Short story: Kwaku, the street child
Kweku’s father deserted his mother, Auntie Akua, when she was three months pregnant with him. As such, Kweku grew up in a city knowing only his mother. It was a difficult upbringing as Auntie Akua was not engaged in any meaningful work.
Kweku could not even attend school because his mother could not even afford to pay his fees and provide for the other expenses needed.
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Soon, Kwaku started selling on the streets to assist his mother to make ends meet. In no time they were thrown out of their rented house because they had they had accumulated rent. Life was indeed, very hard for Kwaku and his mother who did not have any place to sleep.
They went to family members who could help but they turned their back on them with excuse that they don’t have a place for them nor give money to them. They therefore sought refuge on the streets where they slept in front of people’s shops in the evening after the hard day’s work.
Kwaku and his mother, like other people on the streets, slept on the cold ground. Their pillow was a bundle of rags. It was even sad to see how they looked when it rained in the evening. At such times, they kept wake the whole night as there was nothing to shelter them. For the rich, the cold would seem temporary, but for them it was an endless endurance.
What kind of world is this? Kwaku asked. He looked around and realised he was not the only young person who sought shelter on the streets. Like him, many others were there as a result of poverty, broken marriages and some other through peer influence.
He felt disheartened as he did not know what the future held him and the other children. But one thing he knew, most of the adult there who were a bad example for any child to follow came there when they were young like him.
Today, some of them had grown into thieves, deviants and very aggressive people. Hardly a day passed by without witnessing a fight. As Kwaku sat down and thought about all that, he resolved to work hard to overcome his problems. He was determined that even if he did not go to school, he would learn a trade and earn a decent living so that he and his mother would be off the streets one day.
Kwaku was pressured so many times by so of the children on the streets to adopt negative attitude such as stealing and aggressive behaviour, but his determination to resist those things made him an example for others to follow.
Hardly would one see Kweku fighting with anybody, and even when he was extremely provoked, he would just leave the scene of the accident.
Kwaku always blamed his father for their woes. If he had been responsible, he and his mother his mother will not be on the streets. Through hard work, Kwaku was able to save enough money, and with the support of his mother, he was able to learn carpentry.
With humility, he learnt the trade so well that his master took a special interest in him.
He taught him all the rudiments of the job and completed his apprenticeship to become a skilful carpenter. He had lots of job offers and was able to start his own workshop .He bought one of the big houses in the city where he and his mother lived.
It was joy after all those years of suffering and hardship, he could now say, he was well to do. Kwaku, the street boy, now owns a big furniture shop that undertakes a lot of government projects. Through correspondent courses, he was able to make up for his shortfall in education at the beginning of his life.
Indeed no condition is permanent. In whatever situation you find yourself, strive hard and come out of it; and with perseverance, you can also make it just as Kweku did.