyi said.
Her friends had told her about Agbogbloshie Market, so she looked for it. There, she met some other girls who spoke her language, Mamprussi, and they introduced her to the trade. “I started carrying loads for people to make some money, but it has been tough,” she said.
Asked how much she has saved during three hard years in Accra, Ms. Mbawinyi said, “Well, I have bought some nice clothes, which I am keeping to take back. As for money, I have been able to put down only 80 Ghana Cedis (less than one dollar) but I believe things will get better.”
Nana Oye Lithur, Africa Regional Coordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, is one of many observers concerned about the conditions in which these young women live. “The social impact of this phenomenon is what must be of great concern, and since we started talking about it, their numbers have not decreased—they continue to come,” she said.
Ms. Lithur is worried that these women are vulnerable to sexual harassment or rape. “With nowhere to sleep, some have to beg the security guards who keep watch over offices across the city in the nights to offer them space to sleep, and some take advantage of them,” she said.
Accommodation is the central concern for Ms. Mbawinyi and others like her: “When it rains in the night, sometimes we have to stand in front of buildings,” she said.
In January this year, a fire outbreak at Sodom and Gomorrah, one of the sprawling slums in Accra, razed some of the shelters where the porters had been sleeping.
In response, the residents formed the Federation of the Urban Poor to assist the women. The Dialogue on Human Settlements, a local non-governmental organization, has taken up the challenge to provide accommodations for the women. According to federation coordinator Haruna Abu, two hostels are under construction to provide five rooms each to accommodate 10 to 15 women in a room. These hostels are to be provided with wardens to give some protection to the women.
Government officials claim they are also working to improve the living conditions of these young women in Accra.
Marilyn Amponsah is in charge of a project run by the Ministry of Women and Children. “The project is to make those who are under 15 years go back to school and to provide training in various trades for those who are above 15,” she said.
In May, Hajia Alima Mahama, the organization’s minister, was at Malata market for the graduation ceremony of about 120 “kayayei” who had completed a three-week skills training program.
As attempts are made to improve their status in Accra, there are also efforts being made to stem the drift toward the south.
A local nongovernmental organization, the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems, has started a program with the support of a U.K. humanitarian organization, Comic Relief, to provide equipment to schools in order to keep the young women at school in the northern districts of Savelugu and West Mamprussi.
Many of these women drop out of school after junior secondary either because their marks are not high enough for entrance to senior high school, or because their parents do not have the means to pay their fees. With no other educational alternatives available to them, they are left with no other choice than to look for opportunities to make a life for themselves.
The program manager of the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems, Alhassan Musah, said the provision of basic equipment such as sewing machines to train these women gives them an incentive for them to remain in school.
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