4.7 Discussion
4.7.4 Daily Lived Experiences
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102 negatively on the physical and mental health of the Kayayei. The study found that the daily routine of the Kayayei entailed the time they start work in the early morning, how they obtain clients, and negotiate their prices. Working as a Kayayei demands waking up very early in the morning to go to areas in the market where they can obtain clients who have arrived in the market and help carry their wares to their prospective destinations which confirms the findings by other studies (Abukari & Al-hassan, 2017; Nyarko & Tahiru, 2018). This implies that the time the Kayayei wake up in the morning will determine the number of clients she gets and proportionally the income she will earn at the end of the day. This time factor compels Kayayei to have a shorter sleep almost every night, affecting their health in the long term. Waking up early to get the client does not end the daily routine of a Kayayei, adding to that is the negotiation of the price of the load to be carried from one point to the next destination. This is consistent with findings by Ahlvin (2012) where the author argued that the Kayayei walk up and down in market centres nearly fifty times a day before they close, go back home, and return the following day to continue this daily routine. Getting a client is not just about walking alone while carrying a pan but one must be aggressive by contacting potential clients to offer services to them as suggested by Azinga (2015).
The study found that negotiation of the price depends on the type of load and distance to the clients’ destination. This negotiation sometimes ends with the clients refusing to pay the exact agreed-upon amount or even refusing to pay all together upon reaching their destination. In contrast, only a few generous clients show empathy on the Kayayei by paying them more than they have earlier negotiated. This indicates that the Kayayei are not self-assured and therefore do not have the bargaining power to demand what is due to them. A study by Hettige, Ekanayake, Jayasundere, Rathnayake, and Figurado (2012) suggested that migrant workers suffer from abuse, exploitation, neglect, and marginalisation, and are often deprived of the support services they needed.
Studies by various researchers such as Lu (2010), Kirmayer et al. (2011), and Buchanan and Smokowski (2009) found that migrants face arduous life circumstances such as economic hardship, poor housing, and substance abuse to conform to social norms. The findings of the present study confirm previous studies by Azinga (2015), who reported the aggressive nature of the Kayayei business, where the women had to struggle for potential customers to identify them and have potential customers who contact them anytime they come to the market centres for shopping. The finding showed that the Kayayei go through a hectic time in obtaining clients and in negotiating for the price for their services. Considering how big the Agbogbloshie
103 market is and its congested nature, it implies that these women had to walk for hours to obtain clients. The finding of this doctoral thesis, however, contradicts an earlier study by Hiralal (2017), that migrant women face obstacles in finding employment, thereby depending on their male counterparts for their livelihoods. In his view, this dependence exposes them to violence and abuse. In this present study, Kayayei are rather the primary source of income for their families, and in some cases, some husbands stay home for them to go to work and bring all their earnings to them to manage. The findings of this present study suggest that women suffer from various forms of abuse in most cultures no matter their status in society.
4.7.4.1 Physical and Mental Health Challenges
This section explored the narratives of Kayayei concerning the impact of the Kayayei business on their physical and mental health and the social support available to them to cope with their situation. The conceptual framework of this study is in line with the study’s findings which discovered a proximal process which is the interaction of the Kayayei with the environment.
Thus, the Kayayei interaction with the hostile environment has a negative impact on the physical and mental health. For instance, the study found that the physical nature of the work of the Kayayei exposes them to all sorts of injuries through motorcycles and vehicular accidents and falling due to the weight of the load and walking long distances causing fatigue. The present study found that the prevalent physical health challenges the Kayayei face are due to the nature of their work. The physical health challenges include body pains such as pains in the neck, chest pains, backache, legs, and joints due to the strenuous work of carrying heavy loads, climbing footbridges, and walking long distances with heavy loads. The direct implication of this that, the majority of the daily earnings of the Kayayei are spent in buying medication to mitigate the pains they feel to get ready for the next day. This subsequently leads to a high prevalence of self-medication or even other illegal drug abuse among Kayayei. Most Kayayei, are unable to access regular medical care from qualified health professionals due to time constraints and inability to afford basic health care, as indicated by Sánchez (2014).
The findings of the present study further indicated that most of the participants lack decent accommodation coupled with mistreatment by their patrons and society in general. The above- mentioned risk factors have subsequently led to mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety, and depression among the participants. Other studies have also reported mental health challenges among migrant workers, for example, Li, Dai, Wu, Gao, and Fu (2019), reported higher levels of depression among migrants than non-migrants. Similarly, a high prevalence of
104 mental health challenges among migrants were also reported by Yang, Dijst, and Helbich (2020). The study reported a 26.8 per cent prevalence of mental health problems among internal migrants in China. In Ghana, however, the prevalence of mental health challenges among internal migrants specifically the Kayayei has not been measured quantitatively. This doctoral thesis conducted a quantitative measurement of the levels of mental health challenges and their risk factors among the Kayayei. This should help in developing intervention programmes that target the mental health of the Kayayei and other vulnerable groups in society.