Traditional gender roles of men as bread winners of families are changing in Sierra Leone. These changes are due to a variety of reasons. Premier News went out to find out what is causing this and how some women are coping.
Marie Y. Kamara, a single parent who does Petty Trading at Rokupa Junction in Wellington is one of such women, who has championed the art of making ends meet for her five children, since her husband died three years ago.
She is a beneficiary of a micro finance loan scheme, from which she borrowed Le 5,000,000 but has been able to repay Le 2,700,000 as part of the total sum owed. She pays fees, provides food, medicines and other necessaries for her five children out of the proceeds of this business to the extent that it puts a lot of strain on her ability to save enough from her sales to prevent her from defaulting on her repayment plan with the creditors.
“I am not confident that my creditors will loan me anymore money because I have defaulted on my payment plan on two instances” she laments with a look of despondence on her face. “Although I acknowledge the fact that I have to fulfill my obligation to repay the loan, I cannot let my family starve,” she insists.
Marie is to complete payment with interest within a year, but she’s already behind schedule.
In spite of her struggles, as a mother, she wants the best for her children.“I want to see my children have an education and attain positions of prominence in this Country,” she says looking determined.
Mariatu Kamara,whose situation is slightly different Marie’s, peddles sachets of water at Portee Junction. She is married, but says her husband does not support her. “Even though I am married, it is I who single handedly take care of the financial needs of our three kids. Their father does not perform his fatherly responsibilities,” she says.
She explains that her husband is a welder, but he goes to work every day and returns home empty handed. As a result, her oldest son and daughter are actively engaged in petty trading to help manage the home.
She points out that since she started giving birth, her husband has not provided any financial support to the children not to talk of her relatives. Her son (Ibrahim Kamara) requires time to study, for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year, but has to divide his time between studying and selling.
In the morning, Ibrahim starts to sell while Mariatu, his mother, prepares his two siblings, Isatu and Fatmata for school. She takes over the family stall from Ibrahim in the afternoon so that he can attend school in the afternoon.
“At the end of the day, I would put the profit aside and use it to go to the market to buy food stuff for cooking,” she says.
According to Ibrahim, the neglect they are suffering from their father causes him and his siblings constant stress which they are struggling to cope with every day of their lives.
“I am alive and healthy. I will continue to assist my mother to provide daily bread and to bring up my siblings,” he says.
A Cookery Seller,Isatu Koroma,is also struggling to take care of six children. She has been caring and providing financial support for them on her own since her husband died, she says, adding that because of her struggles her younger sister living in the village, stepped in to care for her seven-year old daughter while she struggles with the remaining five children.
She lives in a single room with her five children and she sleeps rough because the room is so tiny that they at times beg their neighbors to let them in for the night.
She says because she can’t care for all the children’s needs, the second and third children usually help people in the neighborhood to fetch water, launder and clean and do other domestic work in return for money for clothing and food.
Isatu doesn’t like the idea because the children sometimes fall ill.
“But when they feel better they have to go and do the work again because we cannot survive by my cookery selling alone, she says.
She always admonishes them not to join bad friends or get involved in any dubious activities and encourages them to go to bed early because they have to help her in the morning to start cooking before they leave for school.
“Most times they don’t have time to study because of the odd jobs they do. When they return from school they are tired sometimes and they just go to sleep. This is affecting their education,” she says.
Emma Sankoh who sells “Ogirie” in the market, has two children with different men who are not doing anything for the children. She shares the plight of the other women.
Emma’s oldest son attends school but the second child doesn’t. She is not ignorant of the law that fathers have a responsibility to take care of their children, but she says that she doesn’t have the time or the money to seek legal aid because it would prevent her from a day’s sale which would mean that she and her children would starve. She prays every day for God to give her the strength and protect her and the children because if anything happens to her it will be difficult for the children to live.
According to Emma, her parents don’t even want to see her because they are very disappointed with her. They had wanted her to be well educated but she became pregnant while in JSS 1 and dropped out of school. She says if she had the power to turn back the hands of time she would strive to complete her education.
By Mariama Sesay