4.4 Daily Lived Experiences
4.4.2 Psychosocial Challenges
84
85 number of people who sleep in the room, we are 8 and the room is 50 cedis
($9.2) a week so we all share and pay.
(Single, 22 years old)
I have been sleeping outside for the past 15 years. After the commercial vehicles have left the station, we prepare the place and sleep. During rainy seasons, store owners allow us to sleep in front of their stores and collectively pay 50 cedis ($9.2) at the end of every month. There are some store owners who give the place out for free.
(Married, 29 years old)
For participants without accommodation, it was explained by some that they sleep in front of shops at night when they are closed. In some cases, they had to pay tokens to the shop owners for sleeping in front of their shops after opening hours or sweep the front of the shops early in the morning before opening hours as a way of payment. Below are some of their narratives;
We sleep at the front of the store, but we don’t pay. We just fix the mosquito net, and we sleep under it. Money and phones are stolen here a lot. We pay and bath somewhere else.
(Married, 25 years old)
I sleep here (points to a shop) where the yellow carpet is. In the night we fix the mosquito net and use a large black rubber to cover the whole place, light some mosquito coils and we sleep inside. Every week, we pay 5 cedis ($1) each. When we wash our clothing and put them on the drying line to dry, they get stolen. Other belongings such soaps, sanitary pads, monies and many other things also stolen, sometime by our colleagues.
(Single, 20 years old)
I sleep outside. When it’s raining, we run into people’s veranda until it stops then we return to prepare the place before sleeping. We pay the owner.
(Married, 22 years old)
Other participants added that their accommodation is infested with bed bugs, forcing them to sleep outside most times. An 18-year-old single Kayayei stated “there are bed bugs and rats there. So, we mostly sleep outside”. Below is a response from another participants.
86 Accommodation is not good at all. About eight (8) to ten (10) people sleep in
one room. Rain and mosquitoes disturb us so much. There are rats and cockroaches in the room, but we do not have any other choice but to stay there.
(Married, 33 years old)
The Kayayei are vulnerable to sexual abuse, physical assault, and verbal abuse. The inability to afford accommodation is one thing but there is also the need for survival, Kayayei are at risk of being sexually exploited just to make ends meet. For instance, an 18-year-old participant puts it this way, “If one comes here (Accra) to work and do not have a place to stay or people to depend on, one is tempted to move from man to man for survival”.
There are also issues of sexual and physical harassment by male clients. Three participants mentioned that they had experienced sexual harassment by male clients. The women explained:
As we sleep outside, we are prone to rape. Recently, a child was raped. The rapists have some chemical that they spray into the air that causes us to sleep very deeply and they rape some people even before other people wake up.
(Married, 33 years old)
Men like touching female porters. Sometimes, you carry load to the station and the ‘loading boys’ touch you and tell you how nice you are. Anytime someone tries that, I warn the person and leave because I don’t know them.
(Single, 22 years old)
Participants in this study further expressed their frustration at the verbal abuses they endure at the hands of their patrons and the public at large. They explained that due to their vulnerability in society, they are sometimes subjected to verbal and physical assault by clients for the smallest misunderstanding or when breaking goods because of a fall. The following are some of the expressions by the Kayayei:
Sometimes after offering your services to someone, the person can verbally assault you, and if you reply, the person can beat you up because there is no one to report to.
(Single, 22 years old)
Some customers end up insulting you with the slightest provocation, by describing you like you are not even somebody. Somebody will even tell
87 you that it’s because you don’t have food to eat in your hometown, that is
why you are here.
(Single, 22 years old)
Some people go on to say that if our parents had the kind of money we are charging, we would have stayed with them in the northern region and not come to Accra to suffer.
(FDG 2, single 20 years old)
The uncertainty of the precise destination when carrying goods for a male client seems to be a stressor as there have been reports of women being abducted or kidnapped. These do not only pose a physical danger but also impact on their psychological health negatively. The following quotes explain their concerns:
There are some people who are in search of people. They will deceive you to carry a load and when you do, they will take you to a certain house. It’s like they are spiritualists who will not allow you to leave the house. We have seen some of these things.
(Married, 25 years old)
Due to stories that we have heard about people being adopted. I get scared when I follow a man to a distance place. I always pray to come back safely.
(Single, 22 years old)