WAEC Literature in English 2019 Theory — Question 4

Model answer

Points to develop: Definition of the street child; What makes a child leave home and live on the street; Children entrapped in streetism; The helplessness of the street child; Facelessness of the street child. A street child is a minor living on the streets and fending for himself or herself. This is caused by parental irresponsibility on the part of the parents. The parents procreate continually not bearing in mind the responsibilities of procreation and raising a child to become a total child. Lack of education and extreme poverty and lack of will power on the side of the parents contribute to the street children phenomenon. The government is also to blame for not including the poor and the destitute in their agenda for the state. A street child is faceless; s/he takes on the characteristics of the street and therefore loses his or her identity, hence becomes faceless. He is a subject of lack of parental care and societal neglect and harassment at home. Vulnerable to such excruciating suffering is Fofo. Fofo is an intelligent girl of 14. She drops out from primary school and faces the oppression from a randy stepfather, Kpakpo. The same experience is typical of Baby T. who is sexually abused by Kpakpo and Uncle Onko. She eventually becomes a sex worker and this leads to her death. Odarley too is a product of lack of parental care. None of these mentioned characters are in good terms with his/her parents. Fofo's visit to Maa Tsuru after Poison's rape attempt is an attestation to this. Exposed to sheer suffering on the street, these street children are subjected to oppression and molestation from the older ones such as Poison and Macho, who themselves are a product of parental irresponsibility. Poison was once flogged with belt by his stepfather. Having been exposed to life of cruelty, Poison bullies and kills under-aged prostitutes. He also attempts to rape Fofo and threatens to use her as replacement for the late Baby T. Macho also collects 'spot-fine' unaccounted for. All these happen on the street. The street child is helpless and vulnerable. He or she has nobody to defend him/her. Baby T's death is taken with a pinch of salt; her attempts to defend herself against the brute force of Poison results in her death. Fofo has to use her own tactics to escape from Poison. On Kabria's second visit to Agbogbloshie Market, she finds Fofo badly beaten up. It can be concluded that the street child has no identity. Fofo, Baby T, Macho, Odarley and the rest of them have no family names. They are lumped together and not cared for.