School Girl Struggles To Sell Firewood To Feed Family And Support Education
An eight year-old girl primary school pupil in Aweil has resorted to selling of firewood to pay for her education and feed her poor family. 22 April 2013 Anguech Door Amei in Aweil. About 35 % of children in South Sudan are engaged in various forms of child labour according to the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development. [Abraham Agoth] By Abraham Agoth AWEIL, 21 April 2013 [Gurtong] -Anguech Door Amei says she is depending on firewood for food and as well as paying for her school materials such as exercise books, writing pens and other necessary school items. Being brought up by a single mother who has no education background, Door said she is always struggling to ensure that she has flour for her meal. She outlines that her daily plans are always focused on how to find food for her family and how to save for small notes of money for emergency cases. “I thought of selling firewood on my own because I did not want to go on street like the children am seeing daily. When I saw my mother was helpless home, I was encouraged by my neighbour who also sells firewood to be accompanying her to the forest and at the end of the day come with some few firewood which I bring to market for auctioning,” she said adding that “When bought, I rush immediately to buy small quantity of flour as meal for our home. I do save some money, a pound to two pounds per month for diseases that rampantly strike on people.” About 35 per cent of children in South Sudan are engaged in various forms of child labour according to the Undersecretary for Labour in the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development, Madam Hellen Achiro Lotara. Many of the affected children work in the informal sector undertaking activities such as pushing wheelbarrows, shoe shining, working in backyard garages and street vending. A Labour Market Information survey conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had revealed that the work undertaken by the children was often hazardous, requiring them to work long hours, including nights and exposing them to physical and verbal abuse on the streets. Madam Hellen recently said that the government was committed towards ensuring that children were protected and cited the ratification by government of the ILO Convention 182 on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for admission to Employment. Door says that she makes three to six South Sudanese pounds within a week that she uses to buy some food stuff. She travels for a distance of 20 to 30 kilometres weekly to fetch for firewood with other neighbouring adults whom she accused of intimidating her of low speed and slowness in firewood collection. Regardless of irregular attendance in her school, door says she is in primary three and has been performing brilliantly at the school though facing tedious home affairs. She could correctly express herself in English and bow to follow her education for the improvement of her future. “I am studying at Buluk primary school. I am in my primary three this year. Though, I get problem of our home budget constraints which I fear that may drive me out of school one day, I still say that I am determined to study well during my age to do any possible abilities for myself and mother who is being abandoned by my father. I only trust that education will be a change to the problems my mother and I are living in,” Door adds. With the predictions of what she wants to become ahead of her studies, she assures the public that she will follow education until she becomes a teacher to help others who are helpless. Posted in: Home, Education, Governance -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
