Tettegah, Christine A. N. (2012) 'Streetism' Or Living in the Street, an Emerging Phenomenon As a Way of Life in Developing Coun
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'STREETISM' OR LIVING IN THE STREET, AN EMERGING PHENOMENON AS A WAY OF LIFE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, A CASE STUDY OF CHILDREN LIVING ON THE STREETS OF GHANA. by Christine A. N. Tettegah University of Nottingham Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2012 ABSTRACT There is an alarming increasing number of children living either partially or permanently on the streets of African countries. This research has been undertaken with children who live their lives more permanently on the streets of Accra the capital city of Ghana.. The study is focused on their survival strategies and investigates the detail of their day to day lives on the street. In addition, this thesis illustrates the home experiences of these Street children prior to their coming onto the street. These experiences include poverty, neglect and abuse. On the street, the life of the children is full of the struggle for survival and is. characterised by the complexities of the Street Children's vulnerability as well as their resilience. The study reveals interactions and negotiations that go on between Street Children and their community, their peers and other people they come across in their settings, for their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. For my husband Kwadzo Charles Tettegah Acknowledgements First and foremost, I thank God Almighty for His faithfulness, protection, guidance and providence for my life and through this PhD journey. I am extremely grateful to my Supervisors -- Professor Olive Stevenson, Dr. Amal Kabesh Treacher and Professor Jill Pascal. In the whole process of doing this research, I have been much in debt to you. Your knowledge and experience was invaluable. I thank you for directing, guiding and supervising me from the beginning to the end. Professor Olive Stevenson, I thank you for your decision to keep supervising me even when you retired from active work. Dr. Amal Kabesh Treacher, I am grateful that you kept in touch, reading through my work and editing it from far away Cairo on Sabbatical. Professor Jill Pascal, thanks so much for agreeing to supervise me. God bless you all. Thanks to the School of Sociology and Social Policy and also the University of Nottingham for accepting me to do the PhD. Thank you my Internal Assessor Professor Jill Pascali for your interest in my research which encouraged me after each of our meetings. Thanks Alison Haigh for being there to answer all my questions and for making it possible for information to reach me. t • I thank the Graduate School Building Experience and Skills Travel Scholarships (BESTS) for awarding me a scholarship which provided me with valuable experience of working with a public sector - Department of Children under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (DOC/MOWAC) in Ghana. I am very grateful. A special mention must go to all the Street Children who participated in my research by talking freely to' me about their experiences and answering my questions. Thank you Street Children. Due thanks must also go to officials of the Department of Children under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (DOC/MOWAC), Department of Social Welfare (DSW), Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS), Street Girl Aid (SGA) and AZUSA for assisting me during my fieldwork and making time out of their busy schedules to answer my questions. I thank you Department of Children, for accepting me to do a placement with you. To my fellow postgraduates Lynn McCormack, John Durkirn, Van Li, Abida Malik, Kate Legge, Sarah Buckman, Sue Brown, Melanie Birkhead, James Roe, Pamela Castro. Mardones, Melanie Narayanasamy and Blue Joyce thank you all for being my colleague officers and for your support in various ways. I am thankful to my family and friends both home and abroad for being the source of my inspiration and encouragement during the entire period of this research. Last but not the least, I thank you so much my husband Kwadzo Charles Tettegah for sponsoring the entire PhD program. I thank you for your all round support. God richly bless you. Thanks to all who remembered me in your prayers. God bless you. ',', . ----------------------------- Contents Page No Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Contextual Overview of Ghana since Independence 5 1.1 Introduction 5 1.2 Family Systems in Ghana 5 1. 2. 1 Matrilineal Systems 7 1. 2. 2 Patrilineal Systems 8 1. 2. 3 Double descent or double unilineal 11 1. 2. 4 Bilateral system 11 1. 2. 5 Gender issues embedded in the family systems 13 1.3 Changes in the Ghanaian family 15 1.4 Education and its effects on Ghanaian families 19 1.5 The impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic on Ghanaian families 25 1.6 Livelihood 31 1. 6. 1 Employment/Access to economic livelihoods 31 1.7 Unemployment in Ghana 35 1.8 Conclusion 38 Chapter 2 Literature Review: Previous Research 39 and Theory 2.1 Introduction 39 2. 2 The development and survival of children in adverse situations 39 2. 2. 1 Adolescent Sexuality 39 2. 2. 2 Vulnerability and Resilience 45 2.4. The Context: Studies of Street Children in Ghana 58 2.5. Conclusion 60 Chapter 3 Methodology 61 3. 1 Introduction 61 3. 2 How I came to be interested 61 3. 3 Theoretical approach 68 3.4 Methodological approach 68 3. 4. 1 Qualitative research 68 3. 5 Research processes 70 3. 5. 1 Access 70 3. 5. 2 Gaining access to the settings of Street Children 70 3. 6 Sampling 72 3. 6. 1 Sampling the settings of Street Children 73 3. 6. 2 Sampling individual children or cases 74 3. 6. 3 Approaching the organisations 77 3. 7 Methods/Techniques 80 3. 7. 1 Observation 81 3. 7. 2 Interviews 88 3. 8 Methods of data Analysis 94 3. 8. 1 Recording and transcribing 94 3. 8. 2 Thematic analysis 98 3. 9 Consent and Confidentiality 104 3. 9. 1 Informed consent 104 3. 9. 2 Confidentiality and Privacy 105 3.10 Conclusions 107 Chapter 4 Home Circumstances and Accommodation on the street 108 4. 1 Introduction 108 4. 2 Home Circumstances of Street Children 109 4. 2. 1 Poverty or Economic difficulties/hardship 109 4. 2. 2 Neglectful and Abusive Families 115 4. 3 Living places for Street Children 120 4. 3. 1 Accommodation on the street 120 4.4. Conclusion 133 Chapter 5 Day to Day Life on the Streets 134 5. 1 Introduction 134 5. 2. Poverty and the struggle for survival 134 5. 2. 1 Trying to make money on the street 135 5. 2. 2 Usage of money on the street 148 5.3. What they say about life on the street 154 5.4. Conclusion 159 Chapter 6 Vu Inera bility 160 6. 1 Introduction 160 6. 2 Beatings & Bullying 166 6. 3 Gender and Health Related Vulnerabilities 172 6.4 Weather 178 6. 5 Theft 184 6.6 Conclusion 187 Chapter 7 Resilience 190 7. 1 Introduction 190 7.2 Friendship Networks 193 7. 2. 1 Identifying, associating and negotiations with peer Street Children 193 7. 2. 2 Associating and negotiations with older peers 201 7.3 The Environment whether It Is Protective or Adverse? 205 7. 3. 1 Interactions and negotiations with adults 205 7. 3. 2 Associating and negotiations with organisations and religious institutions 212 7.4 Social Competence And Autonomy 217 7. 5 Religious Activities 219 7. 6 Conclusion 222 Chapter 8 Concluding Reflections 226 Recommendations 255 Bibliography 265 Appendix 1 Interview guide with Street Children 273 Appendix 2 A guide for observation 279 Appendix 3 A guide for organisations 281 Appendix 4a An introductory letter to the field 282 Appendix 4b An introductory letter to the field 283 Appendix Sa Ghana Map Political Regions 284 Appendix Sb Map of Greater Accra Region 285 Appendix Se Map of Study Areas 286 Abbreviations FW...•..............• 1 ••••••••••• I •• Field Work FW1SC2••••••••••••••••••••••••••Fieldwork one, Street Child two (FW2SC4:10 s.. 11) •••••• Fieldwork two, Street Child four pages 10 s.. 11 Introduction The overarching research question in my thesis is: How, and in what ways, do Street Children try to survive and cope with their life on the streets? Related questions that I will explore include: 1. What earlier family experiences have been factors in bringing Street Children to the streets? 2. What is the nature of their day to day life? 3. What kinds of relationships do they form on the streets as individuals, in groups and within various social structures? 4. What opportunities do their lives offer and what difficulties do they encounter? S. How do the children perceive their lives on the streets? 6. What are their hopes for the future? Definitions of Street Children The problem of Street Children (SC) appears to be getting out of the control " of Governments and the general public in African countries, particularly in Ghana. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Ghana and Africa in general, are trying to help these children. Most governments have set up 1 departments and ministries dealing with children and the young people yet it appears the efforts to deal with the problem are proving ineffective. Estimates, not necessarily reliable, indicate that there may be 2smillion Street Children in Asia and an estimated 10million in Africa (UNICEF, 1998). Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS) told me in an interview in 2008 that they carried out census of the Street Children in Accra and the number was 22, 000. The term Street Children has been a difficult one to define for several reasons. One of these reasons has to do with the construction of typology. Definitions keep on changing from time to time depending upon the varied and ever changing situations of Street Children and categories into which people place them.