By
Saidu Dumbuya
Reports of child
labour and abuse against young girls are rife. Monitoring the situation in urban
cities across the country the prevalence of child labour is evident in the
large number of kids on the streets selling sachets of cold water, drinks, and
other assorted items.
Minister of Gender and Children Manty Tarawalli
Fatima Alieu (not
her real name) is a 16-year-old commercial sex worker without a fixed abode.
Looking restless, depraved, thin, and frail she is regularly seen sitting under
a trader's stall along Fourah Bay Road in Freetown even when it is raining cats
and dogs.
Asked what
inspired her to choose a trade that the Sierra Leone society view as immoral,
she explained that her aunty, named Jeneba Mansaray (not her real name) took
her from her parents in the provinces to help her continue her schooling.
She said she use
to go to school and was even promoted to class 4 at the age of 10 years. Her
aunty, she explained, instead of helping her continue chose to force her out
into the streets to sell cold water, claiming that she (her aunty) would beat
her merciless or ask her to pay for any shortage from the quantity of water apportioned
her for any day's sales.
One day, Fatima
continued, she slipped and fell down, causing a lot of the sachets of water to
burst. Upon returning home to tell her aunty about the unfortunate occurrence,
her aunty she said manhandled her and eventually drove her out of the home.
"Two men escorted
me just to testify that I indeed fell, but upon seeing me leading the men to
the house, aunty Jeneba broke out in anger and yelling at me uncontrollably.
In fact, she
didn't even say a word to the men but walked out on them as they tried to pled
on my behalf. That surprised everyone including neighbours who pleaded on my
behalf she lamented,” she lamented.
Asked further why
she didn't go back to her parents in the provinces, Fatima said, "I didn't
have a cent in my hand at the time, and I was now just moving here and there
frustrated not until when a guy took me away to her residence, that was the guy
who deflowered me, but abandoned me soon after,"
Fatima explained
that when she saw that she couldn't get help anywhere, she decided to join her
peers hanging around nightclubs. Adding that, she would then pass the night
with any man who picks her up.
As to why she
could not save money during the early weeks or months to return to her parents,
she responded: "I thought about that constantly, but it was not just
possible as men don't give us substantial money capable of solving our
problems."
Amara who claims
to be Jeneba's neighbour said that they vehemently condemned her for treating
Fatima the way she did.
"We were
surprised when we got to know that she took Fatima not to help her do business
but to let her continue her schooling," Amara disclosed, adding that, a
certain Musu, who was introduced as Fatima's mother, once came to inquire about
her daughter upon hearing that she was no longer at home with Jeneba.
Amara said the
saddest part of Fatima's story is, that she is now the center of great sympathy
in the community where she once lived, as it is rumoured to have contracted the
deadly HIV.
As for 16-year-old
Fatima, she continues to appeal for help and rehabilitation saying she could
die sooner rather than later if no one comes to rescue her from the ugly
situation she faces.
This story was
put together with support from Journalists for Human Right (JHR) and the Sierra
Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Human Rights Fellowship.
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