IOM distributes solar lanterns to Kayayei

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has distributed 280 solar lanterns to Kayayei in Accra.

The move, according to the Chief of Mission of IOM Ghana, Ms Sylvia Lopez–Ekra, was because abuses that the girls go through often take place at night as they often sleep in the open and rarely have access to electricity.

She said access to light has been shown to be an important element for protection and helping to prevent gender-based violence and other abuses.

Ms Lopez-Ekra made the presentation at a stakeholders meeting held in Accra on the theme: "Fostering a coordinated response for better protection and inclusion of the Kayayei” to mark the international Migrants Day held on December 18,2017.

She further stated that the solar lanterns will help the Kayayei in their everyday activities.

Ms Lopez-Ekra added that most kayayei were living in deplorable and dangerous conditions, and therefore called on all to get on board to make life worth living for them.

IOM lauded

Receiving the items on behalf of the girls, the president of the Association of Kayayei in Accra, Mr Mohammed Salifu said there had been instances where the girls had been raped in the dark without them being able to identify the wrongdoers.

He therefore lauded IOM and the ministry for the gesture.

For her part, Director of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Comfort Asare said a visit to Agbogbloshi in Accra to ascertain how Kayayei lived revealed the deplorable state in which most Kayayei were.

Poor sleeping places

According to her, some of the girls sleep in tomato boxes while others sleep in the open.

“We went there and we saw tomatoes boxes, tomatoes boxes that had been put together with a cloth covering out and inside it was somebody's house” she said.

She was however of the view that all efforts to end Kayayei coming to Accra had proven fruitless.

She added that although some of the girls had undergone skill training organised by the ministry under the ‘Operation end child Kayayei’ and were given seed capital, they had returned to the capitals to continue head-hauling loads.

She therefore called for a collaborative effort to help these girls whom she noted were very vulnerable.