Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN PSYCHOLOGY

Walters Mudoh Sanji

Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa The Case of Cameroon 123

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Walters Mudoh Sanji

Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa The Case of Cameroon

123

Walters Mudoh Sanji Reseda, CA, USA

ISSN 2192-8363 ISSN 2192-8371 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Psychology ISBN 978-981-13-2073-6 ISBN 978-981-13-2074-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950956 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Firstly, I dedicate this book which demonstrates a fight in favor of the plight of street children to my late parents Mr. Sanji Elias and Mrs. Sanji Julia for they were lovers of children. I also dedicate the work to my wife Mrs. Nicoline Mofor Sanji for her moral and financial support over the years.

Foreword

This book provides a fascinating look at the problem of children and young people living on the streets of Cameroon’s major cities. It recounts the results of two unique statistical studies, while also providing rich ethnographic detail that helps illuminate the results. Much of the story is told directly in the words of the street children. It is rare to see such an effective and affecting blending of quantitative and qualitative research. This account is all the more credible because it is written by one who grew up in the environment that is described in this book. Walters Mudoh Sanji is a native son of Cameroon who was able to make his way to South Korea in order to complete his education and receive his doctoral degree. While the primary explanatory mechanisms in this book are psychological, Dr. Sanji also draws on his extensive knowledge of the colonial past of his region as well as the current political and economic climate in his effort to understand the prevalence of street children in Cameroon and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. While many accounts of the effects of economic underdevelopment stop at description, and perhaps speculation on causes, Dr. Sanji is also focused on prevention and cure. The final sections of the book detail a number of concrete and practical proposals for bettering the circumstances of the children and young people of Cameroon. These proposals include not only providing better education and housing through cooperation between government and NGOs, but the establishment of cooperative commercial and entrepreneurial ventures that would give those who receive education and assistance the chance to thrive and contribute to the economic life of their countries. Portland, OR, USA August 2018

Richard Kettner-Polley, Ph.D.

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Preface

The phenomenon of street children has been the focus of interest in developing societies although not by policy-makers. Even though there has been a lot of work with them, it has remained a constant and complex phenomenon to eradicate, and hence must be tackled carefully in all its ramifications. The focus of this book has been to investigate the psychological condition of street children and youth and to determine how to reintegrate them into mainstream socio-economic activities. A careful review of literature on this phenomenon revealed that there is still limited knowledge, especially regarding the psychological conditions of street children and youth in the developing countries. This book draws attention to the fact that one cannot expect reform efforts aimed at eradicating the phenomenon to have significant effects without concrete research that would enable guidelines for sound therapeutic strategies and preventive policies. Apart from emphasis on therapeutic strategies, the first part of the book dwells on development politics because effective reintegration can only be possible in good institutions and vibrant economies. While looking at the misery displayed on the streets of major cities in sub-Saharan Africa, I presumed that the lack of an industrial sector, underdevelopment, and poverty should be the fundamental reasons for street children and youth in the major cities. I decided to study developmental issues within the context of South Korea because I thought that, if South Korea could transform its economy within a very short period of time despite it scanty natural resources, then why not Africa with abundant raw materials. I investigated the secret behind its industrial development miracle to be able to provide concrete recommendations for the industrial development of sub-Saharan African countries for I understood that industrialization is the key to employment in the Sub-Region. Employment opportunities would help facilitate the reintegration of street children and youth in the Sub-Region. Further investigations have been geared toward revealing the economic development history and institutional context of sub-Saharan Africa to enable recommendations of the best development model that would suit the present economic circumstances of the Sub-Region. I also coordinated a project at Kana Foundation dealing with the enhancement of the resilience of former street children engaged in educational program in a rehabilitation home. Before I left to S. Korea for further ix

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studies, I worked at Bamenda Urban Council as assistant chief of communication Cooperation and local partnership unit. During my period of work there, I carried out a journalistic investigation into the problem of children roaming the streets of this town. I further went on to examine the situation of the two biggest cities of the country (Yaoundé and Douala). In the book I looked at the differences between children and youth on the street (those who have homes to return to at night) and children and youth of the street (those who both work and live on the street), it highlights the importance of having a home, and of the great value of cooperation between church, NGO, and the state in working to make better the lives for these young people. Looking at the research questions and hypotheses below, I have conducted the research based on the concept of children and youth of the street and children and youth on the street. Some scholars argue that this concept is not perfect for some children and youth work and spend their nights on the street during one period and spend another period working on the street while sleeping at home at nights. To work on the inter-lapping which exists between these two groups of street children and youth, in the course of the interview we tried to classify those who spend limited nights at home under children and youth of the street and vice versa.

Quantitative Research Questions 1. Are there significant differences in the characteristics of children and youth of the street and children and youth on the street in terms of automatic thoughts (dysfunctional thinking), hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteems in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon? 2. Are there significant linear correlations between automatic thoughts, hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem of the street children in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon? 3. Do changes in automatic thought, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem have independent effects on hope? 4. Do rehabilitation education programs have an effect on hope, automatic thought, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem?

Hypotheses 1. Automatic thought is higher in children of the street than in children on the street. Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are lower in children of the street than in children on the street. 2. Automatic thought is independently and negatively related to hope, while resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are independently and positively related to hope. 3. Rehabilitation educational resilience program reduces automatic thought, but increases hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Reseda, USA

Walters Mudoh Sanji

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I offer sincere gratitude to my Mentor Dr. Richard Kettner-Polley who manifested a great deal of kindness, in editing the book. It was due to his recommendations and instructions that I have been able to effectively complete it. I also thank Prof. Chang Seek Lee who granted me permission to work in his Hope Institute where I have gained a wealth of research experience. Furthermore, I was grateful to the administration of Kana Foundation NGO for granting me the opportunity and support to carry out a 6 months’ research project within their institution. Special thanks also go to the staffs and former street children of this NGO who were recruited to carry out the field survey. Gratitude also goes to my friend Mr. Mikael Opoku, a fellow statistics student who gave me additional guidance on how to go about the SPSS statistical aspects of the survey.

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Contents

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1 Background and Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Definition of Street Children and Youths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Children and Youths of the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Children and Youths on the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 The Global Situation of Street Children and Youth . 1.3 Variables and Theories Used in Aiding the Psychological Healing of Street Children and Youths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Categorization of Street Children (in Cameroon) for Easy Rehabilitation and Reintegration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 Those Engaged in Dangerous Operations Such as Armed Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 The Pickpockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 Those Simply Doing Odd Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Those Who Attend School and Work on the Streets . 1.4.5 Age Categorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.6 Segregation by Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Problem of Economic Underdevelopment and Resilience . 2.1 Economic Underdevelopment and the Resilience of Street Children and Youths of sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 The Concept of Communities with Threats of Self-destruction 2.2.1 Internal Negative Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 International Negative Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 An In-Depth Investigation into the Street Children and Youth of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Brief Description of the Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Statistics on Cameroon’s Street Children . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Dysfunctional Family Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Urbanization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 HIV and AIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.5 Child Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Labor . . . . . . . . 3.2.6 Modernization, Capitalism, and Globalization . . . . . 3.2.7 The Impact of the Anglophone Crisis on Street Children and Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.8 Deplorable School Situations Especially in Rural Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Street Children and Youths and the Socioeconomic Development of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Insecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Pickpocketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 Boko Haram Recruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.4 Prostitution and the Spread of HIV and AID . . . . . . 3.3.5 Traffic Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.6 Poor Healthcare Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.7 Disappearing Middle Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 NGOs, Churches, and Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Child Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Abolition of Compulsory Primary Schools’ Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Levies . . . . . . . 3.4.4 Stopping Child Trafficking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.5 Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.6 Universal Birth Certificate Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.7 Prevention by Empowering Families . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.8 Fighting Corruption and Embezzlement . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.9 UNESCO Proposals for Vocational Education . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Building the Resilience of Street in Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Distribution of Participants . 4.1.1 Study 1 . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Study 2 . . . . . . . . .

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4.2 Interviewing Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Collection of Quantitative Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Study 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Study 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Analysis of Psychological Conditions of Street Children and Youths (Study 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Independent t Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Regression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Study 1 in Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Detail Reasons for the High Negative Automatic Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Trauma, Bio-Ecological Environment, Hierarchy of Needs, and Attachment Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3 Variations in the Lives of Street Children . . . . . . . . . 4.5.4 Resilience in Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Reintegration Via Resilience Enhancement, a Project at Kana Foundation (Study 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Assessment of Needs for the Street Children and Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Target Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.3 Individual Participant Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.4 Enhancing Resilience by Applying Bio-Ecological and Resilience Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.5 Use of Special Language Introduced by International Resilience Project (IRP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.6 Structure and Rules at the Rehabilitation Home . . . . . 4.6.7 Role Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.8 Encouragement to be Autonomous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.9 Develop Hope, Faith, and Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.10 Hope Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Logic Model, Evaluation Questions, and Indicators for Resilience Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 Results—Study 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.1 Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8.2 Evaluation Scores for Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 Resolving the Problem of Street Children and Youths in sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Curative Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Therapeutic Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Education and Financial Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Recycling of Garbage and Environmental Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.4 Street Children as Providers of Food . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.5 Street Children as Providers of Homes . . . . . . . . 5.1.6 A New Model of Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.7 The Importance of Humanitarian Aid . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Preventative Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Educational and Technological Development . . . . 5.2.2 Infrastructural Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.3 Relocation of Factories into sub-Saharan Africa . . 5.2.4 Land Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.5 The Problem of Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.6 Democracy and Protection of the Constitution . . . 5.2.7 The Transformation of Natural Resources . . . . . . 5.2.8 Aid to Governments Versus Direct Aid . . . . . . . . 5.2.9 Breaking Trade Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.10 Immediate Causes and Suggestions to a Solution to the Anglophone Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Appendix: Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About the Author

Dr. Walters Mudoh Sanji was born in Cameroon and earned a doctorate degree in Lifelong Education from Hanseo University, South Korea, in 2016 and a Masters degree in NGO studies from Ajou University, South Korea, in 2011. Prior to furthering his studies, he worked at the Bamenda Urban Council as Assistant Chief of Communication, Cooperation, and Local Partnerships, where he carried out a journalistic investigation into the problem of children roaming the streets of this town and went on to investigate the situation of the two biggest cities of the country. During his studies at Hanseo University, he put his long-term investigation on this crucial problem into a dissertation proposal and he was awarded research grants from the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Hanseo University. His dissertation has been read by many senior professors of the Southern and Western worlds, and in Korea, Dr. Sanji also represented Ajou University at the Global HR Forum of 2015, G20 bridge forum in 2010, and the 3rd Seoul Official Development Assistance International Conference in 2009.

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AFP CAR CDC CIA CRC CRTV DRC EITI EPDC EST IIED IIPHT ILO IMF IMO IRIN IRP ISTSS MINAS MPI NGO OPHDI PRONAIS PTA RFI RT SAP TIC WACAP UNDP

Agency France—Presse Central African Republic Cameroon Development Cooperation Central Intelligent Agency Convention on the Right of the Child Cameroon Radio Television Cooperation Democratic Republic of Congo Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Education Policy and Data Center Energy Science and Technology International Institute of Environment and Development Institute to Investigate and Prosecute Human Trafficking International Labor Organization International Monetary Fund International Organization for Migration Integrated Regional Information Network International Resilience Project International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs Multidimensional Poverty Index Non-Governmental Organization Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute National Project to Promote the Reintegration of Young People Parent Teachers Association Radio France Internationale Russia Today Structural Adjustment Program Transparency International Cameroon West African Cocoa and Agricultural Project United Nations Development Program

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UNESCO UNHCR UNICEF UPC VOA

Acronyms

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Children Fund Union of the Peoples of Cameroon Voice of America

Abstract

This interdisciplinary book has been designed to contribute to a better understanding, propose therapeutic strategies, and preventions of the phenomenon of street children and youth within sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses mainly on the investigation of the psychological condition (resilience) of the children and to determine how to reintegrate them into mainstream socio-economic activities. The book is unique in that, it also highlights the inextricable link which exists between street children and youth phenomenon and economic underdevelopment within sub-Saharan Africa. After a careful examination of the main reasons of poverty and weak institutions within the region, some suggestions have been provided on how to prevent street children and youth phenomenon by alleviating poverty via a vibrant industrial sector and economic development. A general examination of the situation in sub-Saharan Africa region was undertaken before carrying out an in-depth research in Cameroon as a case study, because Cameroon is Africa in microcosm. The book also conveys recommendations on how to contribute to the solution of the phenomenon by means of the creation of social enterprises which would offer opportunities to youth and their parents. It is made up of two studies. The first study dealt with comparison of children and youth on the street (those who have homes to return to at night) with children and youth of the street (those who both work and live on the street) and the second concerned a project which boosted the resilience of street children within a rehabilitation education center. A pre-survey was carried out before the project began. After running the project for six months, a post survey was done. From the data of both surveys a paired t-test was conducted. It highlights the plight of street children and youth within sub-Saharan Africa with emphases on those who are living in the shadow of Boko Haram. Much of the story is told in the words of the children and youths. By looking at the differences between children on the street and children of the street it highlights the importance of having a home, and of the great value of cooperation between church, NGO, and the state in working to make better the lives for these

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young people. By telling a story which appeals well beyond academia, this book has been designed in the tradition of Tally’s Corner, Street Corner Society, The Making of Mondragon, and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Chapter 1

Background and Theory

Abstract My dream is a world in which all young people have equal opportunities to explore their talents to the fullest, but sadly, the reality at moment is a world with most of them being deprived of the basic resources necessary for smooth development. This book aims at highlighting the plight of the street children of sub-Saharan Africa, with some presently living in the shadow of Boko Haram. Much of the story is told in the words of the children and youth. The strongest contribution in this book is the resilience enhancement project of street children. Chapter 1 begins with an introductory section aimed at explaining the entire scope of the book. This was followed by the definition of street children and youth with emphasis on “children and youth on the street’ and children and youth of the street” as defined by UNICEF. This is because there exist many definitions of street children and youth but the book is written based on the definition by UNICEF. This chapter also looks at the global situation of street children and youth. This helps the audiences to have a clear picture of the situation of street children in the world and to wipe off the ignorance some people have that, street children are limited to the developing world. In addition, there are definitions of variables and explanations of theories which would help in the understanding of the studies in the book. The variables are; automatic thought, child hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The most important theory of child development use in the book is the bio-ecological theory by Bronfenbrenner. It has been applied alongside with the resilience theory of Ungar for a child must not be perfectly provided with the favorable idealized conditions emphasized in the bioecological model. This is because in normal life processes, a child needs to counteract some adversities as he or she develops into a mature individual. Keywords Cameroon · Africa · Children · Youth · Homeless · Street Resilience · Reintegration · Automatic thought · Trauma · Hope Rehabilitation · Human development · Motivation · Self-efficacy Self-esteem · Inferiority complex · Compensation · Belongingness Bio-ecological theory · Children and youth on the street Children and youth of the street

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3_1

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1.1 Introduction This book highlights the plight of a great number of children (street children and youth) who have been excluded from the mainstream socioeconomic activities. Its purpose is to stimulate or arouse a worldwide concern for the phenomenon. The truth is that, though African and other developing countries suffer from inadequate technology, they have an untapped stock of talent, wasted as these children roam the streets. The book also proposes many recommendations for therapeutic strategies and preventive policies. The main essence of the book is to bring resilience enhancement into the reintegration process of street children within the socioeconomic activities of sub-Saharan Africa. This will help to solve the complex situation of children escaping from rehabilitation homes back onto the streets. Much emphasis is also put on how to boost a vibrant industrial and economic sector, which will provide opportunities for employment so that the children can achieve their goals in life instead of roaming the streets or taking desperate adventures such as migrating to Europe via the Sahara Desert. To achieve this goal, Cameroon, as Africa in microcosm, was chosen as the case study in which an analysis of the psychological condition of the children and youth was carried out. A careful literature review on the phenomenon of street children and youth revealed that there is still limited knowledge, especially about the psychological state of mind of the street children and youths of the sub-Saharan Africa region, and in developing countries in general. This creates a missing link during integration and reintegration of the children. This research gap pertaining to the phenomenon of street children is still very wide and calls for worldwide concern. This book has therefore examined the psychological forces that compel children and youths to the streets in terms of automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The approach of the book is unique as compared to other works on the phenomenon of street children and youths in that it has also shown the inextricable link that exists between the phenomenon of street children and sustainable development, good governance, democracy, peace, and international development politics. Chapter 2 of this book thus points out the hindrances retarding strong institutions in most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the possible means of eliminating these speed breaks. Though some scholars criticize the emphasis put on economic politics in Chap. 2, I have introduced this as a new paradigm to the study of the solution to street children and youth phenomenon. Based on the fact that this phenomenon has remained one of the most stubborn to counteracts, there is a reason to adopt different approaches. Inclusive economic policies remain one of the most important missing links in the prevention of street children and youth phenomenon, and this can only be achieved via good governance. In the case of most sub-Saharan African countries, this inclusion has been affected right at childhood and this needs to be fixed. Due to Structural Adjustment Program, governments abandoned education to the free market. By so doing, children of the very poor persons have been excluded from socioeconomic activities because; most lack the basic education which is important to propel them into socioeconomic activities. The resilience approach in this book gives an opportu-

1.1 Introduction

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nity not only to enhance the resilience of the children and youth but also to study the countries or communities where these kids live and to ensure that they are resilient communities. A resilience child or youth cannot thrive well in a non-resilience community. Resilient communities are communities with strong institutions and vibrant economic conditions. It is therefore important to examine the resilience of the children and youth and that of the environments where they live. For example let take a case where an intervention program for vocational training has been completed and the youth awarded grants in the form of capital to start business. If the taxation system of the country is poor and the process of obtaining papers to start the business very complex leading to bribes, then the money will get finished in the course of procuring papers and the youth will be back on the street. His downfall now lies on the non-resilient community. Furthermore, if after the training he or she decides to look for a job, but there are no factories or factories are limited hence some races or tribes are given preference and he or she falls out of the favored groups, then he or she is a victim of a non-resilient community. The book is made up of five chapters. The first chapter consists of an examination of the introduction, the global situation of street children and youth, and the explanation of variables and theories used in the book. Second chapter is comprised of, the hindrances to economic development of sub-Saharan Africa region despite its abundant natural resources and how this impacts on street children and youth phenomenon. While the third and fourth chapters examined Cameroon as a case study. Chapter three explained the causes, consequences, and government, NGOs, and churches role in reversing of the phenomenon. Furthermore, chapter four is made up of two studies. The first provides an analysis of the psychological situation of street children and youth in Yaoundé and Douala (Cameroon), while the second deals with a new paradigm (resilience enhancement) that helps to enhance the reintegration of street children into mainstream socioeconomic activities. The first study is made up of a sample of 508 street children and youths. A comparison between a sample of 254 children and youths of the street (working and living on the street) and that of 254 children and youths on the street (working on the street but living off the street) was explored. Inter-group comparison, correlation, and regression strategies were used to examine the relationships that exist between the variables: automatic thought, resilience, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and Children’s Hope. The second study consists of a sample of 20 former street children engaged in primary education in Kana Foundation NGO rehabilitation home. A project aimed to boost resilience was introduced in this foundation’s street children and youth rehabilitation primary school education center. A pre-survey was carried out before the project began. After running the project for six months, a post-survey was done. From the data of both surveys, a paired t-test was performed.

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1.2 Definition of Street Children and Youths The definition of street children and youth has remained a challenging issue. This is because there are a variety of children with different life experiences, family backgrounds, and circumstances on the streets. For this reason, it is important to avoid a vague generalization in the definition. This confusion has been highlighted by Apteker (1988). According to Apteker (1988), if the term street child is being applied to many children who have a variety of different circumstances and characteristics, this would result in a vague generalization that distorts social or individual differences. Without an accepted definition of the term “street children,” it would not be possible to determine their number accurately (Ennew, 2003, p. 4). United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) defines street children as, “…any girl or boy… for whom the street (in the widest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become his or her habitual abode and or source of livelihood; and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults” Glasser (as cited in Benitez, 2011, p. 7). There are universally accepted aspects of this problem even though they are applied to specific areas differently. The first aspect is age. According to Cameroon law, 17 is the maximum age limit, since everybody above 17 is considered independent. The minimum should be zero years, since some children born at age zero are dumped on the street. Secondly, does the term “street children” refer to those on the street or only to those of the street? Some children work on the street, most often during the day, and at dusk they go home. These are called children on the street. These children attend school and have family connections. The others are children of the street. These children work and live on the street. Most often these children do not attend school and have little or no family connection. It is also noted that shabbily dressed children who return home at dusk are found on the streets. They wear dirty rags and roam the streets begging or performing other degrading activities, such as dancing, in exchange for tips. They look very despairing or desperate, which makes it very easy for researchers to single them out (Koller & Hutz, 2001). Lastly, there is the extent to which a street child has a relationship with a responsible person either within or out of the family. Some street children are also known to be the offspring of street youths or adults still of the street.

1.2.1 Children and Youths of the Street These are the children and youths who spend all their time on the street. They work on the streets and spend their nights there by sleeping on verandas, abandoned cars and houses UNICEF (as cited in Benitez, 2011, p. 7).

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1.2.2 Children and Youths on the Street These are the children who work on the street during the day, but retire home every day to spend the night with their parents or guardians. Some of them even attend school UNICEF (as cited in Benitez, 2011, p. 7).

1.2.3 The Global Situation of Street Children and Youth The phenomenon of street children is not a problem overwhelming only the developing societies, as many presume. Some developed societies are fast becoming overwhelmed by homeless children too. While in the developing world the major reason is poverty, in the developed world it is sometimes due to inadequate attachment between children and parents, as the parent engages in excess working hours to be able to catch up with the evils of chronic capitalism. Sadly, some children in developed societies can also be seen roaming the streets with their parents together due to poverty. According to Anthony Lake (as cited in UNICEF, 2012), “when many of us think of the world’s poorest children, the image that comes readily to mind is that of a child going hungry in a remote rural community in sub-Saharan Africa-as so many are today”. However on the other hand, the state of the world’s children 2012 shows with clarity and urgency, “millions of children in cities and towns all over the world are also at risk of being left behind”. The developed world is not an exception in that, for example, people who are excluded from socioeconomic activities due to reasons such as poor criminal records may not be able to take care of their children. Illegal immigrants without documents are excluded from working. Billions of people in urban areas in the world experience poverty and exclusion (UNICEF, 2012). Though not all, generally the lifestyle of most street children involves a series of traumatic events. For this reason, the psychological condition of the children needs to be well examined and treated in order to enhance a smooth integration into mainstream socioeconomic activities.

1.3 Variables and Theories Used in Aiding the Psychological Healing of Street Children and Youths Five variables have been used to investigate the conditions of street children and youth. These are automatic thought and trauma, hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The theories explored to help explain this phenomenon are resilience theory, attachment theory, theory of human motivation, and the bio-ecological theory of human development.

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1.3.1 Variables 1.3.1.1

Automatic Thought and Trauma

Depressed patients experience streams of negative thoughts that seem to arise spontaneously and they are called, “automatic thoughts” (Beck, 2016). These fall into three categories. They have negative ideas about themselves, the world and or the future. In simple terms, automatic thoughts are the thoughts we have about events. These thoughts often happen almost instantaneously. They may be positive or negative. For example, my boss has invited me for dinner (event). Probably because I worked hard and our company won the contract (positive automatic thought). This generates a feeling of happiness, joy, and confidence. My husband has not called (event). Probably because he is not happy with me (negative automatic thought). This generates a feeling of sadness, fear, and anxiety. The ones we are concerned with in this topic are the negative automatic thoughts that are very common with traumatized street children and youths. When people whisper to each other (event). “They are saying that we are bad children” (negative automatic thoughts are common). The children develop a feeling of sadness, anger, and fear or depression. Traumatic events which often characterized the lives of street children often result to automatic thoughts and depression. The intensity of trauma, automatic thought, and depression often vary from one street child to another, and hence, the healing process must not be the same. It should also be noted that, although street children and youth generally suffer from trauma and depression, not every one of them suffers from it. According to the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS, 2015),” the word trauma is used to describe negative events that are emotionally painful and that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope.” Traumatic events that happened during childhood are termed child abuse. This is when children are threatened by those to whom they are entrusted for their care or those who have authority over them in a variety of ways. This can be in physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and physical and emotional neglect. Bowlby’s (1969) theory of attachment seeks to explain how children can be raised to maturity without encountering childhood trauma and negative automatic thoughts. He propounded that all children should have primary attachments. He believed that by nature children are born to have a primary bond with their mothers and, if by chance, the mother is not available to perform this duty she should be replaced by another loving and assuring caregiver. He went on to emphasize that “primary caregiver” means there may be more than one, but a principal one must be spelled out. The assumption in attachment theory is that the bond between the primary caregiver and the child provides a forum for the child to learn certain values that will be a foundation to his or her life (Bowlby, 1969). Attachment patterns are created in infancy but can change over the life course of humankind. This has been elaborated in the text.

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Children’s Hope

According to Snyder’s hope theory, hope provides humankind with a sense of destination and the strength to start a project. Without hope, the activities of the world would come to a halt. Hope has an impact on health, work, and education. According to hope theory, there are three main things which make up hopeful thinking. These are goals, pathways, and agency. “Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desire goals and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways” (Snyder, Rand, & Sigmon 2002). The health impact of having a sense of hope and meaning in life has been explored in the body of the text. Goals. According to Snyder (as cited in Snyder et al., 2002), It is assumed that the actions of humankind are goal oriented. In effect, goals are the targets of mental action sequences and they provide the cognitive component which anchors hope theory. It is believed that goals may be short- or long-term, but they need to be of sufficient value to occupy conscious thought. Likewise, goals must be attainable; they also typically contain some degree of uncertainty. That is why hope is known to flourish under probabilities of intermediate goals attainment (Averill, Catlin, & Chon, as cited in Snyder et al., 2002). Pathways thinking. People often generate workable routes to reach their goals. These are called pathways. Pathway thinking involves thoughts to generate at least one route to attain a goal. Complex projects need more than one route for, if there are obstacles, the agent often switches onto the best alternative routes (Snyder et al., 2002). Agency thinking. The component of motivation in hope theory is agency. Perceived capacity means, Having the capabilities to perceive thoughts and mind through a perceptive process. It is intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of psychological, or aesthetic qualities. A form of discernment. High-hope people often think in this way: “I can do this” and “I am not going to be stopped” (Snyder et al., 2002). Agency thinking is important in all goal-directed thoughts, but when people encounter obstacles, agency helps to switch the requisite motivation to the best alternative pathway (Snyder et al., 2002). 1.3.1.3

Self-efficacy

“Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives” (Bandura, 1994). The theory of behavioral change helps to explain the motivations behind self-efficacy. This theory was first postulated by Bandura. According to Bandura and Nancy (1977), it is postulated that “psychological procedures, whatever their format, serve as ways of creating and strengthening expectations of personal effectiveness.” This goes to justify that, perceived self-efficacy affects people’s choice of activities and behavioral settings, how much effort they put in and how long they would persist in the face of adverse conditions. In his theory, emphasis is put only on the ability of a person engaged in a task to accomplish the task. This is by means of prejudgment about previous experience and check-

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ing those who have successively accomplished similar tasks before engaging. Other social scientists believe that it is the perceived outcome of accomplishing a task that determines if the task is worth accomplishing (Borkovec, 1978; Corcoran, 1995; Eastman & Marziller, 1984; Kazdin, 1978). Indeed, several experiments have been carried out to prove that expected outcomes do influence self-efficacy. For example, some children will attend school only when they are sure that they will pass their final exams and gain employment after graduation. They will not attend only because they know that they can score good grades. On the other hand, children seeking admission into the university would find admission into departments where they have a good background knowledge or education. This will enhance their efficacy to complete the program. Coming back to perceived outcomes, some students would take the challenge of pursuing more difficult programs because there is a good job market in the field concerned. Taking street children as our example, we tried to apply both aspects. We considered perceived self-efficacy and expected outcome after performing the tasks. Perceived self-efficacy gives them the opportunity to perform tasks within their reach, hence high self-efficacy. Then self-efficacy would be further amplified if NGOs and the government open opportunities for children after their study programs. 1.3.1.4

Self-esteem

Self-esteem includes cognitive and behavioral elements. “It is cognitive as one consciously thinks about one’s self, as one considers the discrepancy between one’s ideal self, the person one wishes to be, and the perceived self or the realistic appraisal of how one sees oneself. The effective element refers to the feelings or emotions that one has when considering that discrepancy” (Reasoner, 2010). This feeling is manifested in the various ways, assertiveness, and resilience, being decisive and respectful of others. Self-esteem can be global or specific. Global self-esteem is the individual’s positive or negative attitude toward the self as a totality. Specific self-esteem entails judging somebody’s self-esteem at a specific situation or circumstance. For example, a player, after winning a trophy his self-esteem is at its apex. On the contrary when he loses a match his self-esteem falls. There are many theories of self-esteem but that of Adler best suit this book because, according to Reasoner (2010), Adler’s theory has the ability to exploit low self-esteem positively to enhance performance. Since street children are generally of low selfesteem, this theory will better serve their purpose. This theory has three concepts: the concept of inferiority complex, that of compensation, and that of belongingness which he contended was a curative process when people began to feel part of the wider community. Inferiority Complex. Adler looks at the inferiority complex as a double-sided coin. While an inferiority complex can be a good state to motivate hard work, it could also become a great burden that depresses individuals and create neurotic difficulties that result in low self-esteem. In this sense, a person’s selfesteem would depend on his and her ability to utilize their inferiority complex

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diligently. If the inferiority complex generates a sense of reasoning to identify and make up the discrepancies in life, then it would be used positively. His idea runs contrary to that of most researchers who argue that relatively low self-esteem people are less ambitious and so would not aim at high goals as do high self-esteem people (Cooper, 1967). Compensation. When people strive to overcome an inferiority complex by genuinely working hard to compensate for their discrepancies in life, this results in the achievement of the individual’s goals and an increase in self-esteem. If a person’s increase in worth due to hard work is commensurate with the self-esteem attained, then his global self-esteem would be sustainable. For example, a street child who could not read nor write well, attends evening schools, gains his high school diploma, moves forward to the university, and earns a degree in engineering, after which he gains employment in a multi-million dollar petroleum company. Because of this compensation, self-esteem is acquired. On the other hand, self-esteem falsely acquired without a commensurate increase in worth or value cannot last long. Self-esteem acquired by means of falsehood, such as claiming to be what one is not, does not last. The idea of belongingness. Adler also argues that self-esteem has a connection with the feelings of belonging to the wider community. The starting point of this feeling will be aspects such as the family to which an individual belongs or, sadly, the reverse. Even nationality and race sometimes boost the self-esteem of some people. Self-esteem is a construct that heavily relies upon the pillars of self-assertiveness, purposefulness, and living consciously (Branden, 1994, p. 66). These are traits which, when understood in the context of street children, very clearly compliment the child actor theoretical perspective. The differences between a child with high self-esteem and one with low self-esteem are dramatic. The child with high self-esteem seeks challenge and stimulation of worthwhile and demanding goals while the child with low self-esteem will seek the safety of the familiar and undemanding (Branden, 1994, p. 6). This is because self-esteem is the immune system of consciousness that perseveres through difficult circumstances until success is achieved. The list of potential benefits of self-esteem is extensive: “rationality, realism, intuitiveness, creativity, independence, flexibility, ability to manage change, willingness to admit (and correct) mistakes, benevolence, and cooperativeness” are all hallmarks of self-esteem (Branden, 1994, p. 5). Conversely, low self-esteem is associated with irrationality, poor judgment, inflexibility, anxiety, and conformity to convenience, rebelliousness, defiant behavior, and compliance (Branden, 1994, p. 6). The importance of selfesteem for vulnerable populations such as street children cannot be stressed enough. Self-esteem is what equips people to walk through trouble with the hope that life will get better emotionally, intellectually, creatively, and spiritually (Branden, 1994, p. 6). Self-esteem, though, is relevant to more than just the individual’s smooth functioning, it is now imperative for economic growth. In the modern world, individuals must rely upon their wits rather than their brute strength to achieve their goals. This requires a new kind of self-reliance in which self-management, personal responsibility, and self-direction are necessary to get the job done (Branden, 1994, p. 23). Street children whose self-esteem is high are more equipped to face the diverse challenges maturity presents for them.

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Self-esteem is essential to the development of the child into an adult. It is what guides them from complete dependence to personal autonomy. Personal autonomy is a prerequisite for participation in the workforce and mainstream society. 1.3.1.5

Resilience

Resilience seeks to explain the strengths that people and systems demonstrate to be able to counteract adversity (Adrian & Van, 2011). In the context of exposure to significant adversity, resilience is both the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their well-being and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways (Ungar, 2014). There exist many definitions of resilience but this is the one which best suit the objective of this book. “The Youth Resilience Program is most efficient when it is part of a broader Youth program that also addresses other areas of life and functioning such as vocational and technical skill building, health and socioeconomic development” (Sita et al., 2015). It is also important for youth to be actively engaged in learning life skills for this would enable them to navigate their way to psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources to be provided in a culturally meaningful way (Sita et al., 2015). Meaningful participation also helps children and youths to develop personal and social skills: self-esteem, self-efficacy, and communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and decision-making according to Okane as cited in Sita et al. (2015).

1.3.2 Theories 1.3.2.1

Resilience Theory by (Michael Ungar)

The emergence of resilience theory has pushed people’s attention from unfavorable child’s environmental childhood conditions (in the theory of bio-ecological model of human development) to increase emphasis on the child’s ability to resist adverse environmental conditions (Rak & Patterson, 1996). Resilience does not necessarily mean people should be put to counteract very tough conditions that can lead to stress (Schwartz, 1997). This theory originated from the study of a child who surmounted an adverse childhood ecological environment. For resilience to be effective, the following factors must be met with: personal and internal strengths that is developed by the child (e.g., self-esteem, a capacity for self-monitoring, spirituality and altruism); external supports and resources (e.g., family, school, and community); social interpersonal skills acquired (e.g., Conflict resolution and communication skills). Resilience needs an interaction of the above skills to be effective, for internal strength alone is not enough, since children are often constantly interacting with their environments (Wernham, 2007).

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Fig. 1.1 A diagrammatic illustration of the various components of resilience. Source Wernham (2007)

Child’s support system. “A child’s social support system refers to all the significant people that a child meets at certain times of his and her life and who play an important role in the child’s development” (Wernham, 2007). These people include mother, father, siblings, aunt, uncle, stepfather, stepmother, doctor, teacher, and pastor (Fig. 1.1).

1.3.2.2

Theory of Human Motivation by Maslow (1943)

Maslow described the needs that motivate people. He identified five motivational needs as seen in Fig. 1.2. Needs such as food, water, and fresh air are basic, and no one can survive without meeting them. For this reason, they are said to motivate people when they lack access to them. In addition, when the need to satisfy such needs becomes greater, the more people develop the urge or anxiety to have them. For example, the longer a person goes without food, the hungrier he or she becomes. This explains why most children from poverty-stricken families escape into the street to beg, do small jobs such as shoe shining, car washing, water fetching, dishwashing, or even pickpocketing just to satisfy these basic needs. However, it should be noted that it is very complex for street children and youths to fulfill these basic needs since they have been excluded from mainstream socioeconomic activities. This is responsible for the evolution of some of these children into the dangerous gangs of bandits, which are now common in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon. According to this theory, as soon as one need is fulfilled, a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. It is often emphasized that people should satisfy lower-level basic needs before progressing to meet the higher-level growth needs. When all the lower-level needs are met, people strive to reach the highest-level growth called self-actualization (Silvia, 2006).

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Fig. 1.2 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Diagram author J. Finkelstein). Source Silvia (2006) (GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27 s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg)

1.3.2.3

The Bio-Ecological Theory of Human Development by Bronfenbrenner & Morris, (2006)

The bio-ecological model is an extension or modification of the ecological model. In this Bronfenbrenner included process, person, context, and time (PPCT). The bio-ecological framework of human development “describes the complex interplay between the individual (center) with all of his or her unique biological, socioemotional and the varied social contexts within which the individual develops” (Zhou & Brown, 2015). The ecological theory of human development is a complex system wherein the individual is at the center of social contexts comprised of five systems. These systems range from closed interpersonal interactions to broad-based influences of culture. Each of the systems involves roles to play and norms and rules to respect which can mold a personality (Zhou & Brown, 2015). According to this model, children, or humankind in general, are faced with five different environments that may influence their behavior in different magnitudes. These systems are the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. As seen in Fig. 1.3, the system takes the form of concentric circles.

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Fig. 1.3 A concentric diagrammatic view of the bio-ecological model of human development. Source Zhou and Brown (2015) with Attribution 4.0 international (CC by 4.0) https://creativecom mons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The microsystem. This first setting is the immediate environment of a child’s life. His or her father, mother, siblings, classmates, pastor, teacher, neighbors, friends, etc. These are the people he spends most of his time and has direct contact with. These various components are called social agents. Within this system, no individual is a mere gainer of experience. There exist a situation of interaction and exchange of experiences. The mesosystem. This system deals with the outcomes of the kind of relationships within the microsystems. For example, a child who experiences physical and emotional neglect by the parents may not be able to interact well at school with both teacher and peers. Also, a child who experiences family violence and abuse at home will experience a drop in performance at school. A child who is sexually abused at home may develop trauma which negatively affects his or her interaction within peers, social, and community groups.

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The exosystem. This is a setting which influences a child’s socialization indirectly. For example, if the parent of a child gains promotion in his job, the child will indirectly benefit as he will be able the sponsor him and her without experiencing financial constraint. On the contrary, if the father is fired from work, the child will indirectly suffer due to loss of family income. Another good example is legislation that reduces the number of working hours. The parent will have more time to spend with the child at home and the child will indirectly benefit from more physical and emotional attachment. On the contrary, if the legislation requires working hours to be increased, then the reverse would be true. The macrosystem. This involves the societal beliefs and values. If a child grows up in a culture with a form of government with norms, such specific settings influence the child in different ways. Also, parent’s religious beliefs, socioeconomic status, and position in the society all determine the personality of their children. For example, a male child who grows up in a society that has little regard for women will find interaction in a society with gender equality difficult. The chronosystem. This involves a transitional movement and adaptation into a new pattern of lifestyle. Families, who go through divorce often, experience a negative change in the psychological condition of the children. This will take some time for them to adapt to the new pattern, especially if the father is given custody of the children and he gets married to a new wife to manage the children. This ecological model of human development thus concludes that man is a product of his milieu. If a child is placed within the best combination of social ecological conditions, the chances of the child having a good personality are very high. In addition, areas with different combinations of these ecological elements, rear personalities matching their specific environments. Species Homo sapiens appears to be unique in its capacity to adapt to, tolerate, and especially to create the ecologies in which it lives and grows. Seen in different contexts, human nature, which I had once thought of as a singular noun, turns out to be plural and pluralistic, for different environments produce discernible differences, not only a cross but within societies, in talent, temperament, human relations, and particularly in the ways in which each culture and subculture brings up the next generation. The process and product of making human beings human clearly varies by place and time. Viewed in historical as well as cross cultural perspective, this diversity suggests the possibility of ecologies as yet untried that hold a potential for human natures yet unseen, perhaps possessed of a wiser blend of power and compassion than has thus far been manifested as cited by Bronfenbrenner (1979, p. xiii).

To transform the ecological model into bio-ecological model as earlier mentioned, process, person, context, and time (PPCT) must be included. Process. “Human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate external” (Tudge, Mokrova, Hafield, & Karnik, 2009, p. 200). This implies that, for effective human development to take place there must be conducive human interaction and this interaction should be within favorable environmental conditions. For this interaction to be effective and valuable, it must take place on a regular basis. Such interaction is known as proximal processes.

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The form, power, content, and direction of the proximal processes effecting development vary systematically as a joint function of the characteristics of the developing person; of the environment both immediate and more remote in which the processes are taking place; the nature of the developmental outcomes under consideration; and the social continuities and changes occurring over time through the life course and the historical period during which the person has. Bronfenbrenner and Morris (as cited in Tudge et al., 2009, p. 200)

Person. Bronfenbrenner recognizes the importance of the biological and genetic aspects of human beings (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). For this reason, he pays attention to the personal characteristics a person brings to any social arrangement (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). He identified these characteristics as demand, resource, and force. Demand characteristics are personal stimulus; they serve as an immediate stimulus to another person. These include age, gender, skin color, and physical appearance. Such characteristics usually influence initial interaction because of the expectations from such characters (Tudge et al., 2009). Resource characteristics are not immediately visible, because they are inner abilities or talents that need time to be exposed (Tudge et al., 2009). They are induced, with different degree of accuracy by use of the demand characteristics which are visible. These characteristics are related to mental and emotional resources. Such aspects come from experiences. People with better skills and intelligence raised in good social environments will exhibit good resource characteristics. These are people who had access to good food, housing, caring parents, educational opportunities, etc. (Tudge et al., 2009). Finally, force characteristics must deal with the differences in temperament, motivation, persistence, etc. Besides using experiences and skills, some people use force characteristics to change their context (Tudge et al., 2009). Context. Context involves four interacting systems: (1) The environment where the child spends most of his or her time is called the microsystem. This is made up of, home, school, peer group, and church. Since it has been discovered that people spend time in diverse microsystems, Bronfenbrenner studied the interactions among them. This interrelationship as a whole forms the mesosystem. Any external system that affects the context of development of the human being is the exosystem. For example, if the father’s working periods are reduced without reduction in salary, the child will benefit from more time to spend with the father at home. On the contrary if the father’s salary is reduced, the child’s education and other facilities may be negatively affected. In this case, the jobsite is the exosystem (Tudge et al., 2009). The last is the macrosystem. It influences all of them. For example, a community may have a set of cultural values to respect. If these values affect one or more of the microsystems of the developing person, then it is termed the macrosystem (Tudge et al., 2009). Time. According to Tudge et al. (2009), time was divided into microtime, mesotime, and macrotime. Microtime pertains to what takes place during activities or interactions. Mesotime refers to the extent to which activities and interactions occur with some consistency in the developing child’s environment. Macrotime implies that developmental processes are likely to vary according to historical periods. For example, the rate of development of those born within the information technology era

16

1 Background and Theory

is generally faster than those born before this historical period (Tudge et al., 2009). This theory is the basis of child care and development theories, but an important aspect which has not been highlighted in it is resilience. Children may not develop perfectly only in an optimal bio-ecological environment. Children who develop in environments with adversities may learn the abilities to counteract them and grow stronger. In the present study, this deficiency has been explained using resilience theory (Ungar, 2012). These variables include what is known in this book as, the four variables of hard working citizens which are hope, resilience, self-esteem, and self-efficacy.1

1.4 Categorization of Street Children (in Cameroon) for Easy Rehabilitation and Reintegration It is important to categorize street children and youths before reintegration. This helps the experts to better handle them. This categorization is done following the degree of risk the child poses to the public, the age of the child and, the sex of the child. In terms of character traits, the children need to be studied for some time before categorization and separation.

1.4.1 Those Engaged in Dangerous Operations Such as Armed Robbery This category needs to be investigated and sent to a juvenile delinquent center for reformation. As mentioned in the preceding section, this category is made up of members of trained gangs of bandits. Some of them have been children soldiers from neighboring countries which have been in war for a long time, and they are expert gun operators and do not fear blood. They often recruit and train the newcomers. They are often trained by elder bandits in town. They can be very dangerous because, most often, they take drugs, move with arms, and rape and kill at will. Most in this category are boys but they often have girls who play the role of informants, and some are fully involved and even more deadly than the boys. Most of the girls are very pretty, and they take advantage of that to seduce their victims and to be able to gather information that can enable their gang to operate smoothly. They also sometimes play the role of paid assassins either on behalf of their bosses or on their own.

1 These

are known as variables of hardworking citizens because they enhance their performances. For this reason, vulnerable youths who lack a balanced combination of these variables can be aided via enhancement programs to gain them.

1.4 Categorization of Street Children (in Cameroon) for Easy …

17

1.4.2 The Pickpockets These are the younger thieves who cannot operate fully or the newcomers still undergoing training. They pickpocket on the market streets. Sometimes they trick customers walking out or into the market to buy garbage well parceled in cartoons meant for high quality products like prestigious shoes. This category, if discovered early enough, can be rescued before becoming full bandit gang members. This category should be taken to the juvenile reformatory camps but separated from the members of the bandit gangs.

1.4.3 Those Simply Doing Odd Jobs These are those with pure intentions but, due to circumstances beyond their control, they must fend for themselves. They often play the role of shoe shiners, offload and unload, sell water and hawk for their bosses, who may be big traders in the market. This category is very easy to reintegrate, especially if they are ready to cooperate. This is the group good for rehabilitation training centers for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Within this group, many are drop outs from schools and some are trying to make some money to get back to school. However, they still need to be identified early enough and taken off from the streets. The reason being that, the longer they stay on the street, the greater the chances of finally integrating into the bandit gangs. The bandit gangs are always out to recruit and convert street children into bandits. Sometimes children join the gangs more because of security and protection during times of attack by other rather than because they like stealing. However, at the end of the day, they are compelled to learn how to steal, take drugs, and rape. These are indeed victims of circumstances.

1.4.4 Those Who Attend School and Work on the Streets Most in this category are children on the street. They live at home with their parents but come to work on the streets during the day to supplement family income. In this circumstance, they are children of at risk families. These families should be identified by NGOs or the government and encouraged to become involved in income generating activities so that they can get the children off the streets.

1.4.5 Age Categorization Since street children start from zero to 17 or 18 years, they should be arranged according to age for better management. Baby street children should be kept at a separate section. The bigger children should be separated and the youths also.

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1 Background and Theory

1.4.6 Segregation by Gender This will help to avoid sexual harassment and rape among the youths.

References Adrian, D., & Brenda, Van. (2011). Resilience assessments in social work: The case of the South African Department of Defence. Social Work Maatskaplike Werk, 47(1), 1–14. Aptekar, L. (1988). Street children of Cali. Durham: Duke University Press. Bandura, A., & Nancy, E. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215. Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71–81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friendman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental Health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998). Beck, A. T. (2016). History of cognitive behavior therapy: Beck Institute for cognitive behavior therapy. Retrieved from https://www.beckinstitute.org/about-beck/our-history/history-of-cognit ive-therapy/. Benitez, T. (2011). State of the world’s street children: Research. Great Britain: Consortium for Children. Branden, N. (1994). The six pillars of self-esteem. New York: Bantam Books. Borkovec, T. D. (1978). Self-efficacy: Cause of reflection of behavioral change? Advances in Behavior Research/Therapy. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Experiments by design. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from https://khoerulanwarbk.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/urie_bronfenbrenner_the_ecology_o f_human_developbokos-z1.pdf. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. Theoretical models of human development. Published online on June 1, 2007. https://doi.org/10. 1002/9780470147658chpsy0114. Cooper, S. (1967). The antecedents of self-esteem. San Francisco: Freeman. Corcoran, K. J. (1995). Understanding cognition choice and behavior. Journal of Behavior, Therapy and Experiment Psychiatry. (The UN Convention on the Right of the Child), 26(3), 201–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(95)00020-Z Eastman, C., & Marzillier, J. S. (1984). Theoretical and methodological difficulties in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8(3), 213-229. Ennew, J. (2003). Difficult Circumstances: Some reflections on ‘street children’ in Africa, Children, Youth and Environments, 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.crin.org/docs/Difficult%20Circums tances%20-%20Reflections%20on%20Street%20Children%20in%20.pdf International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies [ISTSS]. (2015). What is childhood Trauma? Retrieved from http://www.istss.org/public-resources/remembering-childhood-trauma/what-is-c hildhood-trauma.aspx. Kazdin, A. E. (1978). Conceptual and assessment issue raised by self-efficacy theory. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy. Koller, S. H. & Hutz, C. S. (2001). Street children psychological perspectives. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Science 15157–15160. Retrieved from http://www.msmidi a.com/ceprua/artigos/clau_sil.pdf. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. Rak, C. F., & Petterson, L. E. (1996). Promoting resilience in at risk children. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74(4), 368–373. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1996.tb01881.x.

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Reasoner, R. (2010).National association for self-esteem. Retrieved from www.self-esteem-nase.o rgandwhat.php. Schwartz, R. (1997, March and April). Do not look back. Network, 40–47. Silvia, H. C. (December 15th, 2006). Happiness, which is good for both mind and the body, is at least in part biological, rooted in the evolution of the brain and nervous system. The Dana Foundation. Retrieved from, http://dana.org/Cerebrum/2006/Hardwired_for_Happiness/. Sita, M. B., Hildrew, S., Salma, K., Rasmussen, S. M., Tengnas, T., Kai, Y. F., …, Ager. (2015). The youth resilience program psychosocial support in and out of School. Facilitator’s handbook: Theory and Programmatic guide. Published by Save the Children on behalf of the Child Protection Initiative. Snyder, C. R., Rand, K. L., & Sigmon, D. R. (2002). Hope theory: A member of the positive psychology family. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 231–243). New York: Oxford University Press. Tudge, J. R. H., Mokrova, I., Hatfield, B. E., & Karnik, R. B. (2009). Uses and Misuses of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 1, 198–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-2589.2009.00026.x. Ungar, M. (Ed.). (2012). The social ecology of resilience: A handbook theory and practice. New York, NY: Springer. Ungar, M. (2014). The social ecology of resilience: Families, schools, communities and services providers. Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ohrdp.ca/ wp-content/uploads/pdf/2014Fostering-Handouts.pdf. UNICEF. (2012). Children in an urban world. The State of the World’s Children 2012. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/pdfs/SOWC%202012-Main%20Report_EN_13Mar201 2.pdf. Wernham, M. (2007). Working with Children in street situations. Training manual 1: Core knowledge, approaches and training techniques: CREATE: Child rights evaluation, advice and training exchange for Kyrgyzstan. Published by Every Child Kyrgyzstan. Zhou, M., & Brown, D. (2015). Educational learning theories. Education open text books. Book 1. Retrieved from http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/education-textbooks/1/ with Attribution 4.0 international (CC by 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Chapter 2

The Problem of Economic Underdevelopment and Resilience

Abstract This chapter seeks to highlight the inextricable link that exists between the phenomenon of street children and youth and the economic underdevelopment of the region. It also X-rays the sociocultural and political context in which the children interact in relation to their resilience. Poverty which they all share is the most important factor responsible for the phenomenon of street children and youths. Poverty is therefore an adversity which is being counteracted by resilient children on daily bases for it is a kind of modest disruptions embedded in their daily lives. Wide income inequality, which characterizes the region, is highly responsible for the prevalence of street children and youths. The phenomenon has been examined within the context of the sub-Saharan Africa region, because the countries of the region share many similar circumstances that have shaped their destinies. This chapter is also meant to explain the reasons for high-income inequality and why sub-Saharan African nations have remained underdeveloped despite their abundant natural resources and thus have a lack of opportunities for their youths who now roam the streets. There seems to be no positive correlation between natural resources and economic development when I looked at the situation of Africa. Weak institutions have overshadowed the effects of abundant natural resources. It is only after examining the reasons for poverty and weak institutions that pertinent policies can be applied to stamp them out and thus prevent the prevalence of street children and youths. Tackling poverty and bad governance are a holistic approach aimed at preventing the phenomenon. If we concentrate only on curative policies, the phenomenon will remain a vicious cycle. This chapter also includes the concept of communities with threats of self-destruction. These communities evolve from an interaction of internal and external negative forces. Internal negative forces result from weak institutions while external negative forces include foreign powers’ intervention and some negative international policies. Within the chapter, there is a comparison between the development situation of South Korea and that of the region. The chapter ends with the story (in her own words) of a street child who moved to Italy via the Sahara Desert in search of greener pastures. Keywords Economic underdevelopment · Internal negative forces External negative forces · Communities with threats of self-destruction Weak institution · Resilience · Francafrique © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3_2

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2 The Problem of Economic Underdevelopment and Resilience

2.1 Economic Underdevelopment and the Resilience of Street Children and Youths of sub-Saharan Africa The setbacks involved in the research on resilience stems from the fact that, there have been wide discrepancies in its definition by different authorities. According to Mastern and Coatsworth (cited in Suniya, 2003, p. 4), “resilience refers to patterns of positive adaptations in the context of significant risk or adversity. Resilience is an inference about a person’s life that requires two fundamental judgments: (1) That a person is “doing okay” and (2) That there is now or has been significant risk or adversity to overcome”. According to Fletcher and Mustafa (2013), “for instance, the construct of resilience has variously been defined as a trait, process, or outcome. This book has helped to synthesize the various definitions to be able to break down this complex phenomenon. However, though there are a variety of definitions, this book examines resilience using this definition as its bases, “resilience is simultaneously a quality of the individual and the individual’s environment” (Ungar, 2005). In this case, it is not rational to say, “he or she” is resilient. Instead it is rational to say, “there is resilience in this child and his or her community, family, and culture” (Ungar, 2005). In the context of exposure to significant adversity, resilience is both the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their well-being and their capacity individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided and experienced in culturally meaningful ways. (Ungar, 2014)

Interpreting this definition, the quality of individual should refer to the individual’s personality trait which is still debatable if therapeutic intervention can change it? Some people think that these traits are in born and cannot be changed by therapies. Some believe that during interventions only state-like changes take place but traits remain constant. For this reasons, they believe that resilience intervention is of no value. According to Roberts et al. (2017), during a research to find out if therapeutic intervention can change personality traits, they found out that changes imparted in their therapy lasted for well over a year and there were no indications of fading over time. Others draw our attention to the fact that, resilience can be limited to the outcome during a particular episode of adversity as opposed to personality trait. This therefore implies that it does not run down a person’s lifespan but depends on the response during a particular episode of adversity. According to Suniya (2003, p. 4), “when a person is called resilient, whether in casual conversation or systematic research, a diagnosis in effect has been made, involving explicit or implicit criteria and a judgment call about a person matching characteristic features of resilience.” Technically, it is wrong to call a person resilient without diagnostic evidence and the fact that a person displays resilient during a particular episode of adversity does not define his or her life to be resilient at all times. The second part of the definition which talks of the individual environment implies that, resilience is a process which evolves over time. According to Fletcher and Mustafa (2013), resilience is not conceived as childhood given, but as a capacity

2.1 Economic Underdevelopment and the Resilience of Street …

23

which develops overtime as a person interacts within the context of his environment. This therefore implies that, environments help to shape the resilience of humankind or humankind is a product of his milieu. Psychologists have developed a kind of milieu therapy by changing the aspects of the environment to suit the therapy of psychologically maladjusted persons. According to Kvarnstorm (2017), milieu therapy is a situation where the environment is being manipulated so that all the aspects experienced by those undergoing therapy are considered therapeutic. This therefore implies that via milieu therapy children or adolescents can as well be educated in a manner that enables them to benefit resilience which helps them to fit into social settings effectively. In every definition of resilience, there is adversity and positive adaptation but they have been no standardized magnitude of adversity universally accepted. For this reason, resilience will depend on how the environment where a person lives is perceived. According to Ungar and colleagues (cited in Fletcher & Mustafa, 2013, p. 14), “these outcomes lack sensitivity to cultural factors that contextualize how resilience is defined by different populations and manifested in different practices.” Rather than assuming neutrality or objectivity in the use of competence indicators across settings (i.e., an etic perspective), they propose that understanding positive adaptation from within the cultural frame from which competence emerges (i.e., an emic perspective) is a more ecologically sensitive approach.” It is for these reasons that, Western therapists find it difficult to work within sub-Saharan Africa well since they do not understand the sub-Saharan Africa setting well. This perspective is supported by Mahoney and Bergman (cited in Fletcher & Mustafa, 2013, p. 14) who stated that the specific sociocultural conditions in which an individual functions must be considered when examining competence, and that “failing to do so may lead to a view of positive adaptation as a static phenomenon with relevance to only a minority of persons in select circumstances.” Indeed, since the historical, sociocultural and sociopolitical context within which a resilience research is conducted is very important, chapters two and three have been designed to cover it so that scholars can have knowledge of how this setting evolved and how it can be fixed to minimize adversities. An X-ray of the historical, sociopolitical, and sociocultural conditions of sub-Saharan Africa reveals that, street children and youth have been excluded from socioeconomic activities of their various communities. This chapter therefore seeks to explain how this situation has evolved in sub-Saharan Africa since independence and to suggest policies to address the situation, especially that of weak institutions. By improving on the social and physical environment so that the children and youth can have access to material resources, we are helping to enhance the building up of a resilience environment. The main reason for poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is inadequate opportunities, since urbanization has not been accompanied by adequate industrial development, modernization, and mechanization of agriculture. According to Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS] (2018), “sub-Saharan Africa is often regarded as the world’s fastest urbanizing region.” Within the subregion 472 million people presently live in urban centers and it is estimated that this will double over the next 25 years (CSIS, 2018). For these reasons, limited opportunities have resulted in the exclusion

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2 The Problem of Economic Underdevelopment and Resilience

of underprivileged people from mainstream socioeconomic activities. People become underprivileged due to internal forces such as government policies, traditions, and customs which favor some people and disfavor others. According to CSIS (2018), a high percentage of working age population of developing nations engages in illicit and informal work and many experience high levels income inequality and deprivation from formal employment. There are also international forces, which include neocolonialism and international policies. In a nutshell, weak institutions are responsible for the breakdown of the systems of sub-Saharan African nations and the proliferation of street children and youths. Weak institutions, which persist today, are due to colonial rule in the past, though a few countries such as Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Mauritius, and Botswana are gradually emerging from the shadow of their colonial past. According to Daron, Simon, and Jame (2001), during the colonial era, the colonial masters adopted weak institutions in sub-Saharan Africa mainly to extract and export raw materials. This was because they could not settle in this region, due to often fatal diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. It has been discovered that, weak institutions are a fundamental cause of low per capita income within sub-Saharan Africa. According to Daron et al. (2001), “although there is still little consensus on the answer to this question, differences in institutions and property rights have received considerable attention in recent years.” Weak institutions were the outcome of a group of elites who were given enormous powers to be able to channel the natural resources of sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for their benefits (Daron et al., 2001). According to Daron et al. (2001), one good example is the extractive state of Congo colonized by Belgium. Francophone Africa is a good example which persists today. To compare the situation in sub-Saharan Africa, the former British colonies are generally doing better than the former French colonies mainly because Britain no longer has the control over their former colonies that France does. Furthermore, according to Daron et al. (2001) the institution adopted by Britain in their colonies gave powers to the judiciary or the law over the executive or President. In this case, the judiciary can question the actions of the President. In contrast, France gave absolute powers to the executive above the judiciary. Generally, these institutions have no protection for private property and do not care about checks and balances of their various governments. Their target is just to extract raw materials, with no incentives promoting individual development. This is indeed one of the fundamental reasons for the poverty within sub-Saharan Africa, which is the main cause of children roaming the streets. As mentioned earlier, the magnitude of weak institutions is not same in all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa since the institutions set up by the various colonial masters vary. Furthermore, some countries such as Angola, which had total freedom from Portugal with the help of East Germany, are doing better. Also, the case of South Africa, the most developed country in sub-Saharan Africa is different because it attracted European settlers, since it has a temperate climate void of diseases. To be very frank, the institution set up in South Africa is strong even though apartheid excluded the blacks until recent when it was finally abolished in 1991. Apartheid has also been responsible for the lack of incentives and poverty within the black communities of South Africa. This is responsible for the high illiteracy rate and the large numbers of street children and

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youths within the black communities of the country. At the moment, the institutions and the rule of law of South Africa are very strong, with enormous powers given to the judiciary and legislative over the executive. There is also strong protection of property rights, creating incentives. This accounts for the exceptional development of South Africa when compared to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

2.2 The Concept of Communities with Threats of Self-destruction Communities with threats of self-destruction evolve from negative internal and external forces.

2.2.1 Internal Negative Forces Weak institutions often result in communities with threats of self-destruction or communities that lead to self-destruction. Most often the communities of sub-Saharan Africa countries with poor policies are characterized by poverty, wide incomes inequalities, dysfunctional families, the trafficking of children and women, the kidnapping of children, children labor, urbanization crises, HIV and AIDS, coups and civil wars, and immigration crises. Experience reveals that, these communities often transform from simple rural peasant livelihood into sophisticated urban settings, without vibrant middle classes and corporate sectors sufficient enough to sustain their urban populations, even though middle class is the pillar of sustainable development. It must be reiterated that, there must be a vibrant tertiary and secondary sector to provide jobs to the urban dwellers for the primary sector alone cannot carry the burden of urbanization. There is a threshold at which the primary sector cannot bear the pressure, especially if it is not mechanized, hence self-destruction sets in. Causes of self-destruction are rivalry over shortage of food and water, inadequate jobs supply, and the urge for mass consumption accruing from a modern form of lifestyle. With regard the shortage of food, since it is most often the youthful working population who are involved in rural exodus, the old who remain in the villages cannot cultivate enough to feed the fast-growing urban population, especially when agriculture remains at subsistence or a rudimentary level. The outcome is hunger within the urban communities. Furthermore, with no vibrant corporate societies to operate secondary and tertiary industries to employ the youthful population drifting into cities, they cannot make a good living and so most end up roaming the streets. The situation of sub-Saharan African nations is further aggravated by the fact that most of the youths still need adequate education to enable them to serve as a vibrant middle class. Cost of living and modern facilities also rises dramatically. Due to

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an interaction of the above factors, most of the urban dwellers end up in slums, or ghettos. The hardship in the ghettos pushes some of the children born there to move onto the streets, as earlier mentioned. Unemployment results to rivalry over limited government office opportunities which pave way for bribery, nepotism, and tribal discrimination to be able to gain employment. Poverty within the populations results to prostitution and a rise in street children and youth. This consequently results to a rise in the spread of HIV and AIDs, for most hungry young street girls will not mind breaking safe sex rules, if prostitution is the only option left for them to survive. Poverty often pushes children and youth onto the streets and once the children are exposed to the dangerous habits of the streets such as armed robbery, raping, and terrorist groups like Boko Haram, they become hardened and very dangerous. Based on the fact that the salaries of civil servants are generally small in subSaharan Africa, most of the elites who have a strong desire to amass wealth, embark on corruption and embezzlement. This has been partially responsible to a total collapse of the system as billions of dollars are illicitly transferred via anonymous offshore shell companies into foreign countries’ accounts. The few elites who are in positions where they can carry on these illicit activities become super rich while a bulk of the population goes through abject poverty in the ghettos with their offspring on the streets hence incomes inequality becomes very high. I term this an act of a community destroying itself or becoming a germ of selfdestruction, because the elites perpetuating these acts are parts of the same communities. Communities are systems made up of different components geared toward achieving same goals. If any of the components of the system is dysfunctional, then that system will collapse and everybody will perish. In this light, humankind must be careful to play his or her own roles within the systems diligently so that it should continue functioning well. The systems of Africa are often in a delicate equilibrium because some components are dysfunctional. The systems are not often designed to benefit the citizens of the various countries but a handful of elites. For example, this is the consequent of the situation in the Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Somali, Niger, and Cameroon with civil unrests. These civil unrests often affect children and youth. For example, in Anglophone Cameroon, children are now going into a second academic year without schools and schools are being burnt down. In Central African Republic, children are manipulated and given guns to kill instead of pens and books to study. In Nigeria school girls are being abducted, schools burnt down, and children being recruited to serve Boko Haram instead of attending school. Still, in Nigeria, the Biafrans are threatening to secede and the parents of children are killed leaving them behind to suffer. Most of these derailed children and youths end up on the streets. A good example with dubious elites is Nigeria. Their Former Minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison Madueke was involved in, multibillion dollar fraud and money laundering (Ibekwe, 2017). In my opinion, all those involved in corruption and embezzlement should be charged for crimes against humanity. Imagine the number of persons who suffer because their actions deprived them from state constructed schools, hospitals, and roads.

2.2 The Concept of Communities with Threats of Self-destruction 5.53%

S.S.A

4.45%

D.E

3.87%

A.D.C

3.75%

Asia

3.73%

MENA

27 3.3%

W.H

Fig. 2.1 Illicit financial outflows to GDP by region: 2003–2012. (Average annual illicit outflows from developing countries within region, in percent of GDP) S.S.A  sub-Saharan Africa, D.E  Developing Europe, A.D.C  All Developing countries, W.H  Western Hemisphere, MENA  Middle East and N. Africa. Source Global financial integrity

In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, capital flight has also been a chronic activity of the greedy elite group as seen in the statistics below. Looking on the graph below, sub-Saharan Africa suffers from the highest illicit outflow of money by percentage of GDP of all the countries, even though it is the poorest region. This has drastic consequences for the economic development of this region. The main sources of illicit money transferred from sub-Saharan Africa are money from drug or human traffic, customs duties, and income tax evasion. Corrupt civil servants transfer embezzled money into accounts abroad using anonymous shell companies. The rate of this illicit flow from Africa is alarming and according to the (UN, 2016) is estimated to be US$ 50 billion per annum. This is approximately twice the official development assistance (ODA) donated to Africa per annum. This is a huge hindrance to development in sub-Saharan Africa (Fig. 2.1).

2.2.2 International Negative Forces The negative influences of foreign powers and international policies cannot also be underestimated while tracing the roots of poverty and the phenomenon of street children and youths in sub-Saharan Africa. This is because these forces also contribute to the number of people excluded from the mainstream socioeconomic activities, the pace of industrial and economic development, rate of human capital development, and poverty rate.

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2.2.2.1

2 The Problem of Economic Underdevelopment and Resilience

The Negative Influence of Foreign Powers

After decolonization, sub-Saharan African nations were disrupted by Western former colonial powers during the Cold war. Even up to the present day as will be seen, Francophone Africa is hampered via an ongoing form of neocolonialism. Also, African nations are still facing a situation of land grab by different Southern, Middle Eastern, and Western nations. They also face social and employment problems with some of the Chinese companies operating there, though investigation revealed that they are now struggling to address the mistakes they made during their early transaction periods. Investigations also revealed an irrational supply of weapons to African dictators by China. This region’s economy suffered during the period of the Cold war while southeast Asian and some South American countries were already setting up conditions favorable for industrialization. This is one of the major reasons why sub-Saharan African states lagged behind in terms of industrial development compared to most Asian and Latin American counties. As cited in VOA (2009), even though, after the Second World War, the USA called for a total abolition of colonization, during the Cold war period, for fear of communism, there was still the presence of colonial powers in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, the communist world struggled to liberate Southern African countries from colonization by supporting the dictators who ruled the nations as opposed to democracy. According to VOA (2009), East Germany built a strong military force which is used to liberate Southern African countries such as Angola and Mozambique from colonial rule. This period was characterized by coups and the retention of oppressive regimes, especially within most West African countries, in order to control their natural resources. According to the deputy chairman of the South African Institute for International Affairs, Moeletsi, as cited in VOA (2009), when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cold war between the Western and the Eastern world ended. In reality, when this happened, the colonial powers were forced to leave the region. For this reason, there has been relative peace there and development has started taking off. However, the political instability that reigned within the region during the Cold war period scared investors away. It also retarded investment in human capital when some other regions such as South Korea were busy building on that. Though presently globalization has weakened the influence of neocolonization, it still contributes immensely (within Francophone Africa) to the retardation of industrial development, resulting in limited jobs opportunities within sub-Saharan Africa. This largely accounts for poverty and the increasing numbers of street children and youths. After the Cold war and the introduction of globalization, the Western world began giving more financial aid, via NGOs, to countries in Africa. However, this has only been a temporary measure to alleviate poverty, since most of the aid never went into sustainable use.

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During the Cold war era, the creation of Francophone Africa, or Francafrique, was one of the greatest manipulative techniques and exploitation mechanism implanted in a continent in the history of humankind. According to Jean-Paul as cited in Deltombe (2016), “it is a neocolonial mystification.” The sovereignty of the African states was taken away and their leaders remain under the supervision of France, serving the agenda of the French government as opposed to that of their various nations (Deltombe, 2016; Gary, 2016). The birth of this Francophone Africa took place in Cameroon due to the resistant from UPC political party, which was crushed in 1995 by the Cameroon army with the aid of weapons and training from France. As it was difficult for France to control Cameroon like the other African states, due to resistance from UPC, it granted them independence in 1960 with many strings attached (Deltombe, 2016). This has been the main reason of the lagging of Francophone African countries in terms of democracy and development as compared to Anglophone African counterparts such as Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, and Kenya. Ahidjo and the other elites who were selected to rule the independent Cameroon, “had to sign several bilateral accords with Paris, some of them secret, that would legalize French control over the new states commercial, monetary, cultural, and diplomatic policies” (Deltombe, 2016, “Independence as colonization,” para 2). The independence was further extended to all their African colonies and the same agreements signed. All the countries now form what is known as Francafrique. According to Gary (2016, “why should US taxpayers,” para 1), “one of the great impediments for the growth and economic security of many Francophone African countries is that they are restricted in their commerce by long-standing ties to their former colonial master, France.” The terms of colonial pact with France have restricted the freedom of trade among the Francophone African nations and with international partners other than France. In my opinion, this action of France is a great hindrance to Francophone African countries’ development. It is mandatory that all government contracts be awarded only to French companies, except in situations where French companies decline (Gary, 2016; Siji, 2013; World Bulletin, 2016). It does not matter if the country could obtain a better deal elsewhere especially from the USA or China. For example, according to Siji (2013), the government of Gbagbo was forced to obtain a second quote in favor of France after the Chinese had offered to build a bridge at half the price originally quoted by a French company. The grip France has over these countries still today undermines development and democracy in favor of dictatorship and a new rich ruthless group of elites. The consequence of this is lack of jobs and proliferation of street children and youths. These French manipulations can be justified when matched with the speech of the former French President Francois Hollande during his official visit to Cameroon in July 2015. According to Meredith (2017), he referred to the “painful memory” of France’s and Cameroon’s relationship bringing to light that “There have been tragic episodes,” and declared his wish that all the archives be “opened for the historians” (Meredith, 2017, para 7). Also, as cited in (Camerounweb, 2015) by Francois Hollande, “it is true that there had been tragic circumstances that happened in the

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past. There was a crackdown in the Sanaga-Maritime in Bamileke and I want the records to be made public” (Francois Hollande breaks, para 3). Also, according to All Africa Network (2016), during the French President visit to Cameroon he broke the taboo by, “evoking these painful moments of the Franco-Cameroon relations” wherein he declared, “the history books can be opened; and also the archives” as he has done everywhere. Another glaring justification was the protest which took place in Cameroon before the visit of the President of France. As cited in Moki (2015) according to Professor Yimgaing Moyo Theophile, President of Citizens Movement political party, the reason for the protest ahead of the visit was, a result of the agreement between France and Cameroon, which has given powers to France to be able to maintain a grip on the country’s economy. Just like any other Francophone African country, bilateral agreements between these two parties allows French companies to exploit a vast amount of Cameroon’s minerals and forest resources despite the better trade condition offered by new competitors such as China. After the Cold war, France was expected to grant their former Africa colonies full independence just as Britain did to its own, but it decided to maintain the status quo (neocolonialism). If the justification to the UN, the USA and Britain for a neocolonial system were the fear of communist Moscow, now that the Cold war is over Moscow no longer poses a threat why not fully liberate the colonies? While some of the countries, such as Senegal, have struggled and succeeded to gain some democracy, others have persisted with dictatorial rule to the present day, yet the excuse is that African democracy is still in its infancy. According to ex-president Jacques Chirac, “Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third [world] power” as cited in World Bulletin (2016), Gary (2016), Ricky (2016). By January 2014, France compelled 14 African former colonies, “through a colonial pact to put 85% of their foreign reserve into France’s central bank under French Minister of Finance control” and allows them access to only 15% per year. If they need more, as has often been the case, they must borrow at a limit of 65% at a commercial rate from the French treasury (World Bulletin, 2016, Gary, 2016). France’s persistent influence on Africa has been negative and exploitative. In contrast, Japan, as a former colonial power, helped to lift South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China into the ranks of the industrialized countries. USA lifted many countries, which include Vietnam, China, and Mexico, by relocating their factories to these counties. Though China presently exploits minerals from Africa, it makes some efforts to develop their infrastructure, education, and factories. In contrast to France, Britain is more willing to do business as partners with their former colonies such as Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, and Kenya and to allow them to pursue genuine democracy. This accounts for the advanced democracies in Ghana, Botswana, and Kenya and the positive transformation of their economies. Further justification of claims on the adverse impact of France’s present neocolonization or Francafrique can be seen in the speech of Emmanuel Macron the present President of France. During his visit to Algeria amidst election campaign, as cited in France 24 (2017), Lara (2017), AFP (2017), RT (2017), AFP and THE LOCAL fr. (2017), and RFI (2017), Macron stated that colonization was not fair for, “it is a

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crime against humanity,” and “it is truly barbarous and it is part of a past that we need to confront by apologizing to those against whom we committed those acts,” However, despite all these well-established odds of colonization, neocolonization is still flourishing or persisting in Francophone Africa. Based on Macron’s fair judgments, the African continent is looking to him to relieve them of neocolonization so that they can smoothly foster their economic development to be able to help occupy their youths instead of allowing them to roam the streets. Even though colonization led to development of roads and hospitals, as stated by Florian in France 24 (2017), this does not mean that it was fair to the citizens, and so neocolonization should persist. However as further cited in Lara (2017) and AFP (2017), Macron stated that there were “elements of civilization” as well as “barbaric elements” of colonization. In my humble opinion, though the past is the key to the present, and the way we handle the present situation determines the future, let’s understand the past and the present before sweeping the past under the rug. We the present generation of Africa are going to work with the lovers of Africa who include President Emmanuel Macron who has shown genuine interest in the youths of Africa to get us out of neocolonization for it is a crime against humanity. We would also appeal to our donors all over the world especially in the USA and Europe with families who sometimes sacrifice their breakfasts just to save money for hunger stricken children in Africa to find out the truth about neocolonization and join us to ensure that it is stopped. If this is stopped and all our dictators humbled, then Africa will be a very peaceful place for business and hence will never be on the headlines about misery and wars. We welcome all lovers of Africa in the world to join us for a better Africa where in transparent business as emphasized in the speech of the former secretary general of the UN would be an order of the day. We do not want to be illegally migrating to Europe via the Sahara Desert to be killed, raped, and sold as slaves by the Libyans in the course.

Table 2.1 GDP per Capita in current US$ for some sub-Saharan Africa Countries Countries

GDP per Capita in US$ (1960) GDP per capita in US$ (2017)

Francophone African countries Cote d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Cameroon Senegal

157.2 68.4 115.4 249.5

1662.4 670.7 1446.7 1033.1

Non-Francophone African Countries Ghana Nigeria

183.0 95.8

1641.5 1968.6

Botswana Kenya

58.0 97.6

7595.6 1507.8

Angola

–

4170.3

Source (World Bank 2018) adapted from, all countries and economies

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Table 2.2 GDP per capita in current US$ for some newly industrialized economies Countries

GDP per capita in US$ (1960) GDP per capita in US$ (2017)

China Thailand South Korea Mexico

89.5 100.8 155.6 342.0

8827.0 6593.8 29742.8 8902.8

Source (World Bank 2018) adapted from, all countries and economies

Though Cote d’Ivoire’s GDP is generally higher than most non francophone African countries below, most Francophone African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Senegal) GDPs by 2017 are generally lower than those of nonfrancophone below (Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, and Angola). See Table 2.1. The non-francophone nations have the ability to improve on their democracies hence good governance and a better atmosphere to do business. Good examples are Botswana and Ghana. Tables 2.1 and 2.2 above reveal a comparison between the GDPs of sub-Saharan Africa countries and newly industrialized economies of the years 1960 and 2017. Looking at both tables, China had one of the lowest (only higher than Burkina Faso and Botswana) and Mexico had the highest in the year 1960. However, by then the GDPs of sub-Saharan Countries and newly industrialized economies were low and approximately the same. It is due to destabilization of the sub-Saharan Africa region during the Cold war and the implanting and maintenance of weak institutions that, by 2017 while the newly industrialized countries realized a radical increase in their GDPs due to industrialization, the sub-Saharan Africa nations lagged behind. In addition, the grip France still has on Francophone Africa is a huge deterrent to advancement in democracy, good governance and economic development. Looking at the influence of China on sub-Saharan Africa, though the present Chinese infrastructure development, mineral exploitation, and factory construction within the region looks more sustainable, it has still not translated into the well-being of the common humankind, for China pays little or no attention to the standard of living of the local population. Most Chinese companies bring in their own workers, and if they do recruit a few members of the indigenous populations, the salary is very low. Their companies do not have comprehensive corporate social responsibility policies in favor of people of the areas where they work. A good example is the case of Cameroon. According to Moki (2016) the Matomb Chinese road project company workers went on strike due to poor salaries, irrational categorization of workers, unpaid allowances, and general violation of Cameroon labor laws. Chinese fishing boats were also caught carrying out illegal fishing off the coast of Cameroon. Their bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa countries has often been merely in exchange for natural resources. They do not worry about the social condition of the common people and the irrational actions of authoritarian regimes. This implies that their presence has not yet solved the problem of employment of youths sufficient to reduce the numbers of street children and youths.

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There is also controversy about the Chinese attitude of nonintervention into the internal issues of sub-Saharan Africa countries. This may give advantage to African dictators to negotiate the deals mostly in their favors whereas the essence of economic growth is to improve on the standard of living of the citizens of their countries. Some democratic countries, such as Ghana, have made deals with China that are transparent to their citizens when they rose up to question the appropriateness, whereas many others would not. It is being alleged that, since the deals are most often construction of infrastructure in exchange of long-term exploitation of minerals, the value of the constructed infrastructure may be very low compared to the long-term mineral exploitation and these loans can become a burden to be bequeathed to the next generation of Africans. However, most African governments claim this is a win–win situation. In my humble opinion, even though we do see the rapid transformation of the physical landscape of sub-Saharan Africa by China, attention should be paid to the durability of the infrastructure in relation to the mineral resources given in compensation. Genuine home-based engineers or patriotic citizens of the countries who are engineers abroad need to be invited to access the quality of the infrastructure and its durability for it is not worth giving China a 100% trust. A participatory approach with indigenous technicians who must carry out repairs and maintenance, in the long run, is mandatory; otherwise, the structures would get dilapidated in the future. Notwithstanding the above criticism, China is indeed transforming subSaharan Africa and giving it a great future. It has been realized that the prices of labor have started rising in China and so they see Africa as the new world for outsourcing or relocation of factories, since the population of Africa is still very youthful. Relocation of factories, especially from the USA, Japan, and some European countries and the USA, to China in favor of cheap labor was one of the advantages of Chinese industrial development. It would be advantageous to Africa if same relocation takes place. Personally, I am not in support of the nonintervention policy of China because I think that the main essence of economic growth is to ensure that the proceeds of growths are translated into the living conditions of the citizens. The truth is that both autocratic and democratic governments can yield economic growth, but while democratic government leads to freedom and fair distribution of income and wealth which leads to development, autocratic governments rarely transform their growth to development. Also, it can be recognized that, though China claims to be pursuing a policy of nonintervention in Africa, it has intervened to help protect some autocratic leaders. That is why it is the most favorable partner of African dictators. Good examples to justify this claim include its supply of weapons to Zimbabwe three days after their 2008 presidential election and the use of their veto at the UN Security Council to block the Zimbabwe issue from being raised on pretext that it is an internal issue (Beresford, 2008). This is a glaring example of China’s protection of African dictators in exchange for natural resources and, if not checked, it will transform the political landscape of Africa into dictators and the democracy which has been achieved with aid of the USA for decades would be ruined. For this reason, the citizens of the various African countries need to understand the nature of the contracts signed by their various governments and China for this has a bearing on the future of their countries. China must not support the dictators of Africa while Africa

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wants to get rid of them so that smooth development can take place. Another scary action of China is the supply of weapons to Darfur within Sudan, when it has an arms embargo (Caldwell, 2015). As opposed to the USA, China has no human rights concerns and so sends its military trainers to its counterparts in Africa (including Sudan, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe) to train soldiers to be used against innocent citizens (Pan, 2006). One of the negative aspects of China’s increasing engagement with African states is the spread of small arms and/or light weapons especially in conflict zones and where opposition is violently suppressed. These weapons have undoubtedly contributed to the enhancement of closer ties between China and authoritarian regimes and served as an instrument for consolidating its presence in the continent. (Early, 2017)

Some of these regions include South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC), and Central African Republic (CAR). The lack of human rights sentiments is where China’s influence in Africa clashes with that of the USA. This means that, by breeding and protecting dictators and authoritarian regimes, it is possible in the future to either directly or indirectly rule their various countries through puppet dictators. This would then become an empire, for if a dictator is kept or protected in power by another more powerful dictator, he would automatically become vulnerable to the protector and start paying allegiance. He would find it difficult to serve the agenda of his citizens but rather serve that of the master. This will amount to the same neocolonialism perpetuated by France within Francophone Africa via the colonial pact, which Africa is still struggling to end or dismantle. Based on the above analysis, in my opinion, China and the USA can collaborate to do what each can do best for the interest of sub-Saharan Africa. While both of them are good at providing certain goods and services like financial services, business services, professional services, education, and health, I understand that at the moment China is better in the construction of infrastructure and factories and the USA is best in the transfer of good institutions, humanitarian aid and the improvement of the entertainment industry of sub-Saharan Africa. Africa needs all of these to be able to develop, and we do appreciate all their efforts. Africa needs good collaboration which can lift them out of underdevelopment in a peaceful fashion. Africa needs all the actors to be involved; the USA, Asians, and Europeans in fostering the development but they should be very transparent. According to Kofi (2017), after the Cold war most African countries embarked on democratically elected governments but it has been realized of late that, “many countries seem to be backsliding on democracy gains.” Instead of maintaining the two terms limits of standing for elections like the USA, they have arbitrary changed their constitutions to stand for elections for life. They also rig elections with impunity especially when they understand that their puppeteer will furnish them with weapons to kill their innocent agitating citizens. According to Kofi (2017) countries need to, “strengthen the three pillars of healthy democratic societies which are peace and security, inclusive development, and rule of law and respect for human rights". Africa needs true democracies like that of Ghana and Mauritius with a rule of law and strict respect of human rights. A good leader must listen to his or her people and dialogue with them instead of killing peaceful unarmed protesters. For this reason, African nations need to engage

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in partnership with the USA to enable them to grow into mature democracies. African nations need to scrap their secret treaties pertaining to mineral contracts, for example, the colonial pact between France and Francophone African countries. In this way, they need to be more responsible to their citizens and all the actors engaged in mineral contracts by making all their contracts concerning minerals transparent. According to EITI (2016), Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Liberia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania have made meaningful progress in “the global standard for the good governance of oil, gas, and mineral resources.” Citizens need to engage via Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to understand how their minerals are being managed by their governments if their governments are members of this institution. EITI is aimed at helping to ensure that citizens get the full benefits of the mineral resources of their various nations. It enables a healthy platform for dialogue between the civil societies, companies, and governments on how mineral resources are managed, taxed, and spent (Transparency International, 2013). This helps the citizens to know how much their various governments earn from mineral exploitation and how the money is spent for the interest of every citizen. This is a democratic approach which maybe met with stiff resistance from some dictators who seek arms aid in exchange of the minerals. So when China supplies these weapons to dictators, it is frustrating for the citizens from asking for a fair share of their own national cake. Imagine an African continent, where leaders use mineral wealth wisely to fund better health, education, energy, and infrastructure too. Africa, our continent has oil, gas, platinum, diamonds, cobalt, copper, and more. If we use these resources wisely, they will improve the lives of millions of Africans. If we do not, they can fuel corruption, conflict, and social instability. Transparency and accountability are key. The US and Europe are demanding new transparency from companies who work in Africa. We must also take responsibility. Our governments may have become more open. Big businesses may have improved their ways of working. But we — Africans –must do so much more. This issue is too big for the politicians and big business to manage without the involvement of civil society. I’m Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the Africa Progress Panel. Work with me to demand more transparency from Africa’s national leaders and foreign investors. What are they doing? How much is it worth? And how will the money be spent? Because this is our continent, our minerals, our children’s and grandchildren’s future. (Fagan, 2013, “Kofi Annan imagine an African,” para 1 and 2)

Apart from the mineral resources named by the former secretary general of UN, Africa owns a majority of one of the daily used inevitable resources which will become a source of rivalry or scarce resource in the future. Beside Lake Chad, rivers Nile, Niger, Congo etc., only “Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi holds a quarter of the planet’s freshwater supply” (New World Encyclopedia, 2017). If African leaders become more responsible, then their citizens would no longer be killed and sold as slaves in the Arab world. I humbly suggest that, the USA needs to be more engaged in Africa especially within the domain of relocation of factories for experience reveals that they still have the misconception that Africa is an embodiment of diseases like malaria, trypanosomiasis, Ebola, and HIV/AIDS. That is an exaggeration by some media. For those who are determined, go there and experience for yourself. Africa is a clean natural environment with organic food, a quiet environment, hospitable

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people, and a culture of sharing. Trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, which is caused by tsetse fly is not rampant. It is limited to specific belts with extremes of humidity and temperature. In this way, you can choose to live out of its limits. Though malaria is widespread, it can be controlled. One can also have his and her home in a well-aerated environment at a mid-slope. In addition, one can use mosquito nets during the peak of mosquitoes since they increase only during the warm and humid seasons. For Ebola, it affected only a few countries in Africa and it is no longer rampant in the countries concerned. However, notwithstanding the above analysis, transfers of technology to Africa by China are similar to the way Japan transferred technology to China in exchange of minerals. After the efforts to transfer the technology by Japan, the USA and Europe still relocated factories into China to be able to benefit from cheap labor. It is easy for USA and UK firms to operate in Africa because of a common language and the fact that Africans love democracy. The USA also has a cultural advantage in Africa for Afro-beats is like hip-hop and musicians such as Akon, Rich Ross, Sean Paul, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Wycliffe Jean have been working together and doing music remixes with some African musicians such as P Square, Demarco, Fuse Odg, Runtown, and Wizkid. Indeed, the US musicians are working hard to improve on the entertainment or music industry of sub-Saharan Africa. I am also very impressed with the Akon (an American Senegalese) initiative of Lighting Africa, which is aimed at providing solar electricity to one million rural dwellers in Africa. According to them, apart from light, which is the energy which helps business to function, they also assist in business ventures by African youths. His thinking runs contrary to that of most of the African elites working with African governments for, while most of them are looting and saving in banks abroad, he is making money from abroad and investing in Africa. A new scary issue is the ongoing land grab in Africa. Most African countries lack comprehensive land reforms, which makes them prone to very weak negotiations with investors (most often with their government without inviting the indigenous people to the negotiating table). As cited in Roy (2009), current study by the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) reveals that 2.5 million hectares of African farmland only from Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Madagascar has been bought or leased by foreign investors since 2014. Furthermore, according to Oakland Institute as cited in Palash (2011), a foreign investment group succeeded in acquiring 100,000 ha of fertile land in Mali for 50 years free of charge. The rate at which African land is being bought is alarming. According to Oakland Institute as cited in Palash (2011), in 2009 nearly 60 million ha of African land was leased or bought. This land is often acquired at a meager cost with no proper contracts and intentions to create jobs for the local population. So, when the villagers are thrown out of their arable land, most migrate to the cities where there exist limited opportunities, slums, and homelessness. For this reason, their kids end up on the streets.

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The Effects of International Policies

The end of the Cold war marked the beginning of democracy, which was preceded by globalization. Now it is common to see new players like China and the USA investing and extracting raw materials from the region. Globalization was accompanied by IMF and World Bank loans to sub-Saharan Africa nations. The loans were to be disbursed on conditions that the various countries fulfilled the Washington Consensus of one size fit all. The Washington Consensus was created with unintended damaging consequences and has ended up yielding poor results within the region. Even though this region has witnessed some economic development and regulation of inflation, this has not yet translated into the well-being of the common man, since the poverty level has not yet significantly changed. Unemployment remains very high, since the industrial sector has not significantly grown. The Washington Consensus focused on overall economic growth without paying attention to redistribution of income on the grounds that, even if the income goes up only for a few elites, it will finally trickle down to the poor, but this hypothesis has proven wrong. They implemented trade liberalization so that finished goods, raw materials, and physical capital can move freely for all the parts of the globe to benefit the entire world, but this has not been in favor of sub-Saharan Africa. This benefited some southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan because they had the opportunity to build their human capital, and created some physical capital when Africa was dealing with the political instability and wars perpetuated by their former colonial masters and the communist world during the Cold war era. Furthermore, at the time of the political instability in sub-Saharan Africa, the USA was very determined to introduce democracy and capitalism in Asia. Factories, especially from Japan, were transferred into the Tigers of Asia while USA did the same in Mexico, Vietnam and, more recently, to China to the exception of sub-Saharan Africa nations because by then they had little or no human capital, physical capital, or peaceful atmosphere for business due to the Cold war effect there. With the transfer of factories to the three Tigers of southeast Asia and some South American countries, they were capable of withstanding the fierce competition with Western industrial complexes while the infant industries in sub-Saharan Africa were stunted by the fierce competition. As if that was not enough, as the Asian and Latin American nations were moving forward, the education base of sub-Saharan Africa was being thwarted by the Washington Consensus, which opened education and health to the free market competition in a region full of abject poverty. Now many children of sub-Saharan Africa nations are roaming the streets instead of studying in classrooms. This is one of the most important reasons for the high number of street children in sub-Saharan Africa region. The policies of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) instead led to deindustrialization of the region and a fall in the prices of cash crops and minerals, impoverishing the peasant farmers. In addition, struggle to adapt to the informal employment sector became abortive, since it is already saturated. Devaluation often worsens distribution of income if elite groups in the past were involved in capital flight (Pastor, 1987). In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, capital flight has been a chronic activity of the greedy elite group as seen in the statistics on Fig. 2.1.

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The World Bank argues that, the reason for perpetual poverty in the region is the rapidly growing population, which counteracts a translation into an improved standard of living. This may contribute, but in my humble opinion it is not the main reason for poverty. On the contrary, the young labor force, because of high birth rate, is a source of labor if transformed into a vibrant middle class by means of profitable education and the creation of factories that can employ them. If we look at the situation in this light, then Africa should have a better future than countries with an aging population such as Japan and South Korea, who are running a risk of shortage of labor force in the future (more elderly people to cater for or feed and fewer young people to take care of them). On the contrary, most of these sub-Saharan Africa children and youth are roaming the streets involved in crimes like prostitution, armed robbery, assassinations, drug trafficking. Some have even taken the risk of traveling through the Sahara Desert to Europe for greener pastures. I think that, even though the high birth rate needs to be regulated, youth education (as seen in Photos 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 in Chap. 3) and employment opportunities are the fundamental issues facing this region and need to be fixed before things get out of control. There is ample evidence to prove that international policymakers are already becoming aware of the shortcomings of the present system. For example, “The people who run the global economy wanted the world to know that they understood what had caused the Brexit vote”. They talked a lot about the need for inclusive growth and a capitalism that works for all. To those who have been left behind in the past three decades, they said “we get it, we feel your pain” (Larry, 2016, The World Bank and IMF, para 2). It is very important that they have admitted that the system needs to be fixed. Lagarde, of the International Monetary Fund has said that the growing gap between the rich and poor is retarding global economic development. Kim of the World Bank also genuinely want to see the national incomes of each country distributed to reach the 40% at the bottom who have often been neglected (Larry, 2016, The World Bank and IMF, para 3). According to Stein (1992) and Tarp (1993), the chances for SAP to succeed in sub-Saharan Africa are slim, because their policies do not match with the individual countries economic historical background and institutional context. The observation of Stein (1992) and Lall (1992) reveals that, SAP has wiped off the foundation for future industrial growth in the region (previously protected infant industries now exposed to compete with the industrialized giants of the world) and this has led to short-run stagnation and fall in industrial progress. According to World Bank (1992), the adjustment in sub-Saharan Africa is not advancing as fast as thought initially, because it is obvious that considerable time is needed to experience visible results accruing from policy reforms. It was also argued that, only via persistence would the countries attain reasonable growth (World Bank, 1994, 1997). In my humble opinion, it is a waste of time to be doing the same thing time and again while expecting different results. It is high time the system is fixed to suit the region’s economic development history and institutional context. However, two schools of thoughts have argued on the effect of trade liberalism on economic development. I was fortunate to represent my university during the G20 2010 HR forum in South Korea. A paper was presented by Ha-Joon Chang, Profes-

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sor of economic development Cambridge University. According to Ha-Joon (2010), the paper from the South Korean government stated that international trade is the key to economic development. He further emphasized that it is because countries need to trade so that they can earn hard currencies, to enable them to buy physical capital goods for technology importation, but that does not imply that trade liberalization is the best for economic development. South Koreans developed their seaports, railways, and infrastructure at the early stage to enhance smooth development during the 60s. “They used an interaction of protectionism, regulation of foreign direct investment with a lax intellectual property rights and occupational use of state-owned enterprises to nurture and develop high productivity” (Ha-Joon, 2010). The country had state-owned heavy industries like POSCO iron and steel, automobile, electronics, shipbuilding, which are now the main pillars of the Korean economy (Ha-Joon, 2010). According to Ha-Joon (2010), Japan went through the same process of protective trade, and the Western countries, starting from the eighteenth century Britain to nineteenth century USA, Sweden, and Germany, down to twentieth century France, Finland, Norway, and Austria, virtually all of today’s rich countries became rich by using similar policies to those of South Korea. Even China and India, which have grown through trade liberalization, have a large population that can serve the domestic market and other bargaining powers to dictate favorable market terms with the Western powers. For example, though China did not regulate foreign direct investment by demanding a formal change of IMF policy, it has the power to bargain with the investing companies. This is an advantage that the small countries in sub-Saharan Africa do not have. Korea also broadened its educational base by creating scientific research institutions and development institutes. Land reforms promoting equity were instituted and health care and social policies, including credit cooperatives, were created. According to Ha-Joon (2010) “whitewashing history” is not a good idea and these policies used by southeastern Asia and developed economies have respectable economic theories that justify them. On the other hand, according to the Managing Director of IMF Lagarde as cited in Landon (2016), “restricting trade and limiting economic openness will worsen global growth and inclusive globalization requires teamwork and collaboration.” According to Ha-Joon (2010), the policies of successful industrial countries are justified by respectable economic theories. In the argument of Lagarde, “restricting trade is a clear case of economic malpractice.” This is true; for that will slow down the forces of demand and supply distort smooth market functioning, which results in scarcity of goods and services. However, most of present industrialized countries did that in the past to nurture their infant industries and safeguard their futures, since it is more harmful to remain unindustrialized and thus dependent on finished goods from other parts of the world. They took into consideration the need for jobs accruing from future industrial growth. However, if sub-Saharan Africa nations must leapfrog this stage (protective trade policies) by means of structural policies then much must be done to moderate it. For example, in the past, goods from sub-Saharan Africa infant industries have been allowed to face fierce competition from complex Western industries. This has been a big blow to most of the infant industries, which have folded. This sounds like

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putting a hatchling (baby crocodile) to compete with a mature crocodile. The mature crocodile will normally cause the hatchling to become stunted and be limited to the size of a lizard. In my humble opinion, the Washington Consensus of one size fits all with its fierce market competition mechanism void of a moderator has led to deindustrialization of sub-Saharan Africa and general global upward drift of wealth into the hands of a few elites or corporate bodies. This has destabilized global purchasing power as the money which is supposed to be circulating has been blocked in the accounts of few individuals or corporate societies. To be more precise, once more I will emphasize the general economic development history of Africa, why it lagged in terms of industrialization despite its enormous natural resources, and its present institutional context. sub-Saharan Africa countries were once at same economic level with the southeast Asian nations like South Korea as seen in the 1960 columns of Tables 2.1 and 2.2. They were just unfortunate that when the Asian Tigers were creating a conducive condition for industrialization, subSaharan Africa was trapped in the political instability resulting from the Cold war. To justify this claim, according to the Deputy Chairman of the South Africa Institute for International Affairs, Moeletsi as cited in VOA (2009), “Africa had been at the receiving end of the Cold war with great powers using Africa as a playground to fight [their] proxy wars.” During this period, political instability reigned in Africa as the various countries struggled to have influence in the continent. Within Southern African countries the Soviet Union vied with Western nations. The period was characterized by political assassinations and military coups. The colonial powers supported many African dictators among the West African nations. Even though some of the countries have embraced democracy, some of the dictators are still in power and this has remained an obstacle to development and distribution of income. After the Cold war, the political instability is decreasing and paving the way for both internal and foreign direct investment. Africa has abundant raw materials, but what troubles Africa now is human and physical capital. Africa is fortunate to have a greater proportion of its population youthful. This should be a great future middle class for Africa if massive human investment is promoted but, on the contrary, now most of the population is roaming on the streets as street children and youths. This was further compounded by the SAP policies, which discouraged investment in human capital. Base on the above analysis, poverty within sub-Saharan Africa remains a big issue that warrants urgent global attention. Though Africa (mostly Anglophone African states) is known to have some of the fastest growing economies in the world, the growth has not, in general, translated into the well-being of the citizens of the various countries. Furthermore, the presence of Francafrique in sub-Saharan Africa is a great hindrance to the development of the nations entrapped in this unholy union. For this reason, there is an upsurge in the phenomenon of street children and youth. Some of these children do not only end up in Africa. They do move in waves, from the villages to the nearest small towns, from the towns to the bigger cities and from the cities by land through the Sahara Desert via the Mediterranean Sea by risky boats into Europe (see Photo 2.1). We remember that necessities such as food, shelter, and good health care are needs that everybody would strive at all cost to have and without which would perish. People void of these necessities would take any risk to be able to fulfill them.

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Photo 2.1 Desperate measures sub-Saharan Africans children take to flee from their nations for greener pastures abroad (SEPIENS, 2016)

This claim has been defended by reputable theories which include that of hierarchy of needs by Maslow (1943). Most of these struggling youths end up in the hands of traffickers of women and children, or in the worst-case scenario, pedophile ritualists. Children rituals have become a habit in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. A good example is the case of Kampala in Uganda. According to Chris (2011), “They have a belief that when you sacrifice a child you get wealth, and there are people who are willing to buy these children for a price. So they have become a commodity of exchange, child sacrifice has become a commercial business.” People believe that the new elites are paying witch doctors huge sums of money to produce for them children sacrifice connected charms believed to make them rich. Police report revealed that, in 2006 one case of child sacrifice was registered; in 2008 they investigated 25 alleged ritual murders and another 29 in 2009 (Chris, 2011). “My innocent son died a painful death,” said Mukisa, 28. “How could somebody intend to murder my son?” (Doreen, 2017). According to Doreen (2017) of recent, “Uganda police arrested 44 suspects in Katabi, a town 24 miles from the capital, Kampala” in connection with ritual killings of children and women. In Muslim countries like Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and Libya, most children who go there for work are tricked into sex slavery. Also, most who take the route via the Mediterranean end up drowning when boats capsize in the sea as seen in Photo 2.1. According to the Italian Navy and Associated Press as cited in SEPIENS (2016), “More than 700 migrants and refugees departing Libya are believed to have drowned in late May from three different shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea. As evident in

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this May 25, 2016, photograph taken by the Italian Navy during an attempted rescue, migrants fell overboard after their boat capsized south of Italy.” Young men from sub-Saharan Africa move to Europe simply to search for jobs. According to SAPIENS (2016), severe poverty in the Sahel desert results from overfishing by European fishing fleets, which has left few opportunities for young West Africans. According to International Organization for Migration (IMO) as cited in SAPIENS (2016), “214,691 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe by sea and another 7457 by land between January 1 and June 19, 2016.” During my survey in Douala, I met with “Sunshine Baby” who had been to Italy to secure a job as a nanny and hairdresser. She was very kind to share her experiences and views with me though on condition that her identity should be kept secret. With a round of drinks to her and her friends, we had a nice time talking about what she went through. She told me she was originally from the Benin state in Nigeria but came to Cameroon to visit a friend of hers. Getting into the real story Sunshine baby told me that, she indeed regretted the kind of life she is presently living. She said, she thinks she could do better if she was given an opportunity in life as opposed to the entanglement she found herself as a teenager and while in Italy. In her own words, My parents died of HIV and aids when I was 14 years old. Being from a polygamous family, my step mum and her children who were far more mature than me did not like me to live in their midst for they claimed that my mum was the one who contaminated the family with HIV and aids. Life became unbearable living in the midst of these people who hated me for I was the only child of my mum and the other 5 children were my step brothers and sisters. This miserable condition caused me to drop out of primary school and took up a job in Benin City as a pure water vendor. Actually I was doing this job for my maternal uncle who promised to start taking responsibility of my education during the forthcoming academic year. However during the beginning of that year, he failed to respect his promise and continued to send me on the street to sell pure mineral water. The worst part of the story is that since he was not a married man and I was living with him alone, he used to get into my tiny room at night and sexually abused me. By the age of 15, he impregnated me and used crude methods to abort the pregnancy. This remained a secret between both of us. This sexual abuse became a habit hence I was exhausted and forced to leave his home in favor of a trip to Italy via the Sahara Desert. This journey was arranged by an “area boy” (how Nigerians call gangsters) who had to ensure that I go through the long process of meeting my “madam” (a female women trafficker who keeps girls and offer them out as prostitutes) in Italy. However, the “area boy” told me that, the madam will get me a nanny job so I was not aware of the fierce prostitution life awaiting me in Italy. Indeed, I had no money and the rule was that, my “Madam” finances the entire trip on condition that I will work and pay back the money and some interest when I arrive there. According to the Benin style, this type of contract is not signed on a piece of white paper. It is a contract with “juju” or “Voodoo” (a type of religion involving magic and the worship of spirits) as an intermediary and in the event of any violation; serious spiritual punishment is meted out not only on the violator but also to the members of her family who participated in the rituals. Since my parents are already in blessed memory, I went to this ritual alone. I was taken by the “area boy” to a traditional doctor in a very scary shrine. There I went through a ritual which initiated me into the cult. They final step was swearing which was preceded by an ingestion of a mixture of raw chicken kidney and bitter Kola nut. So I swore that, (the consideration of my contract was that) when I arrive I would work very hard and pay her $40 thousand as compensation for bringing me over before I can become a free person to start working for myself. I cannot violet the contract nor reveal this to any officials like the

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immigration or police no matter the circumstances I find myself for if I betray voodoo will strike me.

This ritual and swearing is a very powerful psychological tool that keeps them extremely loyal to their madams irrespective of the circumstances in which they finally find themselves in Italy. They respect the oath taken by them for fear of being meted out punishment by “Voodoo.” The ritual is also believed to enhance attraction and love to the young ladies. Research reveals that life in Italy, especially without papers, can be hell, hence to make this type of money in such conditions is an uphill task. When people are still in Africa, they think that money is littered on the streets of Europe so when they get there they will gather theirs to settle such debts, but it is only when they arrive and meet the reality that they understand that they have entangled themselves. The second part of the story is the adventurous journey to Italy via the Sahara Desert through Niger, Libya, then into Italy. According to “Sunshine Baby,” I left from Nigeria to Agadez in Niger at the age of 15 with a plan to move to Italy for a nanny job. It was a very adventurous journey with a lot of young men and girls ready to cross the Mediterranean Sea via leaky boards. In Agadez we took the risk of crossing the Sahara Desert by Toyota stout into Libya. On the way to Libya there was shortage of drinking water which led to a lot of difficulties. In Libya, we waited for a couple of months for proper arrangement to be made for us to cross into Europe. While there, many of us were raped and initiated into prostitution. We had no choice than obey for most of those involved in the crime were the smugglers leading us through our journeys. We (a lot of young girls of age range 12–17) were taken somewhere where we spent three months to work money for our journey to Italy. However, the sad situation was that I got pregnant in the course of this. By the time we left for Italy, I was already very exhausted though still very optimistic to reach Europe. The unfortunate issue on the path of our journey across the Mediterranean Sea was that our board made up of 500 people started leaking. Many people died in the course even though we had rescue assistance from Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). However, I was one of the fortunate people who survived the deadly trip. When we arrived Italy, I was taken to my Madam where I met with many other young girls. Instead of my dream nanny job, I was asked to join the other girls into prostitution. I had no choice than to accept this since I had to pay my Madam $40,000 otherwise I would be punished by voodoo. Most of us were really in deep trouble. I was forced to continue prostitution even though I was pregnant. My case was even better for some of my colleagues who also got pregnant in Libya like me, contracted HIV in addition. It was horrible on their own path because their chance of making money via prostitution which is the only source was reduced. I was very determined and succeeded in aborting the pregnancy crudely. After the abortion, I had enough freedom to work and pay my Madam but the money was only trickling in that I could not cover the debt. After a year I was caught by the immigration and deported without any savings and completion of the debt. I was really devastated for my trip abroad went in vain. I went home with nothing and had to start life afresh. I became a center of mockery or a laughing stock within my community. Actually, I will advise every young person out there to be very careful about travelling abroad arrangement with traffickers. They sound very sweet about the situation abroad but the reality is very bitter.

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SAPIENS. (2016). The big business of Europe’s migration crisis. The Wenner-Gen Foundation for anthropological research. Retrieved from http://www.sapiens.org/culture/migration-crisis-illega lity-industry/. Siji, J. (2013). How France loots its former colonies. Opinion. Retrieved from https://thisisafrica. me/france-loots-former-colonies/. Stein, H. (1992). Deindustrialization, adjustment, the World Bank and the IMF in Africa. World Development, 20, 83–95. Suniya, S. L. (2003). Resilience and Vulnerability: Adaptation in the context of Childhood Adversities. 1–574 Tarp, F. (1993). Stabilization and structural adjustment: Macroeconomic frameworks for analyzing the crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. London and New York: Routledge. Transparency International. (2013). Ensuring mineral wealth is owned by the people—EITI in Mozambique. Retrieved from https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/ensuring_mineral_we alth_is_owned_by_the_people_eiti_in_mozambique. UN. (2016). Economic Commission for Africa. Retrieved from: http://www.uneca.org/pages/iff-ba ckground. Ungar, M. (2005). Handbook for working with children and youth. Pathways to resilience across cultures and contexts. Dalhousie University, Canada: Sage Publication. Retrieved from https://u s.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/handbook-for-working-with-children-and-youth/book226565. Ungar, M. (2014). The social ecology of resilience: Families, schools, communities and services providers. Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program. Retrieved from http://www.ohrdp.ca/ wp-content/uploads/pdf/2014Fostering-Handouts.pdf. VOA. (2009). Fall of Berlin Wall had impact on African continent. Retrieved from http://www.voa news.com/a/a-13-2009-11-05-voa40/414611.html. World Bank. (1992). A report on adjustment lending III: Mobilization of public and private resources for growth. Washington DC: World Bank. World Bank. (1994). Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, results, and the road ahead. New York: Oxford University Press. World Bank. (1997). Adjustment lending in Sub-Saharan Africa: An update. Washington DC: Operations Evaluation Department, World Bank. World Bank. (2018). All countries and economies. GDP per capita (current US$) World Bank national accounts data, and OECD national accounts data files. Retrieved from https://data.wo rldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD. World Bulletin. (2016). France’s colonial tax still enforced for Africa. “Bleeding Africa and Feeding France”. Global Research 2016. Centre for Research on Globalization. Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/frances-colonial-tax-still-enforced-for-africa-bleeding-afric a-and-feeding-france/5547512.

Chapter 3

An In-Depth Investigation into the Street Children and Youth of Cameroon

Abstract This chapter presents a brief description of Cameroon. Cameroon is Africa in microcosm, and hence an excellent spot to carry out research that represents the whole of sub-Saharan Africa to a greater extent. For example, Cameroon is bilingual, with the two most spoken official languages in Africa, French and English. Also, there exist more than 200 languages and cultures in Cameroon. Concerning religion, there are indigenous beliefs, Christians and Muslims. These cultures and religions represent many other cultures and religions in other parts of Africa. The chapter also includes official statistics concerning Cameroon’s street children and youths. The rest of the chapter is broadly divided into two sections. The first one discusses the factors responsible for the phenomenon of street children and youths. These include poverty, dysfunctional families, urbanization, HIV and AIDs, child trafficking, child kidnapping, child labor, and deplorable schooling conditions for the poor persons in some rural environments. Poverty is the most important factor responsible for street children and youths in Cameroon. There is a strong association between the prevalence of street children and youths and poverty. For example, the greatest proportion of destitute and severely poor people is in the northern regions. This justifies the fact that, a higher proportion of the street children and youth in Yaoundé and Douala comes from these northern regions of Cameroon. Dysfunctional families, most often due to poverty, are the next in importance. The rising rate of HIV and AIDs cannot also be understated in its importance, for the data on it as of 2015 reveals that Cameroon ranks 15th in the world in terms of the rate of adult HIV and AIDS. Most who have been orphaned by this disease end up on the streets. The second section deals with the adverse effects of the phenomenon on the socioeconomic development of the country, including insecurity, pickpocketing, Boko Haram recruitment, prostitution, the spread of HIV and AIDs, traffic jams, poor health services, and a disappearing middle class. Keywords Dysfunctional families · Pickpocketing · Insecurity Deplorable schools · Modernization · Urbanization · Capitalism Globalization · Poverty · Income inequality · Human development index Multidimensional poverty index · Child trafficking · Child kidnapping · Child

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3_3

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labor · HIV/AIDS · Boko Haram · Anglophone crisis · Socioeconomic development

3.1 Brief Description of the Country Cameroon is a sub-Saharan African country located between 1 and 13° of latitude north of the equator and between 8 and 17° of longitude east of the Greenwich meridian. It shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon in Central Africa. Cameroon is Africa in microcosm, and hence an excellent spot to carry out research which represents the whole of subSaharan Africa. It is also a lower middle-income country with a GDP of $ 33.1 billion in 2017 (Global Finance, 2017). According to Deltombe (2016), it is the birthplace of Francafrique or French neocolonialism. Two regions are Anglophone (the northwest and southwest regions) while the rest of the country is Francophone. It is endowed with significant natural resources, including oil and gas, high-value timber species, minerals, and agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize, cassava. According to the CIA (2015), the population of Cameroon is 23,739,218 and the size 475,442 km2 . The population is made up of the following ethnic groups; Cameroon highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, Other Africans 13%, Non-Africans less than 1%. There exist more than 200 languages and cultures in Cameroon, though there is a great deal of similarity among most of the cultures. According to the CIA (2015), there are 24 major African language groups with English and French as official Languages. Concerning religion, there are 40% indigenous beliefs, 40% Christians, and 20% Muslims. Cameroon vegetation and climate are also Africa in microcosm, for it stretches from the south near the Atlantic Ocean right up to the fringes of the Sahara Desert. The vegetation in the south is equatorial evergreen rainforest, which gives way to Guinea Savanna (tall grass and sparse trees), followed by Sudan Savanna (thick, but shorter, grass), and Sahel Savanna (the thinner grass closer to desert and prone to drought).

3.1.1 Statistics on Cameroon’s Street Children The Cameroon government presented a report revealing that, between 2008 and 2009, the Yaoundé and Douala Social Centers identified 904 street children and youths between the ages of 4 and 18. According to International Labor Organization (ILO) (2011), they also stated that the government, in its report of April 2008 to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC and C and CMR and 2, paragraphs 233 and 235) says that “in Cameroon there are 10,000 children living and/or working in the street countrywide, particularly in big cities such as Yaoundé, Douala, and

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Ngaoundere.” By 2014 in the metropolis of Douala alone, there were approximately 3000 street children (Cameroon Concord, 2014). However, the Ministry of Social Affairs puts the national figure at about 20,000. This is the most recent estimate, since it is difficult to come to an exact figure. Further investigations by Cameroon Concord (2014) reveal that, according to a study commissioned by Rotary International, “Cameroon economic capital alone has over 10,000 legally nonexistence children” (“legally nonexistent children,” para. 1). These are children 13 and over, without birth certificates or any other identification documents. “Over two million children in Cameroon today have no legal identity, most of them without a legal existence who have been abandoned to themselves and who live in the streets because they have no homes” (Cameroon Concord, 2014, “legally nonexistent children,” para. 7). Being unable to go to school and to be employed because they have no identification papers, most of them resort to crimes and drugs.

3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon There are many causes of the phenomenon of street children and youths in Cameroon, though the main cause is poverty due to unemployment, resulting from urbanization, unmatched by industrial development.

3.2.1 Poverty Poverty is the most important factor responsible for the phenomenon of street children. There is a strong association between the prevalence of street children and youths and poverty; countries characterized by income inequality often have more street children and youth (Aptekar, 1994; Rabiatu, 2008). Many authorities, including the World Bank, UNDP, and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHDI), have carried out studies on a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) in Cameroon. However, the definition of the poverty index and the approach to research on the topic varies from one authority to another. According to UNDP (2015) “the MPI identifies multiple deprivations at the household and individual level in health, education and standard of living,” (“What is the Multidimensional,” para. 1).

3.2.1.1

Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHDI) the Theory of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2017

The OPHDI poverty index is defined as follows. This index has 3 dimensions and 10 indicators, as shown in Fig. 3.1. Each dimension is equally weighted and each

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Fig. 3.1 OPHDI (2017)

indicator within a dimension is also equally weighted. These weights are shown in brackets within the diagram. A person is declared multidimensionally poor (or “MPI” poor) if they are deprived in at least one-third of the weighted indicators shown on the diagram below. In other words, the cutoff for poverty (k) is 33.33%. The proportion of the population that is multidimensionally poor represents the incidence of poverty, or headcount ratio (H). The average proportion of indicators in which poor people are deprived is described as the intensity of their poverty (A). The MPI  H × A); as a result, it reflects both the share of people in poverty and the degree to which they are deprived. If a person is deprived in 20–33.3% of the weight indicators, they are considered Vulnerable to Poverty, and if they are deprived in 50% or more (i.e., K  50%), they are identified as being in Severe Poverty. Those identified as Destitute are in extreme on at least one-third of the indicators, as described at the back of the briefing. For example, two or more children in the household have died (rather than one), no one in the household has at least one year of schooling (rather than five years), the household practices open defecation, the household has no assets (rather than no more than one). Table 3.1 conveys data for the multiple dimensions of poverty in Cameroon. Poverty, as noted earlier, is one of the key factors responsible for the prevalence of street children and youths. Without enough money for education, food, and health, children go to the street to fend for themselves. Looking at the overall nation, 18.9% falls within vulnerable to poverty, 25.1% within severe poverty, and 21.3% within destitute. This means that more than 60% of Cameroonian is impoverished. The highest percentage of poor is in the northern regions, followed by the south and northwest. This second model by OPHDI (2017) is more elaborate and so can enable a flexible implementation of government policies. Indeed, most of the street children in Yaoundé and Douala come from the northern regions, where there are abject poverty and the highest rate of illiteracy. The multidimensional survey on childhood poverty in 2005 portrayed this clearly. Childhood household deprivations accounted for a significant portion of the overall deprivation, with 56% of the children severely deprived of shelter (UNDP, 2015).

38.8

41.8

51.1

0.393

0.024

0.026

0.091

0.129

0.131

0.146

0.167

0.274

0.458

0.540

Douala

Yaoundé

Littoral (without Douala)

Southwest

South

West

Northwest

Central (without Yaoundé) 0.179

0.269

Rural

Adamawa

East

North

Extreme North

62.3

59.3

48.9

52.7

42.7

43.1

41.8

42.4

44.0

45.5

40.3

36.4

56.0

45.6

53.8

7.8

16.0

21.4

22.6

21.4

28.3

26.3

29.6

24.1

26.4

14.2

16.4

17.8

20.1

18.9

Vulnerable to poverty K  20–33.3% (%)

64.0

53.9

29.3

26.4

10.6

11.7

8.4

7.1

8.9

7.4

1.2

0.0

42.1

6.7

25.1

In severe to poverty K > 50% (%)

A Percentage of population Intensity (%)

Source OPHDI (2017) Cameroon’s multidimensional poverty across sub-national regions. Demographic health survey

86.7

77.3

56.1

35.1

30.8

29.3

19.9

6.5

6.7

70.2

19.9

46.0

0.248

0.091

Urban

H Incidence K > 33.3% (%)

Cameroon

MPI (XA)

Regions

Table 3.1 Theory of multidimensional poverty index

55.2

45.0

23.3

19.7

11.4

6.4

8.0

7.4

7.4

8.6

0.0

0.3

–

–

21.3

Destitute (%)

0.271

0.268

0.203

0.212

0.090

0.070

0.069

0.082

0.092

0.141

0.034

0.017

–

–

0.28

19.4

11.4

4.3

4.8

7.2

8.9

11.3

2.9

7.3

4.2

9.2

9.2

52.0

48.0

100

Inequality Population share among MPI poor (%)

3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon 51

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Though the 2006 statistics are outdated, Cameroon’s poverty level has remained stagnant over the years, sometimes with very minor fluctuations. For instance, child poverty, as measured by severe nutritional deprivation, was 12% in 1995 compared to 15% in 2005. Education deprivation dropped marginally from 16 to 11%. In contrast, child health deprivation increased from 20% in 1995 to 21% in 2005. Shelter deprivation declined from 58% in 1995 to 56% in 2005 and sanitation deprivation declined from 10% in 1995 to 8% in 2005 (UNDP, 2015). This publication also looked at childhood poverty in terms of regions. The northern regions, eastern region, and the Bui division of the northwest region were noted to have the highest children deprivations. According to Cockburn, Arnaut, Fofana, Ningaye, and Luca (2010), “the national school participation rate (measured by attendance) in 2007 was 82% for 6–10 years old and 85% for those aged 11–14 years” (p. 23). This implies that most of the children who drop out of school end up on the streets of the major towns in the country. “We can also see that the proportion of children in school is lower in rural areas (76% for 6–10 years old, and 81% for 11–14 years old) than in urban areas (95% for 6 to 10 years old, and 93% for 11 to 14 years old), while we already know that the first of these has a greater prevalence of poverty” (Cockburn et al. 2010, p. 24).

3.2.2 Dysfunctional Family Situation According to Miller (2003), a dysfunctional family is “a family with multiple ‘internal’—e.g., sibling rivalries, parent–child—conflicts, domestic violence, mental illness, single parenthood, or ‘external’—e.g., alcohol or drug abuse, extramarital affairs, gambling, unemployment—influences that affect the basic needs of the family unit.” Poverty is the major reason for dysfunctional families but it should be noted that since some rich families may be dysfunctional due to poor conducts of the heads of the families, not all dysfunctional families are found in urban slums and not all families in urban slums are dysfunctional, though experience reveals that urban slums are generally characterized by dysfunctional families. In Cameroon, many single mothers are found in the slums as a result of domestic abuse, resulting most often from the inability of parents to meet basic domestic needs. It is very common to find youths of age above 23 years old who have completed high school or university still unemployed and dependent on their fathers, who may be on the verge of retirement. Poverty and hardship may result in mother indulging in illicit sex in exchange of money and since prostitution can be a very serious matrimonial issue which is difficult to reconcile, some parents resort to alcoholism and/or drugs and this only worsens the situation. Some parents go so far as giving their female children to men in exchange of money, either for sex or early marriage. Some sponsor the education of the male children with the bride price of the female ones. Some send their children out for hawking to earn family income instead of attending school. They often start on part-time basis, but eventually they drop out of school in favor of street life. Sometimes it is simply because the parents cannot provide that the chil-

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dren get onto the streets to fend for themselves. This is very common in Yaoundé, Douala, and Bamenda in Cameroon where children are sent by their parents to hawk in the markets and on the street. In Cameroon, it is common to find little girls and boys carrying peanuts, donuts, sandwiches, pure water, etc., hawking on the streets and markets of the various cities. Some of the little girls are exposed to rape or being lured with money to have sex with unscrupulous men. It should also be noted that not all children from impoverished families end up on the street. Most children from poor homes that are peaceful and caring endure the poverty in favor of the protection and emotional and physical attachment at home. This should serve as advice to parents that, even during times of financial hardship, there is still ample need to keep the love and peace of the family intact. “Hungry child in an environment of love, care and peace can probably endure lack of material support and still find the home basically more secured than the streets” Suda (1995). And some children of wealthy but dysfunctional families end up on the street because the parents and children are unable to agree with each other.

3.2.3 Urbanization In sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is one of the factors leading to the phenomenon of street children and youths. Though this region is one of the least urbanized in the world, current trends of urbanization reveal that its urban growth rate has become high. The national growth rate for Cameroon was 5.2% in 1990, 4.2% in 2000, and 3.6% in 2010 (World Bank, 2015). During those same periods, the urban population rose from 4,978,820.0 in 1990 to 7,823,456.2 in 2000 to 11,445,751.2 in 2010 to 12,256,208.0 in 2014 (Trading Economics, 2016) and in 2017, urban population rose to 55.5% of the total population (CIA World Factbook, 2018). As a result, the phenomenon of street children, which often follows urbanization, is now a problem of the country. Though Cameroon has fought so hard to solve this problem, the phenomenon has been very persistent. Cameroon has been an island of peace within sub-Saharan Africa. After independence, it enjoyed a steady economic growth, social stability, and a peaceful unification of the East and West until of recent with a terrifying Southern Cameroons crisis. According to Cameroon: Country Assessment Report the World Bank (2002) “in 1988, urban poverty reached a level of 60% and about 70% of the population was living in unplanned settlements” (“problems,” para. 1). The political and economic capital cities of Yaoundé and Douala respectively are the most urbanized towns in the country. In 2015, Yaoundé had a population of 3.066 million and Douala had a population of 2.943 million. The presumed pull factors of the cities, such as better jobs and modern facilities such as electricity, Internet, and schools attract the youths into them. On the other hand, the subsistence agriculture in the countryside, which is labor-intensive and low-yield, repels the youths from the villages. Furthermore, youths’ ambition is to benefit from the high standard of living in the cities, enjoy modern life, and benefit from the proceeds of globalization. When they arrive in the cities, the reverse often becomes the case, as the possibility of

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finding jobs is bleak. They end up in slums due to exclusion and poverty. When they end up in the slums, the conditions lead to desperate measures. Some of the parents or adults, as well as their children, end up on the streets (Rabiatu, 2008; Ngoe, 2013). According to UNICEF (2012), “Despite a low overall rate of urbanization, Africa has a larger urban population than North America or Western Europe and more than 6 in 10 Africans who live in urban areas reside in slums.”

3.2.4 HIV and AIDs Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV and AIDs rate in the world. The work of the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] (Energy Science and Technology) provides a vivid picture of HIV and AIDs in Cameroon. HIV and AIDS is one of the most complex problems contributing to the prevalence of street children in Cameroon. The HIV and AIDs adult prevalence rate in Cameroon is 3.8% (CIA, 2016). Cameroon is 15th in the world in terms of the rate of adult HIV and AIDS (CIA, 2016 est). An estimated 560,000 people live with HIV and AIDS in Cameroon (CIA, 2016 est). In 2010, orphans resulting from HIV and AIDS constituted 25.3 % of the total population of orphans in Cameroon and it was projected that, by 2015, there would be 350,644 children orphaned by HIV and AIDS making up 27.2% of the total orphan population (Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs [MINAS], 2015). There is a high infant and maternal mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa and so greater chances for either the child or mother to end up without the other. If the parents pass away, family members often take over responsibility for the children. This has become a big challenge because, with so many people living below the poverty line, most cannot take care of extra children. Furthermore, most of those who take over the children are the grandmothers, who are not physically strong enough to handle the task. Generally, the old are less vulnerable to HIV and AIDS because they are less sexually active. Because of these difficult situations, some of these orphans end up fending for themselves on the streets. Imagine the cry of a child amid a dying mother and young undernourished siblings. Imagine an old mother whose son-in-law and daughter are reported dead of AIDS in the city leaving behind six young children, and the dead son was the caretaker of the old mother. This responsibility would obviously overwhelm the old grandmother and the children would likely end up fending for themselves on the streets. These are common scenarios within sub-Saharan Africa.

3.2.5 Child Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Labor A study conducted by the US Embassy, Cameroon, reveals how immigrants especially from refugee groups who come to Cameroon for greener pastures become victims of children trafficking. Most of the victims come from conflict areas such as

3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon

55

the Central African Republic (CAR) during their civil war and Nigeria because of Boko Haram (United States Department of State, 2013). Furthermore, according to UNHCR Global Appeal (2015) “Cameroon has maintained an open border for those fleeing conflicts”. In 2011, a legislation protecting the rights of refugees was signed (“Working Environment,” para. 1) Because of the ongoing regional crisis in Nigeria and Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon has been a host to refugees and asylum seekers from these two countries. As of August 2014, Cameroon had more than 24,000 refugees (UNHCR, 2015). Amid this misery some of these refugees and their children move into the main cities of Cameroon, Douala, and Yaoundé, in search of a better life. Most of their children end up on the streets of these cities. The situation becomes very complex, because most Cameroon street children are not documented. When these refugees, especially those who have not been registered by UN, join them it is difficult to differentiate them from Cameroonians. In this regard, this can also account for the rising number of undocumented street children and the alarming crime wave. The foreign street children who have experienced wars come in with more experience of violence and end up in street gangs. In Douala, many live at the Catholic Cathedral under tents. A study by the United States Department of State (2013) revealed the level of child trafficking and labor in Cameroon. Child trafficking is something very new in Cameroon as is the phenomenon of street children and youths. Currently, Cameroon serves as a point of origin for transit and a destination for women and children forced into involuntary labor and sex work (United States Department of State, 2013). In contrast to its neighbors in the region, Cameroon has always been a peaceful country, with more than 200 ethnic groups who live in harmony. It is one of the few countries in the world where Muslims, Christians, Jehovah Witnesses, traditionalists, and other religious bodies love each other and live in peace and harmony. A return to slavery in form of human trafficking is a total reversal of the positive steps toward peace since independence. Trafficking of children has often been initiated by intermediaries, who meet the poor parents, especially in the villages, promising a better life for their children in the city, in the form of good jobs and education. However, when they arrive in the cities the story often changes. Girls are often initiated into forced prostitution and/or labor and the boys into forced labor. At this point, the children become frustrated and vulnerable. Those who can escape often end up as street children. A 2010 pilot study by the ILO estimates that approximately 4000 children between ages 11 and 17, mostly girls, were engaged in commercial sexual exploitation” (US Department for Labor, 2013, “Moderate Advancement,” para. 1). The report further noted that rates of kidnapping have increased as public awareness of trafficking has increased to the point where parents are unwilling to surrender their children to the intermediaries of traffickers (United States Department of State, 2013). Trafficking of children from Cameroon has gone global, with Cameroonian children being identified in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Cyprus, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Qatar, Haiti, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and several West and Central African countries. This population also includes refugee children from the Central African Republic (CAR) and who were lured by the prospect of a better life in Cameroon and sub-

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sequently became victims of labor trafficking (United States Department of State, 2013). However, the escapees from this process often end up as street children and some are recruited to work for their masters on the streets. According to the United States Department of State (2017), the government of Cameroon has not yet been able to meet the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.” However, two vicious individuals caught engaged in this business have been convicted. Cameroon also sent a delegation to Lebanon and Qatar to discuss Cameroonian migrant workers’ rights, but did not help in the repatriation of stranded trafficked Cameroonians in the Middle East (United States Department of State, 2017). By 2007 it was discovered that, there were 21,692 child laborers in the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) cocoa plantations (Kongnyuy, Kongnyuy, & Richter 2007). A West African Cocoa and Agricultural Project (WACAP) was launched in 2003 to remove some 28,400 children involved in the worst form of labor from these farms and provide them with education. “The project found that 5500 children in Cameroon were applying pesticides and 16,192 were working with machetes in cocoa plantations” (Kongnyuy, Kongnyuy, & Elihu 2007). In Cameroon, apart from corporations’ employment of children, parents, and relatives in the rural environments also engage their children in agricultural activities such as subsistence farming and nomadic pastoralism. Subsistence farming is very common in the southern regions while pastoral nomadism is prevalent in the northern regions. Even though the parents in the Southern regions are more conscious of the children’s need for education, they often engage in agricultural activities and still attend school. In the northern regions, many parents teach their children only the Muslim Koran and engage them as herdsmen. Some people believe that girls should be engaged in domestic and farming activities with the mother and only the males should attend school. This anachronistic belief has improved through sensitization but is still popular in some remote villages. Also, in the cities, it is common to find very young children selling small items on the streets.

3.2.6 Modernization, Capitalism, and Globalization The tradition of subsistence life has changed into a modern society of mass consumption and continuous quest for a high standard of living. This quest for a high standard of living, as opposed to abject poverty is sometimes a cause of children being on the street. Children of some average income-earners who have all the necessities to further their education rebel against their parents simply because they want to enjoy modern technology such as the current models of mobile phones, iPods, video games, and expensive clothes. Because their parents cannot afford them, they go to the street to fend for themselves. Some join their peers to become involved in scamming or Internet fraud, where they make a lot of money and disassociate themselves from their parents. When the parents lose trust in them and the money from scamming gets spent, if they cannot make more through similar means, they end up on the street. Even housewives who follow fashion sometimes want to own the most current Apple

3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon

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phone or Samsung phone. This may result in a fight if the husband cannot afford these expensive items. Capitalism has changed the mindset of people. Capitalism has broken the bonds that use to bind the African extended family together. In the past, if a single member of the family made it to the top, the extended family would benefit, for he or she will accept the role of a breadwinner for the extended family but now, due to the capitalistic instinct, people do not bother about their siblings nor children of their siblings. People are often on the move, striving to meet the challenges of globalization.

3.2.7 The Impact of the Anglophone Crisis on Street Children and Youth This crisis has resulted to killing of a lot of people (especially young men), leaving behind a lot of orphans and widows. Most of these orphans will obviously end up on the streets. Children have also been out of school for two years. This interval will lead to discontinuity of most of them, hence moving onto the street to fend for themselves. Since idleness is the devil’s workshop, most of the students out of school will engage into illicit sexual activities resulting to a baby boom. This baby boom phenomenon has been reported within the Cameroon refugee’s camps in Nigeria. This is visible there because they have been gathered in a camp which makes their case more accessible to the world but it is obvious that, this baby boom extends to the various communities in Southern Cameroon. A glance at a video from these refugee’s camps reveals that a majority of the mothers of the newborn are young girls, probably mostly unmarried.

3.2.8 Deplorable School Situations Especially in Rural Environments The government has neglected government schools which have been serving the children of the poor rural populations. While the rich people send their children to modern expensive private schools, children of the poor who often constitute a majority of the population, attend the deplorable government schools. I think that these children are being robbed of their children right to quality education. As if that is not enough when they end up dropping out of school, they are labeled delinquents and maltreated. Photo 3.1 demonstrates the deplorable conditions children in some rural areas in Cameroon study during this twentieth century. That was the school building of a primary school in Tibati a village in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon. It was a similar situation with many other primary schools within this vicinity but Education Sans Frontier has changed the situation by replacing them with modern equipped classrooms by September 2010 as seen in Photo 3.2. Even though Education Sans

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Photo 3.1 Primary school Tibati–Cameroon before renovation in September 2010. Source Education Sans Frontier (2010)

Frontier has changed the deplorable conditions of studies in some of the regions, there are still many presently experiencing these deplorable conditions. Photo 3.3 above shows the present state of a school in Garoua in Cameroon. As seen in the photograph, the children learn under very harsh conditions like sitting on logs and crowded desks. They also have no toilet facilities and clean drinking water. According to Kimmons (2017), most of the children are being excluded from further education at this level because they lack birth certificates which are a requirement to enter secondary schools. US army discovered that, about 70% of them cannot continue into secondary schools due mainly to lack of birth certificates. Most of these children have no option than to end up begging on the streets. Furthermore, according to Pidgin News Equinoxe TV (2017a, b), there is a primary school with similar deplorable conditions called government primary school Barbe Mondial at Bafia in Muyuka southwest region of the country. I thought that this scenario is common only within the rural environments but to my greatest dismay, a similar situation was discovered in Maroua, the capital city of the extreme north region of the country. According to Pidgin News Equinoxe TV (2017a, b), they discovered that currently in one of the oldest primary schools in Cameroon created since 1936 in the city of Maroua, there are no desks for pupils and tables for teachers. During their visit to this school known as primary school Zokok, they discovered children squatting on the floor while learning. It was emphasized that though the mayor of the city made some efforts to help by donating some desks, the help was not good enough for he was able to contribute only 100 desks whereas there are 1050 pupils in the school. These deplorable schools environment for the poor people in Cameroon is one of the reasons responsible for the high rates of drop out of schools in the coun-

3.2 Factors Responsible for Street Children and Youth in Cameroon

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Photo 3.2 Primary school Tibati–Cameroon after renovation in September 2010. Equipped classrooms with desk and benches, blackboards and kids provided with educational materials. Source Education Sans Frontier (2010)

Photo 3.3 A twenty-first century primary school in a thatched hut with pupils sitting on logs and crowded desks. Source Kimmons (2017) US Army News Service

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try. According to the Education Policy and Data Center (EPDC) (2014), 10% of Cameroon’s youth have no formal education, and 20% of the youth drop out of primary school before completion. This implies that 30% of the youths do not attain any primary school certificates. Actually, this unbearable studying condition is responsible for the lack of incentives to study especially within the rural areas. Based on these reasons, when children end up on the streets, most people criticize them for being lazy drop outs from school without actually understanding why they could not continue studies. Due to this hardship especially within the northern regions, it is alleged that most of the street children in Yaoundé and Douala come from these Regions. According to OPHDI (2017) as seen in Table 3.1, about 53.9 and 45.0% of the people in the North Region of Cameroon are severely poor persons and destitute, respectively. Also about 64.0 and 55.2% of the people in the Extreme North Region of Cameroon are severely poor persons and destitute, respectively. This state of situation has been aggravated by Boko Haram. According to Kimmons (2017), Cameroon Colonial Barthelemy Tsilla, Commander of the air base in Garoua pointed out that, inadequate education is a major factor promoting Boko Haram in Cameroon for if people are educated, they will have good judgments and will not join the terrorist group. According to UNICEF report 2016 as cited in Kimmons (2017), because of these horrible conditions of learning, the adult literacy rate of Cameroon is 71% well below the world average of 85%. In my humble opinion, Cameroonians and Africans in general are resilient to counteract the harsh conditions. Based on this resilience quality of Africans I presume that, President Donald Trump did not imply that Africans are “shitholes.” His worry is the bad institutions for despite the harsh conditions Africans go through; most of them still study very hard to become useful citizens. Most Africans who travel abroad especially to the USA, Canada, Germany, Britain Denmark, Sweden, Finland, China, and South Korea take advantage of the enormous study facilities available to transform themselves into responsible citizens. Coming back to the schooling situation in Cameroon, even now it is common to find schools like Government primary school Barbe Mondial in Munyege–Muyuka in huts according to Pidgin News Equinoxe TV (2017a, b). However, deplorable schools are not generally widespread in the English speaking regions and the Southern regions in general like in the three northern regions of Cameroon.

3.3 Street Children and Youths and the Socioeconomic Development of Cameroon 3.3.1 Insecurity Street children and youths often sleep in verandas, corridors, abandoned cars, and buildings in the cities. This often constitutes a security threat to those urban dwellers who enjoy nightlife, such as going to movies, nightclubs, dancing, and drinking. This is because most of the street children can be very aggressive, especially at night when

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they understand that nobody is watching at them. Most are members of armed gangs who rob people at night, snatch their wallets, bags, phones, steal clothes, jewelry, and shoes, and even seize people’s motorbikes or cars. They are often ready to kill resistant victims. Furthermore, though they often wear masks during their robbery operations, if they discover that their victim has identified any of them, they must kill the victim for their own security. Apart from tracking down night travelers, they also engage in armed robbery. Most of these street youth smoke marijuana, take other drugs, and some sniff glue. They also rape women. Some are hired to carry out assassinations. Though their gangs are mostly made up of males, some girls do join them. The girls often play the role of agents during their prostitution activities. They investigate their clients, master their movements, conditions of their houses, and financial transactions and then inform their gang members on how to rob them.

3.3.2 Pickpocketing Most often, the new recruits of gangs start by engaging in minor stealing such as pickpocketing along commercial avenues. They often stand where there is traffic congestion. They may distract the driver with a strange sound like, “Wow! You have a flat tire.” As the driver stops to check, they quickly snatch something from the car, most often phones, and run away. Some snatch phones, bags, wallets, or jewelries from pedestrians in a congested street or market and run away. Others carefully parcel garbage in attractive cartons meant for some precious articles. They have the experience to understand the movement of vulnerable persons who are not yet habituated to city life. They usually attract them to buy the fake items at giveaway prices. Most of the inexperienced people fall for the trick without even thinking about the reason why the item is sold extremely cheap. As soon as the item is bought, the scammers run away before the victim opens the parcel to find out that its content is garbage.

3.3.3 Boko Haram Recruits Boko Haram presently has a permanent source of recruitment, thanks to the abundant street children in the Northern parts of Cameroon. A clear view of the multidimensional deprivation analysis at the preceding section reveals that the northern parts of Cameroon are the poorest, with limited numbers of children attending school. Due to the limited employment opportunities there, most of the children are on the street, with the greatest number of street children and youths in the largest cities of Cameroon (Yaoundé and Douala) coming from the northern regions. According to AFP (2014), “as the West fights to keep its youth from the grip of jihadists, Cameroon’s Muslim leaders are struggling to respond to a recruitment drive by Nigeria’s deadly Boko Haram.” In the town of Kolofata, in Northern Cameroon, some 450 youth of the street

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joined the Boko Haram in the course for two months, according to Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali as cited in AFP (2014). The poor people are tempted to join Boko Haram because they pay very high salaries. Their salaries range from $600 to $2000 per month. This is very high for a common Cameroonian. Though not able to pay even a third of what Boko Haram offers as salary to the unemployed and destitute youth, Wakil Idi has created an IT training center in Kousseri the far north of Cameroon. He believes that it will help to counter Boko Haram recruitment for youth, as it would create employment for them. He says Boko Haram recruiters prey on the unemployed youths (Moki, 2016). In confirmation to this, according to Onuoha (2014), “Boko Haram draws its members mainly from disaffected youth, unemployed high school and university graduates, and destitute children.” Some of these youths are recruited, and well-paid, by Boko Haram to kill government officials in Nigeria Campbell (2013). It is a similar situation in Cameroon. For example, in Cameroon the wife of the Vice Prime Minister was kidnapped by Boko Haram. According to Onuoha (2014), “widespread corruption in Nigeria has not only deprived communities of needed amenities and infrastructure but has created an environment conducive for recruitment and radicalization.” Boko Haram, as a great manipulator, takes advantage of this vacuum. Now they have resorted to a more aggressive commercial strategy. For instance, they target the unemployed street youth by granting them loans to start their businesses and by doing so, they are being induced or lured and recruited into the group (Duku, 2016; Abrak, 2016).

3.3.4 Prostitution and the Spread of HIV and AID The female street youth are entrapped in prostitution. Their vulnerability opens them to greater chances of contracting HIV than any other person because they may not have the choice to maintain safe sex rules if their clients are not ready. These people are very desperate for money and most often the unscrupulous old men would say, “If you allow me to go natural, I will pay you double the amount of money.”

3.3.5 Traffic Jams On commercial avenues, where these street children and youths sell their items, they are often in conflict with the forces of law and order as they block traffic flow with their merchandise. Often, they also litter the streets with waste from their wares, especially if they are food items.

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3.3.6 Poor Healthcare Services Street children and youths, most often, have no person to take care of them, especially during times of health crises. They do not have health insurance and some even lack birth certificates and identity cards to identify themselves at the hospitals. For this reason, most of them move around with chronic diseases and wounds, which often precipitate premature deaths.

3.3.7 Disappearing Middle Class When there are poverty and unemployment of graduates, children and youth gradually develop studying apathy. It becomes common to hear this from them, “stop disturbing me with ‘go to school.’ What difference does it make if some of us are even financially better than those who spent thousands of dollars pursuing education?” This apathy results in overcrowded streets of major cities at the expense of the scanty dilapidated classrooms in the villages. With the rapidly changing technology in the world, in the long run it would be difficult to find qualified persons to replace those who retire. Furthermore, any system without human capital or resources does not attract direct foreign investment. This lack of human capital is one of the main factors retarding industrial development in Africa, hence perpetuating poverty despite abundant natural resources and a youthful population. Much needs to be done to improve on human investment in sub-Saharan Africa. The children of today are the middle class and leaders of tomorrow. Children need opportunities to develop their capacities: If the children of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise. No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings. (Bronfenbrenner, 2005, p. 215)

It is for this reason of lagging in education that, during an education conference in Dakar Senegal, the President of Ghana stated that, Africa has the youngest population of the globe and it is the richest continent yet it has people with the worst living condition on earth. He went further to conclude that, this paradox can only be broken by education (Nana, 2018). In Ghana his administration has introduced free education for senior high school. He urges the continent to make it possible for all the youth to gain education which can meet the demands of the twenty-first century. The various countries need to design their own policies and use their own money instead of relying on external policies and finances. According to him, we can have enough money to finance the education if corruption is stamped out and illicit outflow of money stopped. There is also need for a balance contract between African countries

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and those who need their natural resources. Considering the outcome of the Thabo Mbeki’s commission on illicit outflow, for the past 10 years, 50 billion dollars illicitly flow out of Africa each year. Imagine the impact of this on the education of African children (Nana, 2018).

3.4 NGOs, Churches, and Government Much has been done already to enhance the eradication of this phenomenon despite its stubborn nature. Government efforts include the Ministry of Social Affairs and Belgian Red Cross that engaged in a project on the socioeconomic reintegration of street children in Yaoundé. This project interacted with nearly 15,000 children and could rehabilitate 480 of them. The Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs, “program for the socio-professional integration of street children in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé registered 435 street children, of which 119 were returned to their families and 62 reintegrated in school” (Cameroon Concord, 2014, “Cameroon Government officials,” para. 14). In another report in the Cameroon Concord (2014), “for the fifteen years, charity organizations especially church groups have succeeded in returning at least 5000 street children and youth to their original families. Between 500 and 600 in Douala alone have been trained in various trades and accommodation has been found for about 170 of them who have since quit the streets” (“Cameroon Government officials,” para. 12).

3.4.1 Legislation The Cameroon government, through the ministry of Social Affairs, has passed many laws and implemented the Convention on the Rights of Child. Furthermore, it has put in efforts to protect children and youth, not only from becoming street children, but from many other dangers posed by society, such as imprisonment, accidents, gangs, drugging, being trafficked, and dropping out from school, immaturely (MINAS, 2015). Child and youth protection is a major concern for the Cameroonian Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya (MINAS, 2015). For this reason, he has created nine ministries to address the issue of protection and promotion of the rights of every child. The protection of children is in the form of protocols, ratified charters and international conventions, national laws and regulations. According to MINAS (2015), the preamble of law No. 06 of 18 January 1996 amending the 1972 constitution stated that, “the human being without distinction of race, religion, sex, or creed possesses sacred inalienable rights.” Cameroon is committed to the UN fundamental freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter, the African Charter on human right and people’s rights and all related and duly ratified international conventions. As stated in MINAS (2015), President Paul Biya at the UN special session on children in 2002

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also stated that, “Cameroon has ratified almost all international legal instruments on the child.” These include, “the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 05 September 1996; Convention No. 138 of the ILO Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, 14 April 1998; Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, on 27 May 2002; the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Protocol of 18 December 1989 on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, instrument of accession dated December 4, 2004; supplementing the United Nations Convention of 15 November 2000 against transnational Organized Crime, the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children” (MINAS, 2015). Besides subscribing to the above-mentioned international legal instruments, the government of Cameroon has often taken children’s interests to heart. That is why Cameroon’s internal legislation since independence, favors the protection of children Article 1384 of the civil code regulates parental responsibility (MINAS, 2015). There is also the decree 2001 and 109 and PM of 20 March 2001 on the organization and functioning of public institutions that supervise minors and rehabilitates social misfits. This led to, for example, the creation of the Bepanda Center for minors in Douala.

3.4.2 Child Labor By 2007, it was discovered that, there were 21,692 child laborers in the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) cocoa plantations (Kongnyuy, Kongnyuy, & Elihu 2007). A West African Cocoa and Agricultural Project (WACAP) was launched in 2003 to remove some 28,400 children involved in children worst form of labor from these farms and provided them with education. Also, as cited in US Department for Labor (2013), an optional protocol which concerned children in armed conflict was ratified by the government. The government also investigated and prosecuted children traffickers, improved on education standards, health care and reinforced the fight against child’s labor. This was a giant leap taken by the government but it is very difficult to end child labor in Cameroon because farms and other activities with the worst forms of labor, such as quarries and mines, are remote. Even prostitution is not an open business, and so it may be difficult to identify a child as a sex worker if it is not reported. Though inspectors have been trained to investigate child labor, they need much assistance or collaboration from the local population to report cases for investigation. This is still difficult because of the poverty plaguing the communities. Apart from forced child labor, most children are involved in voluntary child labor to earn a basic living and even help their poor parents. In this regard, the employers, children, and parents of the children are willing to compromise the law and so do not file complaints to the labor inspectors. Another report from US Department for Labor (2013) revealed that, findings could not prove that labor law enforcement agencies in Cameroon engaged in combating child labor, especially the worst form. In 2013, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security trained 81 labor inspectors. They

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complained of inadequate numbers and that, even with an increase in numbers, there would not be enough fuel to use in vehicles to transport them to remote areas for inspection (US Department for Labor, 2013). Thanks to the criminal law enforcement agencies of Cameroon, which conducted 10 child trafficking investigations in 2013, 5 children were released from exploitative labor and 8 others rescued from trafficking. One person was convicted for child trafficking, and this was a warning to other child traffickers (US Department for Labor, 2013). This investigation uncovered trafficking from the Central African Republic for labor exploitation in Cameroon and of female children from Cameroon into Equatorial Guinea for sexual exploitation (US Department for Labor, 2013). Looking at both the causes of the street children and youth and at why it cannot be easily prevented, poverty often stands at the forefront. Most of the children of the poor who make it through the education system have been, in one way or another, involved in early childhood labor to make a living. It is only while making a living that some end up dropping out of school. Some intelligent ones do make it to the top at the end, with the help of money earned through child labor, without which they would have dropped out for lack of school equipment. In this situation, putting a strict check on child labor, especially street hawking, may put an end to the education of many serious children who are hawking to buy an exercise book, pencil, or textbook. Going on to the street or the farms for jobs is just the last resort when some of these children have been driven out of school for lack of books and PTA levies. Their parents simply cannot afford them. In such cases, which are very common in Cameroon, stopping the child from engaging in labor without supplying him or her with those necessities does more harm than good. My experience, as a member of this community, was not different, for I personally went through this to be able to climb the academic ladder.

3.4.3 Abolition of Compulsory Primary Schools’ Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Levies Government primary schools in Cameroon have often been free of tuition but they have a PTA levy. In February 19, 2001, the government declared an exemption to these fees so that every child should have the opportunity to attend school. Recent findings reveal that this decree is not respected in practice. For example, according to Yufeh and Ngassa (2013), despite the government’s abolition of compulsory PTA levies in primary schools, as seen in decree No. 2001 and 041 of February 19, 2001, “nowadays, it is common to see children excluded from or punished in public and private schools for not having paid their PTA levy” (“Free basic education,” para. 1). In July 2011 Transparency International Cameroon (TIC) carried out a study of the operational incomes of primary schools in “Cameroon concluded that” in 87.5% of the case, the minimum package by the government arrived late, in 78% of the cases it was not sufficient, while 70% of schools judged it to be unsatisfactory. As such in 57% of cases, it was noted that it could not address the needs of schools” (Yufeh and

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Ngassa, 2013), “Free basic education,” para. 3). The report further revealed that 74% of homes still consider PTA fees as compulsory and that the payment of extra fees for the construction of classrooms, revision of classrooms, and other activities are made compulsory by school head teachers (Yufeh & Ngassa, 2013). Corrupt practices still characterized the administration of primary schools and the Vice President of Transparency International Cameroon, Njoh Manya B., says “it is time everybody particularly those in the educational domain, wake up and stand against those corrupt practices that hinder some kids from going to school” (Yufeh & Ngassa, 2013, “Free basic education,” para. 3). In this confused situation, many children still have limited opportunity to acquire a basic education, and when they drop out, most end up on the streets.

3.4.4 Stopping Child Trafficking The creation of an Institute to Investigate and Prosecute Human Trafficking (IIPHT) in Cameroon will help to reduce the number of street children who result from the action of child trafficking. This project trains government, private, and NGO workers related to child labor protection. These include attorneys, law enforcement officers, magistrates, government administrative officers, and human rights advocates. This project helps to improve on the Cameroon judicial capability to deal with child traffickers (Aequitas, 2011).

3.4.5 Rehabilitation Some parts of the urban population of Cameroon are now characterized by slums, which are the main sources of street children. The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Belgian Red Cross took on a joint project to rehabilitate street children. A crisis and reintegration center, with a shelter, was created in Yaoundé (UN, 2008). As part of the initiative, 1052 street children were assisted between 2002 and 2005. They also helped 355 of the children to reunite with their families. Furthermore, 74 of them were given school aid and 155 given vocational training. The most vulnerable 11 were placed in an institution. This was a giant step by a government with the interest of children at heart, but solving the phenomenon of street children goes beyond reintegration. Prevention is more important, and it requires a holistic approach. Being conscious of this, the Ministry of Youths came up with a program to reintegrate youths via a national project to promote the reintegration of young people (PRONAIS). They then formulated a national youth policy with the assistance of UNICEF. They also created a public institution that supervises minors and rehabilitates social misfits in the Bepanda District of Douala. Up to 150 of the children were supported in May 2008 by MINAS and were reunited with their families. (Country Sheet Cameroon, 2008). By September 2008, the government helped 119 street children reunite with

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their families, with 62 of them returning to school by the help of the Ministry of Social Affairs in charge of child welfare (UNICEF, 2009). By December 2008, the government discovered that some 435 children aged 4–18 live on the streets of Yaoundé and Douala. Attempts are still in progress by the government to get children off the streets, since children are a prime concern of His Excellency Paul Biya. According to Rabiatu (2008), numerous educational institutions for vulnerable children, which include street children and youth, have been created. For example Les Institutions Camerounaise de L’enfance (ICE) in Maroua and Betamba; Les Centre d’Accueil et d’observation (CAO) in Bepanda and Bafousam; Le Centre d’Accueil des Mineurs (CAM) in Bertua; Borstal institute in Buea; Le Home Atelier de Douala for girls in danger or handicap; Le Centre d’Accueil et de Reinsertion sociale des Enfant de la Rue (CARSER) in Etougebe Yaoundé and its Centre d’ Ecoute at Messa in Yaoundé. There are also foundations such as Kana Foundation, which takes care of vulnerable children in general, Roger Miller’s Foundation, which helps street children to reunite with family and involves them in vocational football training programs. Samuel Etoo Foundation is also engaged in giving street children vocational football training. We also have Foyer Maison Frere Yves Lescanne in Nvam Yaoundé and Chaine des Foyers Saint Nicodeme in Douala, all engaged in vocational education within their rehabilitation center for street children.

3.4.6 Universal Birth Certificate Campaign The Ministry of Social Affairs collaborated with international NGOs such as Plant International, to issue free birth certificates to all children, especially to the minority indigenous groups of Pygmies and the Mbororo (UN, 2014). The program resulted to 12,000 children receiving birth certificates in 2010 and 2011. In 2013, President Biya also mandated the issuing of free national identity cards. “In 2011, following a census carried out in eight regions, official documents were issued to members of the Pygmy and Mbororo communities: 6600 national identity cards, and 4253 declaratory judgments serving as birth certificates, including 1500 for children” (UN, 2014, pp. 1–2).

3.4.7 Prevention by Empowering Families A good example is Cordaid in Cameroon (2015). Cordaid works in the North and the Eastern parts of Cameroon, financing health care and providing education on reproductive health. It also directs efforts on behalf of vulnerable people, which includes street children. The environment most conducive for a child’s development is within the biological family (Cordaid, 2015). To foster this belief, they give conditional

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subsidies to families to start up their own business and obtain health insurance. They also connect orphans with host families. They do all of this to avoid a situation in which the children end up on the street instead of pursuing their dreams. Cordaid also encouraged the creation of social houses within the urban centers of Cameroon.

3.4.8 Fighting Corruption and Embezzlement One good method of fighting poverty in Africa is to purge corruption and embezzlement. It is good news that the Cameroon government has started tracking down corrupt government officials via the creation of a Supreme Court Audit Bench. They are on the field of auditing and sensitizing the public about the dangers of corruption. Some government officials who are suspected of corruption have been taken to court and some proven guilty are now in prison. These greedy individuals are partially responsible for the abject poverty plaguing the rest of the population. If corruption is eliminated, then Cameroonians will have more money to take care of children, and the phenomenon of street children would not be rampant. Corruption needs to be treated as a crime against humanity, for the global numbers of people who die or suffer because corrupt officials have deprived them of their livelihoods are higher than those who die because of wars.

3.4.9 UNESCO Proposals for Vocational Education Since formal education is difficult to be used to manage these children, informal education should be used to enable them to survive (UNESCO, 2015). This informal education includes music, dancing, and sport. Such activities are already being supported by UNESCO for vulnerable children in general. However, it is sometimes difficult to start with the informal programs without some basic primary education on how to speak the main language and count. For this reason, it is highly recommended that children be taught basic speaking and mathematics skills alongside the informal education. The efforts of Cameroon is even better than that of Latin America for in this region according to Gigenback as cited in Scanlon, Tomkin, Lynch, and Scanlon (1998), in the 1990s, “many people in the Judiciary, the police, the media, business, and society at large believe that street children are a group of irredeemable delinquents who represent a moral threat of a civilized society a threat that must be exorcised” (Marginalization and extermination, para. 1). This is radically different from what is found in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 39 of the child convention provides that, “The State has an obligation to take all appropriate measures to promote the physical and psychological recovery and social integration of children who have been victims of any form of neglect, exploitation or abuse, torture or degrading treatment or of armed conflict” (Children’s Rights Alliance, 2013, article

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39). An essential part of these studies is to articulate article 39 with respect to the street children and youth situation and to provide methods to help them reintegrate or integrate into mainstream socioeconomic activities. If we start believing that it is our moral obligation to get the children off the street in a humane way, then we must train experts, such as family social workers, to carry out psychological healing. We must also engage in preventive measures that attack the phenomenon and all its ramifications. My investigation, while exploring the literature on government, churches, and NGO efforts toward eradicating the phenomenon suggests that much still needs to be done if we are to win the fight against the phenomenon. The Cameroon government and NGOs have been working hard to eradicate the phenomenon, but a solution to it remains elusive. My observation was confirmed by the statement of Catherine Bakang Mbock, the Minister of Social Affairs who stated during a workshop that, the street children phenomenon is recurrent (CameroonWeb, 2015a, b). The workshop was meant to discuss the successes of the street children project since its start in 2008. The Minister of Social Affairs declared that, out of the 1900 street children identified in Yaoundé and Douala since 2008, 560 of them were returned to their families while 400 have been sent to school (CameroonWeb, 2015a, b). Much effort has been geared toward curative methods with very little on preventive approaches. Curing without adequate prevention makes for a vicious cycle. The only way to have a children- and youth-free street is to create opportunities to keep them busy with productive activities. These involve three complex aspects which we must fight to achieve: human capital, physical capital, and natural resources. With these three aspects and a stable political atmosphere, industrialization, which would provide jobs to youths, would be possible.

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Pidgin News Equinoxe TV. (2017a). KmerReplay. (2017). Pidgin News Debate- Saturday, 14th October 2017- Equinoxe TV (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-_ cmlVY36s. Pidgin News Equinoxe TV. (2017b). Equinoxe TV. (2017). Pidgin News Equinoxe TV Wednesday, December 20th 2017 (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EvkVqN 8VKw. Rabiatu, I. D. (2008). The socio legal perspective of child protection in Cameroon. Presses Universitaires D’Afrique. L’ Africaine d’Edition et de services (AESSA). Scanlon, T. J., Tomkin, A., Lynch, M. A., & Scanlon, F. (1998). Street children in Latin America. US National Library of Medicine. National Institute of Health. Retrieve from http://www.ncbi.n lm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1113205/. Suda, C. (1995). Street children in Nairobi and the African ideology of Kin-based support systems: Change and challenge. Paper Presented at the Pan-Africa Association of Anthropologists Annual Conference held at Garden Hotel, Nairobi, from October 15–19, 1995. Trading Economics. (2016). Cameroon-urban population growth (annual %). Retrieved from https://tradingeconomics.com/cameroon/urban-population-growth-annual-percent-wb-dat a.html. UNDP. (2015). Briefing note for countries on the 2015 human development report. Cameroon. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/data. UNESCO. (2015). Social and human sciences. Fight against discrimination; education of children in need, street children. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-scien ces/themes/fight-against-discrimination/education-of-children-in-need/. UNHCR Global Appeal. (2015). Cameroon overview: Working environment. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/publications/fundraising/5461e5fce/unhcr-global-appeal-2015-upda te-cameroon.html. UNICEF. (2009). Cameroon: Child protection. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/wcaro/wca ro_CAM_factsheet_PROTECTION.pdf. UNICEF. (2012). Children in an urban world. The state of the world’s children 2012. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/sowc/files/SOWC_2012-Main_Report_EN_21Dec2011.pdf. United Nations (UN). (2008). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention. Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2000 Cameroon. United Nations (UN). (2014). Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues on her Mission to Cameroon (2–11 September 2013). Retrieved from [DOC] Report of the independent expert on minority issues. United States Department of Labor’s, Bureau of International Labor Affairs. (2013). Findings on the worst forms of child labor. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/came roon.htm. United States Department of State. (2013). Trafficking in person report—Cameroon. Retrieved from http://www.refworld.org/docid/51c2f3cf4b.html. United States Department of State. (2017). Trafficking in person report—Cameroon. Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271160.htm. World Bank. (2002). Upgrading of low income settlement: Country assessment report cameroon. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/case-examples/overview-africa/c ountry-assessments/reports/cameroon.html. World Bank. (2015). Working for a world free of poverty. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.o rg/en/country/cameroon/overview. Yufeh, B., & Ngassa, N. (2013). Cameroon Tribune. All Africa Global Media. Retrieved from https://allafrica.com/stories/201302190816.hlml.

Chapter 4

Building the Resilience of Street Children and Youths in Cameroon

Abstract This chapter, which is the core of the book, is comprised of two studies. The first study provides an analysis of the psychological situation of street children and youth in Yaoundé and Douala, while the second one deals with resilience building within a rehabilitation home. The first study was made up of a sample of 508 street children and youths. A comparison between a sample of 254 children and youths of the street (working and living on the street) and that of 254 children and youths on the street (working on the street but living off the street) was explored. Intergroup comparison, correlation, and regression strategies were used to examine the relationships that exist between the variables: automatic thought, resilience, selfefficacy, self-esteem, and Children’s Hope. The second study consists of a sample of 20 former street children engaged in primary education in the Kana Foundation NGO rehabilitation home. A project aimed to boost resilience was introduced in this foundation’s street children and youth rehabilitation primary school education center. A pre-survey was carried out before the project began. After running the project for six months, a post-survey was done. From the data of both surveys, a paired t test was conducted. The results are discussed in terms of the bio-ecological, attachment, and resilience theories. By using the special language introduced by the International Resilience Project, the children had theoretical education and practical integration of the learning approach of resilience built into their daily activities. Details of the methodology have been presented in the appendix professionals who which to explore. Also in this chapter, various categories of street children and youths have been given the opportunity to express their experiences in their own words. In order to ensure their confidentiality, pseudonyms have been used, as opposed to their real names. Keywords Rehabilitation · Integration · Reintegration · Independent t test Paired t test · Correlation · Regression · Automatic thought · Resilience Self-esteem · Self-efficacy · Children’s hope · Bio-ecological theory Attachment theory · Secure base · Education · Friendships · Talents and interest Positive values · Social competence

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3_4

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4.1 Distribution of Participants 4.1.1 Study 1 The first survey took place in Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Quantitative data collection involved 508 participants pulled from different parts of these towns. The composition of the participants was 254 children and youths of the street and 254 children and youths on the street from age 12 to 18.

4.1.2 Study 2 The second survey took place at the Kana Foundation NGO in Yaoundé, and the quantitative data collection involved 20 former children of the street.

4.2 Interviewing Procedure It is often an uphill task to collect survey data from street children and youths because they are often apprehensive and mistrust researchers interviewing them. To counteract this hindrance, former street youths over the age of 18 were used to deliver the questionnaires to children and youths on the street and children and youth of the street over the age of 11 and under the age of 19.

4.3 Collection of Quantitative Data 4.3.1 Study 1 The simple random sampling approach was applied with closed-end questions. Since most street children are not educated, they could not read the questionnaires. For this reason, a face-to-face interview was conducted in most cases then transferred to the questionnaires. Those who could read well answered directly on the questionnaire under the supervision of the former street children who were recruited. Consenting children and youths of the street were evaluated for their levels of automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Participants were informed that their decision of whether or not to participate in the research would not in any way compromise their subsequent access to standard treatment. A packet of biscuits was offered to each child as a motivating gift for spending approximately

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an hour to answer the questions. Though participants were allowed to drop out of the research at any point, all consenting participants continued to the end of the research, though a few did not complete all questionnaires.

4.3.2 Study 2 I received permission from the administrative officer in charge of the Kana Foundation to carry out the research project in their NGO. Initially, my interest was to study the effect of resilience enhancement on former street adolescents pursuing vocational training programs. However, that was impossible because there were very few adolescents in vocational training programs. For this reason, the research was carried out on street children pursuing primary education. Enhancement within the vocational training programs for former street adolescents remains a research gap that is worth future investigation. Within the Kana Foundation’s rehabilitation primary education program, a project with 20 children between the ages of 12 and 15 lasted for 6 months. A pre-project survey was conducted and after the project had run for the six months, a post-project survey was conducted. The study took place between February 9, 2015, and August 14, 2015. The project was supervised by Kana Foundation staff members with the aid of some former street children. The children were given packets of biscuits every time they took a survey. During the surveys, we also guaranteed the participants’ privacy. Participants were allowed to withdraw from the research whenever they wished.

4.4 Analysis of Psychological Conditions of Street Children and Youths (Study 1) 4.4.1 Independent t Tests The t tests were conducted with an N of 254 children and youth on the street and 254 children and youth of the street. In order to investigate the differences in the dependent variables between children on the street and children of the street, t tests were conducted. The t tests revealed significant differences in automatic thought, hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. That is, automatic thought and resilience were higher in children of the street than children on the street, but hope, self-efficacy, and self-esteem were higher in children on the street than children of the street (see Table 4.1).

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Table 4.1 Results of independent t test for the main variables between children on the street and children of the street Classification N M SD t value Automatic thought

Hope

Resilience

Self-efficacy

Self-esteem

Children on the street

254

89.16

12.44

Children of the street Children on the street Children of the street Children on the street Children of the street Children on the street Children of the street Children on the street Children of the street

254

106.303

18.32

254

20.307

5.07

254

14.405

3.22

254

72.704

12.52

254

82.52

15.15

254

32.29

4.48

254

21.15

4.33

254

11.12

4.307

252

7.46

3.29

−12.33***

15.63***

–7.96***

28.45***

10.73***

***p < 0.001 N.B. Two children and youth of the street did not answer the self-esteem questionnaire

4.4.1.1

Automatic Thought

The children and youths who lived on the street (children of the street) were associated with a higher level of automatic thought as compared to children and youth who had homes to go back to at night (children on the street). For children and youth on the street, M  89.16 and SD  12.44, while for children and youth of the street had, M  106.31 and SD  18.33, the independent sample t test showed a statistically significant effect: t (506)  −12.33, p < 0.001 (see Table 4.1). Childhood maltreatment, childhood trauma, and automatic thought are connected. For this reason, they are often examined together. They occur in different forms, but are all very visible within poverty-stricken societies and the developing world; they cut across all socioeconomic groups. Though most poor parents do not deliberately maltreat their children, research reveals that children who grow up in poverty are more vulnerable to maltreatment and consequential childhood trauma, which subsequently results in automatic thoughts during teenage and adulthood. There is a strong association between the street children and youth phenomenon with poverty, and countries characterized by income inequality often have street children and youth (Aptekar, 1994; Rabiatu, 2008). While, in some cases, childhood trauma may be directly due to authoritarian parenting, some authoritarian parenting is indirectly due to poverty,

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since poor parents who cannot meet the basic needs of their children often demonstrate a defensive authoritarianism at home. Other researchers have also demonstrated that domestic violence is a characteristic of poor neighborhoods. Sedlack and Broadhurst (1996) argue that most sexually abused children come from poor families. Thoburn (2000) reported that 98% of families who are prone to suffer from emotional maltreatment are families characterized by multidimensional poverty. Also, to prove this claim by looking at the Cameroon situation, a greater proportion of the children of the street in Yaoundé and Douala come from the northern regions of Cameroon, the regions with the greatest number of poor and less educated people (Source: OPHDI, 2016). The two main factors responsible for the phenomenon of street children and childhood trauma in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon are poverty followed by dysfunctional families. Apart from these two, there are other factors, which include: HIV and AIDS, refugee influx, child labor and trafficking, and capitalism and globalization. Childhood Trauma takes various forms: physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and emotional and physical neglect.

4.4.1.2

Children’s Hope

As predicted the effect seen in automatic thought” was reversed for Children’s Hope. For children and youth on the street, M  20.307 and SD  5.07 while for children and youth of the street, M  14.40 and SD  3.22. The independent sample t test showed a statistically significant effect: t (506)  15.63, p < 0.001 (see Table 4.1). There were no children and youth among the 508 participants who reported a high level of hope. The difference does show that those who live on the street (children of the street) are less likely to be hopeful about the future than those who have a home to return to at night (children on the street). It is due to this lack of hope for children of the street that most of them accept the risks of accomplishing deadly missions such as armed robbery, assassinations, kidnappings, and rape. In contrast, many of the children on the street are still being supported by their parents or families. Many are still attending school with the hope of a better life in the future. Still, there is no clear-cut demarcation or dichotomy between the levels of hope for children on the street and children of the street. There are a few children of the street who are very determined and work without becoming involved in crimes, with a hope of finding their proper place in society. On the other hand, there exist children and youth on the street who live with their parents, but are members of gangs that operate in the cities. While most street children and youth feel some sense of hopelessness, the level of hope for children and youth on the street is higher than that of children and youth of the street. For both groups, hopelessness is most often highest during periods of rioting or political instability as the children become more desperate and radicalized. This will probably account for the easy source of recruit for the Ambazonian Defense Force (ADF) of the Southern Cameroons. There are very furious energetic young men with a high moral radicalized by the brutal torture meted on to them by the unprofessional security forces of Cameroon. They are ready

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to fight and die in the course of protecting their property which are being looted and burnt, their grandparents, being burnt, their mothers and sisters being raped in front of them, and their comrades being shot all by the security forces of Cameroon.

4.4.1.3

Resilience

The children on the street showed lower resilience, M  72.71 and SD  12.52, than those of the street, M  82.52 and SD  15.15. The independent sample t test showed a statistically significant effect: t (506)  7.96, p < 0.001 (see Table 4.1). The children and youth of the street had more resilience than children and youth on the street. This suggests that the adversities of living on the street actually build more resilience than working on the street while living at home (Aptekar Kironyi & McAdam-Crisp, 2005). This is because since they must fend for their basic needs by themselves; they have no choice but to counteract the numerous adversities to attend their needs.

4.4.1.4

Self-efficacy

Children on the street exhibited a higher level of Self-Efficacy, M  32.29 and SD  4.48, than those of the street, M  21.15 and SD  4.33). The independent sample t test showed a statistically significant effect: t (506)  28.45, p < 0.001 (see Table 4.1). Self-Efficacy was higher for those who have homes to return to at night than those who live on the street. So, while children and youth of the street are more resilient and able to cope with adversity, they see themselves as less able to control their destinies.

4.4.1.5

Self-esteem

Self-Esteem was higher for children on the street, M  11.12 and SD  4.307, than for children of the street, M  7.46 and SD  3.29. The independent sample t test showed a statistically significant effect: t (504)  10.73, p < 0.001 (see Table 4.1). Self-Esteem is low for both groups of street children, but it is significantly lower for children and youth of the street than children and youth on the street. Street children normally experience low Self-Esteem, because of the trauma they go through. Also, they often face prejudice and are termed delinquents by the communities in which they live. Some street children in sub-Saharan Africa are even accused of witchcraft by their families. These children may be killed or abandoned by their parents to live on the street. In this regard, their communities also reject them (Aleksandra, 2010).

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In Cameroon, though not limited to this group, a good example of children who suffer from prejudice as a result of their handicapped physical conditions at birth are autismrelated children. According to (Nziew, 2014), in this country, autism is attributed to something mysterious and the outcome of bad luck or ancestral curse hence, “people suffering from this disorder witness great social adversity and discrimination and walk with big social rejection stamps on their foreheads.” Within Cameroon society, there are a handful of children who would fight back at all cost to maintain their self-esteem, even at the expense of taking drugs and alcohol, to be seen as persistently bold. Such children often constitute a threat to the communities where they live. People fear them and avoid having a clash with them. They are very dangerous and if they threaten to kill someone, or to rob his or her home, no one doubts that they would be able to do so without being caught. For this reason, many people in their communities fear them. Based on the t test results, children and youth of the street, and children and youth on the street have significant dissimilar psychological conditions in all the variables which were tested.

4.4.2 Correlation In this section, I examine the correlations that exist between automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem across all 508 street children (see Table 4.2). Automatic thought is negatively related to Children’s Hope, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Each of these relationships is significant at the p < 0.01 level, based on two-tailed tests of the correlation coefficients. The surprising result is that, automatic thought is positively related to resilience, also at the p

Table 4.2 Correlation analysis Automatic Children’s thought hope Automatic Thought

Self-efficacy

Resilience

Self-esteem

1 −0.163**

1

1

Children’s Hope

−0.350**

Self-Efficacy

−0.331**

0.500**

Resilience Self-Esteem

0.365** −0.231**

−0.071 0.219**

1

*p < 0.05 **p < 0.01 (All p values are for two-tailed tests.)

1 −0.239** 0.397**

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< 0.01 level. This finding could be summarized as “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Children who have experienced a higher level of automatic thoughts are more resilient, or better able to deal with adversities. Still, the levels of resilience are not high for either group. Resilience-building programs could improve the results for these children on all of the measures.

4.4.3 Regression Children’s Hope was selected as the dependent variable for the multiple regressions because it is believed to be the key to the future success of the street children in escaping life on the street. The multiple regression tests the independent effects of the other four variables on Children’s Hope. In other words, if three of the variables are held constant, what effect will the fourth variable have on Children’s Hope? Looking at the standardized (Beta) coefficients in Table 4.3 the largest negative effects are, as expected, automatic thought (t  −3.367, p < 0.001). Each independently makes a negative contribution to the Children’s Hope. On the positive side, a sense of self-efficacy (t  7.098, p < 0.001) contributes the most to Children’s Hope, while resilience (t  2.738, p < 0.006) makes a moderate contribution. Finally, Self-Esteem (t  −0.754, p < 0.459) appears to have little or no independent effect on Children’s Hope. To regain hope, the children’s automatic thought need to drop, their self-esteem need to increase, their self-efficacy needs to increase, and their resilience needs to increase (Table 4.3). Table 4.3 Regression coefficient (Children’s Hope-dependent variable) Model Unstandardized coefficient Standardized coefficient B Std. Error Beta 1 (constant)

21.888

2.239

Resilience Selfefficacy

0.037 0.233

0.014 0.033

0.106 0.319

−0.036 −0.042

0.048 0.012

−0.029 −0.143

Self-esteem Automatic thought *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01 ***p < 0.001

t

9.774*** 2.738** 7.098*** −0.740 −3.367**

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4.5 Study 1 in Context 4.5.1 Detail Reasons for the High Negative Automatic Thoughts Poverty, domestic violence, children trafficking, and HIV/aids already mentioned in Chap. 3 are the main causes of high negative automatic thoughts and the low results of the four positive citizen’s psychology variables. Even though Cameroon was not heavily destabilized by the world economic crisis of 2007–2009, poverty remains a big issue. A decline in the oil supply due to declining oil wells, as well as a decline in agricultural products from the North due to Boko Haram, has further compounded the situation. According to the World Bank (2013), the overall poverty rate of Cameroon has not dropped, but has risen within the poverty-stricken regions. “Cameroon suffers from weak government, hindering its development and ability to attract investments.” “It ranks 172 out of 189 economies in the 2016 doing business report” (World Bank, 2017). There is also food scarcity within the poverty-stricken regions. According to the Education Policy and Data Center [EPDC] (2014), 10% of Cameroon’s youth have no formal education, and 20% of the youth drop out of primary school before completion. This implies that 30% of the youths do not attain any primary school certificates. So from the economic standpoint, apart from the super-rich elites, the common man in Cameroon goes through high negative automatic thoughts and trauma. On the other hand, most of the street children and youth due to fear of a bleak future feel hopeless, with limited self-esteem and self-efficacy. Even though their resilience appears to be okay, on the contrary, their resources are most often not acquired through a culturally meaningful manner since most have to engage in unorthodox methods to survive. It should also be noted that not all children from impoverished families end up on the street. Most children from poor homes that are peaceful and caring still endure the poverty in exchange for the protection, and emotional and physical attachment, that they receive at home. This should serve as a reminder to parents that, even during times of financial hardship, there is still ample need to keep the love and peace of the family intact instead of being overwhelmed by negative automatic thoughts. A child experiencing multidimensional poverty in a nurturing home environment of love, care, and peace can survive poverty and still deem the family home a more secure place than the street (Suda, 1995). Even some children of wealthy but dysfunctional families end up on the street because the parents and children are in conflict or the children lack parental attachment. Threats of domestic violence by parents can also cause the children to move onto the streets.

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4.5.2 Trauma, Bio-Ecological Environment, Hierarchy of Needs, and Attachment Theories According to Perry (cited in Gimson & Trewhella, 2014, p. 8), “a trauma is a psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of normal childhood experience and involves a sense of intense fear, terror and helplessness.” According to (Trauma and Abuse, 2018), trauma can be of two types. That which results from a single traumatic event and that which results from a series of events and or a chronic condition, for example, childhood neglect, regular sexual abuse, domestic violence. Single or post-traumatic stress disorders are symptoms associated with traumatic events such as an armed robbery attack and rape, a house fire disaster, a car accident, flood incident, earthquake. This may result in automatic thoughts which can cause recurrent bad dreams. Children who experience complex trauma are exposed to despair which can cause them to indulge in drug abuses and a subsequent conflict with the forces of law and order. This situation is very common with a vast number of street youth. According to (The Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project, 2012), traumatic events often disturb the child from functioning normally since they generate intense emotional and physical reactions within the child as seen in the list below: emotional: terror, intense fear, horror, helplessness, disorganized or agitated, and behavior, and physical: rapid heart rates, trembling, dizziness, and loss of bladder or bowel control. “Childhood trauma has a lasting impact on brain development and on the formation of a secure attachment between the child and their caregivers” (Gimson & Trewhella, 2014, p. 8). According to (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2015, p. 1), “there is now scientific evidence of altered brain functioning as a result of early abuse and neglect. This emerging body of knowledge has many implications for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect.” Also, according to Shonkoff and Phillips (cited in Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2015, p. 2), “research now shows that many capacities thought to be fixed at birth are actually dependent on a sequence of experiences combined with heredity. Both factors are essential for optimum development of the human brain.” A practical work which has actually demonstrated this problem of trauma is that of the Juconi Foundation. According to (Schrader & Herrera, 2014), it was discovered in the Juconi Foundation that, beside poverty and inequality, a cross section of the children and families who work with Juconi suffered from lack of memory and nightmares. This drove their attention to the fact that, the behavior pattern was due to antecedent traumatic events whose consequences are still visible, so they integrated a trauma therapeutic process in the core educational work. An examination of a modified version of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (Segal & Jaelline, 2016) can best portray the character of children who have not been attached to their parents or families in relation to those who have (see Table 4.4). The attachment of children to their families during upbringing is very important and was included in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). “It is due to the importance of attachment that, it is stated in the CRC that all children have the right a minimum level of well-being and the right to grow up in their biological families” (UNICEF, 2007).

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Apart from the attachment theory, Bronfenbrenner’s theory of bio-ecological environment highlighted a holistic approach to child raising. This theory views children as made up of diverse genetic characteristics, but emphasizes that genetics is not the end of child development, because human beings need to interact with environmental proximal processes to develop effectively. Experience reveals that people with similar genes would develop differently in different bio-ecological environments. Individuals’ social circumstance also changes either positively or negatively over time to reshape their development trends or destinies. Also, since the genes of individuals are not the same, children placed in a perfect bio-ecological condition will not likely develop in the same manner. So, putting this idea in context of the poverty in Cameroon, which affects a bulk of the population, childhood household deprivations accounted for a significant portion of the overall deprivation with 56% of the children severely deprived of shelter (UNDP, 2015). For this reason, most often these children quit school, and end up in the hands of children traffickers or on the street, where they become detached from their families and the mainstream socioeconomic activities. “Children need people to become human. It is primarily through observing, playing, and working with others older and younger than himself that a child discovers both what he can do and who he can become, that he develops both his ability and his identity, hence to relegate children to a world of their own is to deprive them of their humanity, and ourselves as well” Urie Bronfenbrenner, (as cited in Brownrigy, 2006, p. 1). Street children face the worst forms of detachments and most often, if they are attached to their peers and gang leaders on the street, the attachment is with people of bad moral character, not to role models. Based on the analysis on the nature of the bio-ecological environment of Cameroon, just a few children of the rich have been able to grow within an ideal environment like that assumed by Bronfenbrenner’s theory of bio-ecological environment. Without good parenting and conducive bio-ecological environment to develop, most children face a hard time catching up with their basic needs. The situation of street children and youth in Cameroon has been illustrated in the Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs to better demonstrate the difficulties they go through. As seen in Fig. 1.2. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in Chap. 1, generally, the street children and youth of Cameroon face difficulties regarding their ability to meet the basic needs of life. Physiological: Street children and youths need to strive very hard to attain the basic needs of life. Some even die because they could not attain these basic needs. These children are most often vulnerable to diseases, sexual abuse, drugs, and harassment from peers, the police, and the public. They need to beg or work very hard on the streets or in the markets to be able to have food to eat. Most have no caregivers or parent. Even those who have parents, their parents are not viable enough to furnish their needs. Some parents even depend on their own adolescent children for their own basic needs. Safety: Looking at safety, most of the street children and youth in Cameroon are not safe for the street is a very dangerous place open to crimes like drugging, raping, and stealing. However, some of the children and youth on the street may be protected to a certain extent since they have parents or guidance to sleep with them at night times. Being marginalized and excluded from the mainstream socioeconomic activities, most of those who want to work as opposed to stealing can only engage in mean activities like begging, shoe shining, and scavenging

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metals from refuge dumps. Actually, nearly all of them do not have adequate access to health care. Love and Belongingness: Although some children and youth of the street are well connected to their families, some are usually not connected with them. The gang friendships they make are often a bad influence; hence, it is not often very beneficial to their growth. Esteem: Since they are excluded from the mainstream socioeconomic activities, they often have low self-esteem. Individual’s self-esteem is determined by the role he or she plays in the mainstream socioeconomic activities and the family. However despite this, some very stubborn ones still fight back to maintain their self-esteem by all cost. They try to intimidate and use force so that the communities where they live fear them even if they are not respected. They are often apprehensive of prejudice in the presence of others hence react with anger and threats toward those who dare to prejudice them. In this way, they walk around very bold with their heads up. Self-actualization: With this exclusion, they cannot have access to the resources that permit growth; hence, they become hopeless, stigmatized, and fall short of self-actualization. For children to be raised so that they do not end up on the street as a result of unattached effects like the case of the street children and youth in Cameroon, it is important to understand attachment theory. “Attachment parenting,” or AP, “is an approach to child rearing intended to forge strong, secure attachments between parents and children” (Gwen, 2017, “The science of,” para. 1). According to (Amy, 2014), Bowl by postulated the attachment theory after he was commissioned by the World Health Organization to write a report on the mental health of homeless kids during post-Second World war, Europe. This theory is very important and must be explored by every parent because; it seeks to explain how to form a strong and healthy bonding with children. This is very important for a healthy development of the brain of the child as brain development is an interaction of the gene and the lifestyle of the child.

Table 4.4 Attachment styles, parenting styles, and resulting adult characteristics Attachment Parental styles Resulting adult characteristics styles 1. Secure

In tune with child’s emotions

2. Avoidant

Rejecting or unavailable

3. Ambivalent

Inconsistency and sometimes intrusive parental communication

Anxious and insecure, tend to be blaming and controlling, although charming can be unpredictable

4. Disorganized

Ignored or did not see child’s needs. Parents frightening and traumatizing

Chaotic insensitive: explosive, abusive, untrusting even while craving security

5. Reactive

Extremely unattached or malfunctioning

Cannot establish relationship. Often misdiagnosed

Source Segal and Jaelline (2016)

Able to create meaningful relationships, be empathetic, and set boundaries Avoids emotional connection. Can be critical, distant, and intolerant

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Looking at Table 4.4 above, at row 1, the caregiver works in tune with child’s emotions. In this case, there is an emphasis on intimate relationship with the use of methods such as breast-feeding, the baby wearing sling, and co-sleeping. The parents of such children react adequately to their needs and that is why the children often seek comfort from them when they get scared. Kids raised in this way can get upset when separated from their parents but easily resume happiness when their parents return. When they mature, they can create meaningful relationships, be empathetic, and set boundaries. The kids are also known to be more organized and not as aggressive as those of the other rows. In row 2 (see Table 4.4), the parents are unavailable; hence, there is no emotional connection. This is very typical when parents fall into a depression and children need reassurance when they are frightened but there is no one there to reassure them hence after a while they become insecure. In this case, the children also develop difficulties in connecting with people in the society since they become very suspicious of strangers. They are stressful when separated from their parents or caregivers and feel unsafe even after their parent comeback. They are capable of aggressively rejecting parents and at the latter part of their childhood, they might become over-dependent. In the case of row 3 (see Table 4.4), the parents are inconsistent or absent for some time. In this situation, the child grows up with the spirit of being anxious and insecure. The child also tends to be blaming and controlling and, although charming, can be unpredictable. In this case, the child also sees no difference between parents and strangers. The last two rows concern the worst-case scenario. Row 4 (see Table 4.4) is a disorganized attachment style, with parents ignoring the child’s needs, looking frightening, and traumatic. The children grow up to be chaotic and insensitive, explosive, abusive, and untrusting, even while craving security. These are the types of homes that breed street children. Lastly, row 5 represents reactive. This is extremely unattached or malfunctioning. This type of person cannot establish any relationship. This attachment theory cannot be effective within most of the poverty-stricken families in Cameroon because one of the main points in the theory is to be able to provide the children needs to the fullest. These needs obviously include a balanced diet, toys, school needs, and tuition. On the contrary in some cases in Cameroon, it is the street children and youth who provide to their parents from their daily begging on the street or shoe shining for, both parents and children may be on the street. Parents may be blind or even with HIV/AIDS opportunist infections. Sometimes the children are left with the old grandmothers who have little or no strength to work for their needs. However, it should be noted that, although according to (Gwen, 2017, “The science of,” para. 5), a large body of research reveals that, “sensitive, responsive, parenting benefits children,” not every practice works for everyone. For example, the use of baby wearing sling as postulated by Sear has not worked in some cases for it does not stop colicky babies from excessive crying. There is also a misconception of the meaning of, sensitive, responsive parenting. This does not imply that one must respond to a baby each time it cry’s by means of offering breast or food but an accurate interpretation of the baby’s signals and responding to them adequately is proper. According to (Curtis, 2012), while it has been proven that children without attachment with parents or caregivers are prone to poor brain development, there is no evidence to show that babies who breast-fed only for 6 months kept to sleep on

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baby cribs and moved in pushed strollers develop differently. Furthermore, sharing the bed with a toddler can be risky for an adult who sleeps much can mistakenly lie on the baby and suffocate it to death. The baby is also at risk of being contaminated with SIDS.

4.5.3 Variations in the Lives of Street Children In the Cameroon context, most children and youth who live at home with their parents or guardians engage in activities on the street in one way or the other. These can be students or drop outs from school. Students often start activities on the street with the hope of equipping themselves with school needs, but too much of these activities results in poor grades and subsequent dropping out of school. This type of street children is termed children on the street. They are generally less exposed to trauma, because most of them live with their parent in a caring family bio-ecological setting, but carry on these activities just to subsidize their living expenses. In Cameroon, children on the street can be put into three categories even though there is no dichotomy between children and youth of the street and children and youth of the street because one who is a child on the street today can be a child of the street tomorrow.

4.5.3.1

Students Who Sell on the Street Only During Vacations

During vacation in Cameroon, the streets of central business districts, and those close to a market, are often saturated with children selling secondhand clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetic products, and foodstuffs such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. Some even sell old textbooks and new exercise books. These children, who appear only during vacations, are children of poor and middle-income families, who are engaged in vacation money making to subsidize their school needs or to help their parents. Though they are children on the street, they are children from organized, loving, and caring homes. These types of children are well disciplined and focused on their education. This is a reason why most children on the street are less prone to automatic thought.

4.5.3.2

Students Who Sell on the Street Even Part-Time During School Period

The children of the very poor start selling on the street during vacation just as those discussed above. Their own situation becomes more difficult, because they could not meet their school needs. Most often, their parents do not have enough money to add to what they made during vacation. In this frustrating circumstance, they have no choice but to be absent from school during some days to sell on the street. Such children still have hope and are relatively free of trauma. In Cameroon, it is very common to find resilient youths who have successfully achieved their goals in life by

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working like this. To justify this, as cited in Rabiatu (2008), according to UNICEF, a reasonable number of children who work on the street are children of the poor who do so to supplement family incomes, especially school needs. Also, according to Father Joe Komakoma, general secretary of the Zambian Bishop’s conference, (as cited in Rabiatu, 2008), poverty plays a central role in the proliferation of children hawkers on the streets of large cities of Cameroon. This group of children and youth of the street may experience some trauma, but it is not much since they still have a lot of hope in life.

4.5.3.3

Drop Outs and Non-students Who Sell on the Street All the Time

If skipping school to sell on the streets is repeated time and again during school period, the child loses his grip on school work. Such a child may be facing a problem of lack of tuition and books, which results in the school authority sending him or her out of class. At the same time, the parents may be sick with HIV and AIDS and the child may be the one assisting them financially. This is when extreme trauma sets in and the child has no choice but to drop out of school to continue working on the street. Some children even lose their parents in this manner and end up having nobody to take responsibility over them. During the survey exercise, I came across a 15-year-old male street child whose name has been replaced by amazing child for security reasons. Amazing child is eager to tell the world his story. I was attending primary school in the village. Though my father passed away four years ago, I enjoyed a subsistence life with my mother. The beginning of my problems started up when my uncle, who lives in Yaoundé city, learned about my amazing character. When he came to the village, he convinced my mother to allow him take me to Yaoundé for better education and prosperous future. My mother being obedient to the late husband’s brother yielded to his demands. It has been 4 years since he brought me to the city, but he has not sent me to any school. He always promises each academic year that, the next year I will start going to school yet I continue to do his domestic jobs, and sell his wife’s ice cream on the street during the days. I do all of this hoping that one day he might be sympathetic and send me to school.

This is indeed a traumatic story and when we spoke with them, most of the street children had similarly pathetic stories that show they have been victimized by circumstances beyond their control. Most often such children continue living with their masters just to be able to have food. Some in similar conditions rebel and join gangs of the street.

4.5.3.4

Trafficked Children Who Sell for Their Masters or Relatives

This last group is most often brought from the countryside to the city by deceit. Either an agent or a family member deceives the parents of the child by saying that he or she is taking the child to town for a better education and future. When they arrive in the city the story changes, as most often the slave master sends the child to

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the street to sell, or engage in prostitution if female. A good example is the story of one girl popularly known as sweet sixteen. When we left one night to conduct the survey, we were taken to these two 16-year-old girls at a nightclub. One was called sweet sixteen and the other queen of the night. We introduced ourselves to them as researchers, and sweet sixteen was willing to cooperate by explaining how she found herself on the street. According to sweet sixteen: I was living in the village, but when I completed primary school my parents did not have enough money to sponsor me in secondary school. Just when they were arranging to forcefully get me marry to one old rich man, my aunt interrupted to take me to the city for further studies. When I followed her to the city, the story became different. At her home I met with many other young girls who were all dressed half naked and gazing at me. Very soon I saw elderly men moving in and out with the very young girls. The whole environment was full of swear words which made me scared. Amidst the trauma and fear I held my breath and went to sleep. The following day as I tried to mention schooling to my aunt, her countenance changed. As time went on, she gave me a variety of the types of indecent clothes won by the other girls. She went ahead to tell me that, I must join the other girls to make some money before going to school. This was the beginning of my tragedy. I was later on imposed on a man old enough to be the dad of my father. I had to be part of this whole game for 2 years after which I escaped to the street. Now I have my own room, but every night we move around the street looking for clients.

Based on these examples, it is clear that street children are living with a great deal of trauma. This was a sort of sex slavery for the girls, in which they were being given out to men by their slave owners, who collected the fees. This is a case of children being entrapped in sex slavery. The fact is that, though some of the children practicing prostitution went into it by themselves, a majority were lured into this activity against their will. Contrary to children and youth on the street, children and youth of the street seem to exhibit more automatic thought because they are totally homeless, and most often they abandoned their homes after a traumatic incident. Some are ex-convicts, and most of them face very tough challenges, living homeless. However, though there are some children of the street who have been driven out of their families because they committed serious offenses, some are driven out by their families through no fault of theirs. Also, most children of the street begin as children on the street before resorting to spending days and nights on the street. Some are born on the street and live with their parents there. Some are neither of the street nor on the street for at some point, they are found sleeping at home and during another period they are sleeping in the street. In addition, the good children who move to the street are often forced to join dreadful gangs that engage in traumatic events such as armed robbery, kidnaping, assassinations, rape, and drugging. It is also not easy for the children and youth of the street not to join gang, because it is through them that they have protection. This process paves the way for gifted or amazing children to be transformed by these gangs. This has become very tough for the residents, because street children in Cameroon are implicated in the crime wave rising in the economic capital of Douala (Pefok, 2006). Some street youths work on the street and take care of their families. When we went down to the street in Yaoundé, we met with a street boy who told us that he works and help his parents who are HIV and AIDS patients and so cannot work. We

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also met with alias Sufferboy who told us why he was driven out of his family “I was disinherited by my greedy uncles and now I face death threats. Now that I am here, I do not want them to know where I am”. It can be concluded that, generally, children of the street experience a significant increase in trauma and automatic thought than children on the street. This is because a significant number of children on the street are there, because they work to subsidize family incomes, but are still cared for by their families. On the other hand, generally, most children of the street have been abandoned to fend for themselves. This does not cancel the fact that, in some cases they are still well connected to their poor parents, who are being taken care of by them. However, looking at cases specifically, it is common to find some children on the street with a higher childhood trauma than most children of the street. Examples of such cases are those who live with relatives or their masters and work on the street just for a daily bread and sometimes undergo the torture of sexual harassment and rape.

4.5.4 Resilience in Context Looking at resilience within the context of street children and youth in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon, there are many reasons for the above average resilience in the result despite the adversities on the street. However, everything being equal, resilience would increase only when the following conditions are favorable: low automatic thought and high hope, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. According to Titus (2006), self-esteem and self-efficacy enhance a positive emotional condition and social resilience. Family and community bonding provide a sense of belonging and protection; this regulates behavior and motivates people to live in accordance with the norms of the society. When we feel that our role positively affects the society in which we live, then we are likely able to develop motivation and act, which would allow us to withstand external and internal negative pressure (Titus, 2006). These favorable conditions interact with our genetic makeup to determine our levels of resilience. According to Bandura as cited by Titus (2006), the most important personality characteristic that can boost resilience is self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the ability for one to recognize his or her ability to accomplish the required tasks and the courage or confidence to deal with various daily tasks. People with high self-efficacy are resilient and are more often successful. The moderate resilience level of street children and youth, as suggested by the results of this research, is very high given the degree of adversity and risk street children and youth face in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon. Their automatic thought level is high, while their Children’s Hope and self-esteem are low. Only their self-efficacy is at a reasonable level, and this favors resilience. The street children of these cities are also cutoff from the mainstream socioeconomic activities of their communities, which mean that they have been blocked from having access to the resources necessary to succeed. However, street children have been shown to be resilient across cultures, according to many studies. For example, according to Suman, Sta, and Morojele (2011), reporting on resilience research conducted in New Delhi (India),

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Jakarta (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines), and Pretoria (South Africa), “the resilience scores suggested that the respondents across the four countries displayed high resilience” (p. 12). The work of Aptekar, Kironyo, and McAdam (2005), also confirms that street children are Resilient. In addition, a study by Ali (2011) also supports the fact that street children are resilient despite the adversities they face. The reason for the resilience amid adversities is that street children must fend for their basic needs and those who surrender may die. According to Suman et al. (2011), resilience relates to an individual’s ability to bounce back or return to a normal state following adversity. Children are not impervious to continual risks; nevertheless, it seems that some are more resilient than others (pp. 11–14). Looking at street children and youth within the context of Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon, based on the theory of resilience, it cannot be seen simply as the ability for an individual or a community to bounce back from adversity. This is a very complex phenomenon, which must be carefully examined. Cameroonian street children experience a combination of regular exposure to traumatic events and the constant stress involved in acquiring survival resources, which they have been excluded from by their communities. To cover the explanation of this complex scenario, resilience is thus defined as: The capacity of both individuals and their environments to interact in ways that optimize development processes. Specifically, research shows that in situations of adversity, resilience is observed when individuals engage in behaviors that help them to navigate their way to the resources they need to flourish. These processes occur, however, only when the individual’s social ecology (formal and informal social networks) has the capacity to provide resources in ways that are culturally meaningful. (Ungar, 2013, p. 256)

Furthermore, some authorities argue that, “the personal agency of individuals to navigate and negotiate for what they need is dependent upon the capacity and willingness of people’s social ecologies to meet those needs” Bottrell and Easterbrooks (as cited in Ungar, 2013, p. 256). However, in most developing countries such as Cameroon, access to developmental resources is strictly controlled by politics, social stratification, and norms. This results in a wide income gap among the population, giving rise to a distribution with a few super-rich people with too much access to resources and a large majority with limited access to resources. The stress involved in accessing developmental resources is responsible for the proliferation of street children. Countries such as Cameroon, without comprehensive policies fostering an inclusive economy or economic integration, often deprive vulnerable populations, such as street children, of development resources. For this reason, since these children must constantly strive to survive, they tend to build up resilience, despite the enormous adversities involve in procuring resources. The dishonest ones engage in procuring resources in a culturally unacceptable way, through illicit activities such as prostitution, drug trafficking, robbery, pickpocketing, scamming, and commercial assassinations, and the may even become Boko Haram recruits. For example, as supported by this citation in Ungar (2013), Gilligan, a psychiatrist, suggests that the shame that results from inequitable public policy increases social marginalization and causes individuals to use violence as a coping strategy. So, this group includes prostitutes, thieves (pickpockets and armed robbers), commercial assassins. These types of street children can be very dangerous.

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They attack with arms and rob people at night, seizing their money, phones, jewelry, clothes shoes, and cars. As cited in Monde (2015), there is no shortage of recruits for Boko Haram in Cameroon’s Far North. Colonel Joseph Nouma said, “We know ‘Boko Haram’ is recruiting youth in Cameroon.” They recruit street children (Almajiri school children who learn the Koran and beg on the street). Also, other very disturbing groups are the street children newly recruited by gangs. They often work as pickpockets in the street, as people visit the markets. As mentioned earlier, these types of street children and youth are often organized into gangs and trained by adults. In Cameroon, these gangs constitute a serious national security threat. These are all survival strategies that mischievous street children and youth use to meet their basic needs. A good example of a mischievous street youth experience is a case of highway armed robbery, which is presently common within Douala-Yaoundé road. According to this 17-year-old street youth called “Done Man,” I am from the Northern part of Cameroon. I was driven from my family by a greedy uncle after the death of my father who was a rich nomadic cattle raiser. My uncle declared me a wizard which was a strategy of giving a bad name to a dog to hang it. They said I and my mother bewitched and killed my father. We were both declared outcasts and that marked the beginning of my wandering lifestyle. That was just his strategy to disinherit us which he succeeded for the whole community believed him. Due to severe poverty, I joined Boko Haram with a high salary to be able to make some money to start a business. Actually, I did succeed in making some reasonable money. My greatest problem was that, when I decided to withdraw, they would not allow me to go. They decided to kill me if I ceased to continue so I had no choice than to run down to the Southern part of Cameroon where they could not easily trace me out. While in Douala the Economic capital of Cameroon, there were no jobs. Due to the pressure of starvation, I joined a survival gang. The operation of our gang was mainly highway robbery. We halted transport luxurious buses at very dangerous corners of the highway especially at night and did away with money, jewelries, and other belongings of passengers. May God forgive me for this gang was very dreadful and I am already out of that horrible type of lifestyle. We were all very young guys who had much experience in the manipulation of guns. I had my training with Boko Haram; they were other two guys who had been children soldiers in Central African Republic. Others where trained locally by our gang leader and us. Now I have given my life to Allah. I am a changed person.

Another street youth of age 18 told me how he made a lot of money, but it is unfortunate that it got finished and he has come back to the street. He calls himself “Doctor of Greedy People.” According to him, I was a victim of the mistakes of my father. When my mother passed away, he got married to a very young lady who hated and did not like to see me. She refused me from having access to food and even the peace of living in my own father’s house when I was still less than 16 years old. Based on this strange attitude, I had no choice than to leave my father’s roof immaturely. During my struggle in this world of temptations without a proper guardian, I met with a gang of strong men. They pretended to make Dollar bills at the expense of their greedy clients. They called their clients greedy persons because only a greedy person will want his or her money doubled without working for the extra amount. When I joined this mischievous gang, I learnt the tricks. For the sake of your research I can tell you the tricks provided you accept never to reveal my identity. During the deals, we and our clients usually take an oath to keep it a secret. We usually cut a lot of white papers into

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4 Building the Resilience of Street Children and Youths … Dollar bill sizes, tint or dye them black and arranged in a box. We usually deceive our clients that, we use very expensive chemicals (SSD) made up of mercury to develop the money with, though we do not even know this chemical. On the contrary we manipulate them by simply using powder soap and water. What we do is that, we expose the well-shaped tinted black papers of Dollar bill sizes in our left palms and conceal folded real dollar bills in the right palms by pouring powder soap on it. Then we have some water in a bucket and some colored liter of water in a bottle. We claim that, the powder soap in our hands and the colored water in the bottle is the chemicals we mix in the water to wash the Dollar bills. If there are 4 black cut papers exposed in the left palm, then there must be 4 real Dollar bills carefully bent and concealed in powder soap in the right palm. To proceed, we dip the right palm in the water and shake it. As the water foams, the greedy client cannot see the real dollar bills already put alongside the powder soap in the water. We then proceed by putting the 4 exposed black papers of Dollar bill shape in the water. The highest trick is at the next step. We pour the colored water in the bottle into the bucket and use the bottle to stir the water. While stirring the water, we pick up all the black papers alongside the bottle and rush to throw far away since we claim that, the bottle is very poisonous as very strong chemicals have been emptied from it. After that the stirring process continues for a while, the 4 dollar bills are removed and kept to get dry. The greedy client then becomes convinced that the 4 Dollar bills were newly created money and in the same way accepts to pay for more chemicals to be bought so that the rest of the money should be washed.

This is a great scam and it is spreading all over the world. People need to be very careful about this for no right-thinking person will believe that an individual person has the ability to fabricate money. The honest street children and youth engage in menial activities such as street begging, shoe shining, and dancing in exchange for tips, and some engage in scavenging. Activities such as scavenging metal scraps from waste dumps are quite hazardous. For example, high-tech toxic trash found in waste dumps contains very dangerous pollutants, such as lead, mercury, and brominated flame retardants, yet street children and youth burn electrical cables to obtain copper wires. Based on the theory of the hierarchy of human needs, by Maslow, these children and youth have no choice. They must engage in activities that can enable them to gain at least the basic needs of human survival. At this juncture, the neglected children strive to find a survival strategy. However, those who do not attain these basic needs die. It is for this reason that good or amazing children who find themselves on the street are easily converted by gangs, because the gangs guarantee them economic security. These gangs are often run by adults, who train the children and youth and send them out on assignments. This area represents a research gap which needs further investigation concerning the proportion of street children who engage in illicit activities to those who struggle to work for their basic needs without breaking the law. I found a good success story of this group in Douala called “Aluminum King,” a former youth of the street who now owns an aluminum recycling workshop that creates pots. Many children and youth of the street are engaged in the collection of these metals. It is good business for them, because they can make up to $4 US per day selling just the collected scraps. Aluminum King started by picking and selling the scraps before beginning to buy and transform them into pots after being taught by a good Samaritan. This is an example of an amazing street adolescent with high resilience. Though they have been pushed away to the outskirts of the economy, he

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has succeeded in tapping some of the discarded materials and transforming them into valuable economic resources. According to Aluminum King, he has been able to get married and take care of his family via that business. Street children and youth face a unique set of circumstances regarding their ability to meet the needs identified by Maslow (1943). Physiologically, street children and youth need to strive very hard to attain the basic needs of life. These children and youth are most often vulnerable to diseases, sexual abuse, drugs, and harassment from peers, the police, and the public.

4.6 Reintegration Via Resilience Enhancement, a Project at Kana Foundation (Study 2) Study 2 is a continuation of study 1. It was meant to enhance the resilience of street children based on the results of study 1. The intervention described in this study was designed to reduce automatic thought and enhance Children’s Hope, resilience, selfefficacy, and self-esteem, with an increase in resilience being the central goal. Twenty former street children participated in the intervention and all completed pre- and post-surveys. The psychology enhancement exercise took place for 6 months (from February 9, 2015, to August 14, 2015). The initial plan was to work with adolescents or street youth undergoing vocational education within the rehabilitation home, but unfortunately there were not enough adolescents in the rehabilitation home. Research on adolescents remains a research gap. The study applied ideas from various theories of child development to enhance the situation. The most important theories applied were the bio-ecological environment theory of Bronfenbrenner, Bowlby’s theory of attachment, and the resilience theory of Michael Ungar. The main objective of this project was to increase the resilience of former street children pursuing primary education at the Kana Foundation NGO Rehabilitation Center in Yaoundé. The aim was to enable them to concentrate on their studies so that they could perform well.

4.6.1 Assessment of Needs for the Street Children and Youth The past decades have experienced an upsurge of street children and youth within the major cities of Cameroon. Some of them are very dangerous. For example, according to Pefok (2006), as already seen in the preceding chapter, the street children in Cameroon are implicated in the crime wave rising in the economic capital of Douala. They begin with pickpocketing operations and can work their way up to much larger dangerous robbery operations. Other dangerous habits they practice include smoking marijuana with impunity and raping women by night (Pefok, 2006). Experience reveals that there is a similar situation in Yaoundé. The blame for this

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proliferation of street children does not lie with the children; most of them are victims of circumstances beyond their controls. One of the most alarming and widespread sources of street children is orphans from parents who died of HIV and AIDS. Cameroon has one of the highest rates of HIV and AIDS in the world. In 2010, orphans resulting from HIV and AIDS constituted 25.3% of the total population of orphans in Cameroon and it was also projected that, by 2015, there will be 350, 644 children orphaned by HIV and AIDS making up 27.2% of total orphans (Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs [MINAS], 2015). Orphans who saw their parents die abruptly are much traumatized, and so need to bounce back from adversity. Some of the street children flee from wars in neighboring countries. For example, the youths who flee from Boko Haram in Nigeria and the civil war in Central African Republic see Cameroon as a safe haven. “Some teenagers and adults from Central African Republic (CAR) and Nigeria are lured by the prospects of better life in Cameroon and subsequently become victims of trafficking” (United States Department of State, 2013). As a consequence of the ongoing regional crisis in Nigeria and Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon has been a host to refugees and asylum seekers from these two countries. As of August 2014, Cameroon had more than 24,000 refugees (UNHCR, 2015). Amid this misery some of these refugees and their children move down into the main cities of Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon in search of a better life. Most of their children end up in the streets of these cities. The foreign street children who have experienced wars come in with more experience and trauma that leads to very dangerous gangs. In Douala, many live at the Catholic Cathedral under tents. Sub-Saharan Africa, during recent decades, has also suffered from degradation in family ties due to urbanization and capitalism as opposed to the extended family bonding which has always been an integral part of African culture. Child trafficking has also become a phenomenon in Cameroon. “Cameroon is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking” (United States Department of State, 2013). The traumatized escapees from this business end up on the streets. There is also an increase in the number of children whose parents have been incarcerated. These children become helpless and some of them move onto the street. Some of the children, based on the superstitious beliefs of Africans, are termed witches and expelled from their families. However, children in all these circumstances are vulnerable children and it is only until when they move onto the streets that they are termed street children. After communicating with different NGOs dealing in the rehabilitation of vulnerable children in Cameroon I realized that street children are among the most difficult to rehabilitate. I learned of serious disciplinary difficulties involved in the rehabilitation of street children relative to other vulnerable groups who have never been on the streets. For this reason, street children make up a minority of the children in rehabilitation homes, since they often return to the streets after a short stay in the homes. It is for this reason that, even though this resilience enhancement is necessary for all vulnerable children, there is a special need for rehabilitating street children in particular.

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The truth is that street children have gone through too much stereotyping and prejudice in the society in which they live. They have a tendency to believe that they are not wanted, and so can enjoy life only among themselves. For this reason, they form gangs for mutual protection, which often end up in dangerous criminal operations. Separating them from these gangs for rehabilitation, vocational, or primary education requires a great deal of skill. Enhancing their resilience, by increasing Children’s Hope, self-esteem, and self-efficacy remains a good solution to this problem. The education of Cameroon street children is in the context of violence, conflict, and fragility. Amid these adversities, resilience is a very important tool to help the children develop concentration on their rehabilitation training programs.

4.6.2 Target Audience The target audience for the resilience enhancement project is the former street children of the Kana Foundation NGO Rehabilitation Training Centers. Awareness of the problem must be increased or extended among the parents, guardians, mentors, teachers, pastors, the government, the communities where street children live, and every single person on the globe who has compassion for children.

4.6.3 Individual Participant Assessment During the first month, we identified, assessed, and focused on each child’s current strengths, skills, and talents. An initial assessment took place involving each child by means of a quantitative pre-survey and an oral assessment of the six domains identified by (Daniel & Wassell, 2005). These surveys measured automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The oral interview revealed vital information on resilience such as secure base, social integration, school integration, and ability to control behavior. Detailed rolling oral assessments then continued separately with the rehabilitation workers and each child. After the pre-survey, the children with severe automatic thought where given psychological counseling. The training was focused on identifying and enhancing the six domains (Daniel & Wassell, 2005): secure base, education, friendships, talents and interests, positive values, and social competencies. These six domains interact to form a resilient individual. By using the structured model of Daniel and Wassell (2005) to interview the children, the project workers were able to identify the specific domains that needed strengthening for each child. The rehabilitation staff was also trained on how to work with them during their daily activities. Domains were ignored for children who already did well in them during the initial assessment, though the intended outcome was listed at the end of the project. The bio-ecological environment and development theory of Brofenbrenner was introduced to create a healthy bio-ecological learning environment by reducing adversities and risks before trying to increase resilience.

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At the beginning of the oral assessment, I mistakenly thought that street children were generally devoid of attachment, because they are not often with parents and families. For this reason, I paid much attention to secure-based domain, which is all about attachment. While working with the children, this assumption was challenged. Contrary to my expectations, most street children had attachments with their peers and/or gang members. In addition, some of the parents of the street children are also on the street, where they work together with their children. Furthermore, some of the street children work to take care of their parents or families back at home or in more remote villages and, for this reason, they keep in touch. However, I also realized that, though most of the children have no attachment to their families they develop connections with peers for the sake of security and see or treat each other as brothers and sisters. Since they are the victims of prejudice from the larger society, they accept each other and share in their happiness and sorrow. They have their own communities with their own administrators such as Presidents, whom they respect. The major form of attachment among street children is the creation of groups. There exist two types of groups within the communities of street children in Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon. One type called a gang exists for negative activities such as bandit gangs, rivalry gangs, drug trafficking, and pickpocketing, and another exists for positive aspects such as security, socialization, and micro-financing groups. This implies that the street children of Yaoundé and Douala are generally friendly and have sympathy and empathy for each other. The former exists just for protection, attachment, and sharing. They network, share ideas about job opportunities, work together, live together, and protect each other in times of pain or when attacked by enemies. There has been a misconception that all street children and youth are members of gangs. This is not often the case for those within ordinary social groups are not gangsters but law abiding citizens. When I asked one of the street adolescents, alias Honeyboy, why they are so cooperative, he told me that since most of them are on the street with no families, “living like brothers and sisters is the best alternative, for in times of sorrow each of us can often have a helping hand for, those who eat alone often die alone when trouble comes.” He said when he had an accident; friends took him to the hospital and contributed for part of his treatment before his aunt came. If he had not been kind to them, they would not have done that. On the street is found the worst risks which await most children moving onto it. These children are recruited by gangs of bandits that are owned and controlled by adults who either go on operations with the children or stay in the background for fear of coming into conflict with the law. The children are often trained to use arms and the techniques of burglary. The children often start as pickpockets along the streets, but progress gradually into full-fledged armed robbers. The truth is that these little children take the risk of doing this job most often, just for security and food, for the stolen articles goes to their bosses. Their respective bosses often promise them protection, which they need most. In this way, if any of the children of one gang conflict with that of another gang, it becomes a problem for both gangs. The adults who own the gangs often intervene even when their recruit has a problem with the forces of law and order.

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I discovered that some street children still maintained their positive values despite the odds. On the other hand, most of them (due to the hardships they face) fall prey to negative values, especially by joining the bad gangs. For this reason, it is very dangerous to allow the street phenomenon to persist, for gifted children are gradually being converted into bandits. Bad habits are very easy to learn, but difficult to give up, so it is in the best interest that children should not be exposed to them at all. This analysis of the various ways street children and youth live together help to explain their level of attachment. From the pre-survey and oral assessment, I discovered that most of the children have moderate self-efficacy and resilience despite the adversities on the street. Street children and youth often develop survival strategies to counteract the impact of adversities, because they need to attain their basic needs, without which they would die. Reexamining the complete definition of resilience, there is a controversy about the nature of resilience exhibited by street children. Some street children strive to meet their basic need by coping in a way that is not culturally meaningful if we are to be consistent with the definition which states that, “resilience is predicted by both the capacity of individuals and the capacity of their social and physical ecologies to facilitate their coping in culturally meaningful ways” (Ungar, 2015). For example, a female street child or youth often returns to prostitution after overcoming the shock of a best friend who died of HIV and AIDS. This child is resilient with regard to a street activity with a very high risk, and degrading within Cameroon culture, because she simply wants to meet her basic needs. This means she is not coping in a culturally meaningful way, because in Cameroon culture, prostitution is illegal. Another example is street adolescents who are engaged in armed robbery. If, in the course of a robbery, they kill people or some of their gang members are killed, this results in trauma. If they recover from the trauma and continue with the activity, because they must meet their basic needs, then they are also not coping in a culturally meaningful way for armed robbery is not acceptable in any society. It is for this reason that they need to be reformed, counseled, trained, and reintegrated into mainstream socioeconomic activities. Serious psychological treatment is needed to help clear the dreadful past images in their minds, if they are to change their activities to take on a culturally meaningful path.

4.6.4 Enhancing Resilience by Applying Bio-Ecological and Resilience Theories We applied the model of human development to learning and it triggered a holistic approach, which resulted in effective teaching strategies and this paved the way to a good learning outcome. Though this theory was designed to create a favorable bioecological environment for development, we also applied (Ungar, 2012) resilience theory, which explains the ability of the children to recover from adversities and return to the development process. However, both theories are relevant because it is

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difficult to find people who grew up in a perfect bio-ecological environment; there are usually some obstacles in the way. Furthermore, it is true that an environment with adversities above a certain threshold can retard development; the extent of the problem would depend on the resilience capacity of the child. This implies that moderating the adversities and removing the risks by applying the bio-ecological environment theory and improving the resilience of the children by applying the resilience theory is the best approach. Bio-ecological Environment and Child Learning During the enhancement program, I applied the bio-ecological theory of human development to learning within primary education in a rehabilitation education center. By improving on relationships within supportive environments, I made it possible for the extent of learning (development) to increase and this yielded positive outcomes. Also by enhancing proximal processes and environments, it is possible to increase the extent of actualized genetic potential for developmental competence (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994, P. 568). For effective human development to take place, there must be conducive human interaction and this interaction should be within favorable or conducive environmental conditions. For this interaction to be effective and valuable, it must take place on a regular basis over time. Such interaction is known as proximal processes Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2006), (as cited in Tudge, Mokrova, Hatfield, & Karnik 2009). To fulfill this aspect of the theory, we had workshops, and during these workshops, the administration and staff of the Kana Foundation were taught to ensure an interactive school environment. This was the beginning of a change from what occurred in the past. As can be seen in Fig. 4.1, we introduced interaction between children and parents, children and teachers, parents and teachers, and children and children. Children were encouraged to form study clubs or groups. There was also an increase in extracurricular activities such as recreation, including sports, video watching, singing, and storytelling. Within the former street children rehabilitation center, there was a problem of attachment. Some of the children had no parents and we could not even trace the family members of some. Some had families, but they were very poor refugees, hence of little help. We sorted this out by inviting the parents or family members of those who had fixable situations. Most often the main problem was poverty. We got them back into the lives of the children and, in that way, they played the role of attachment in their children’s lives. For those for whom we could not trace family members, we encouraged responsible persons in the society to help serve as their mentors and attachments. We also encouraged people to go through the official procedure of adoption for those without family members, even though none was adopted. This was quite exciting, because even though these children still lived in the rehabilitation home, the presence of their family members or mentors visiting, especially during weekends and sometimes with gifts, boosted their self-esteem and hope. Most of them check the children’s books and teach them how to do their homework. Some of the more mature children were allowed to spend some time during weekends at the homes of their families or mentors. We made the study environment as conducive as possible. At school, the teachers created a cordial interaction with the children,

4.6 Reintegration Via Resilience Enhancement …

The context of subculture

99

The context of culture

The home as a learning environment child Parents

Teacher The class as a learning environment

Fig. 4.1 A systematic view of child’s learning environment. Source Hirsto (2001)

enhancing an atmosphere of reciprocal love between teachers and children, and among the children (see Fig. 4.1). There was also the same conducive condition at home. The children’s living section of the center was governed in a peaceful and lovely way, paying much attention to sympathy and empathy for each other. This fixed the attachment problem and helped to prevent the former street children from escaping back to the street. Most of the children who escaped back to the street did so because their peers and gang leaders were on the street and remained their only sources of attachment. Bronfenbrenner recognized the importance of biological and genetic aspects of human beings (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). For this reason, during the enhancement project, we paid attention to the personal characteristics of each child. That is, the age, gender, and physical appearance. When it came to resource characteristics, which are related to mental and emotional resources, we were conscious of the fact that we were dealing with children whose psychological conditions have been maladjusted. Finally, we also focused on force characteristics, which pertain to dealing with the differences in temperament, motivation, and persistence. In this regard, understanding the trauma suffered by these children, they were handled and transformed with care, regardless of their poor temperament. We worked hard to transfer their persistence on the street to the rehabilitation center. The intervention lasted six months. That was enough time for the interaction to take place before the post-survey was conducted. I and my team tried to work on improving the culture of the community, which makes the reintegration of street children difficult. This was by sensitizing the community members to the disadvantages of the stigmatization and prejudice they manifest toward street children. We helped them to understand that the children were victims of circumstances beyond their control and the entire community needs to help them by bringing them closer to the mainstream socioeconomic activities.

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After moderating the learning environment with the bio-ecological environment of human development theory, we concentrated on enhancing resilience. This involved strengthening the variables related to resilience by reducing trauma and automatic thought and increasing self-efficacy, self-esteem, and hope, by focusing on the six domains (Daniel & Wassell, 2005). We focused on positive values and social competencies, because we realized, from the preliminary assessment, that most street children leave the street with poor habits, due to bad influences.

4.6.5 Use of Special Language Introduced by International Resilience Project (IRP) To make the training comprehensive, we used the (I HAVE, I AM, and I CAN) special language of the concept which was introduced by the International Resilience Project (IRP), which identified 36 qualitative factors contributing to resilience (Grotberg, 1997).

4.6.5.1

I HAVE (Trusting Relationships or Secure Base)

Children feel secure when they have the love of parents, other family members, teachers, and friends. This is not limited to these people for they also need love and emotional support from the community at large. Love from others, such as caregivers can also replace that of parents (Grotberg, 1997). In this regard, street children often have this love from the leaders of their gangs, who are often adult, but the chances of being loved by people with poor social values are very risky. Yet street children, who most often suffer from prejudice from the community, have the problem of being loved only by their peers on the street and the gang leaders. That is, why they are often inclined to the street, where they can feel some love. Since apart from the context of the rehabilitation centers, the entire society needs to be educated on how to change their attitudes toward the children in a positive way, so that they can regain their self-esteem, build up hope, and gain resilience, we also invited the public at large to attend our workshops.

4.6.5.2

I AM (I Am Lovable)

The more children know that “I am lovable” because I do this or I behave in this way, the more they will do those things that make people love them. Appreciation for the good things a child does help to boost their internal personal strengths. In contrast, children whose efforts are despised tend to retreat to themselves. In this regard, the workers were taught to appreciate the children for every nice thing they did. They were also taught to teach the children how to appreciate the good works of

4.6 Reintegration Via Resilience Enhancement …

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their peers. Children trained like this are lovely, empathetic, and altruistic (Grotberg, 1997).

4.6.5.3

I AM (Proud of Myself)

Once children are made to understand that they are important, they feel proud of themselves, and their achievements. They do not let others belittle or degrade them. When these types of nurtured personalities have problems in life, confidence and self-esteem help to sustain them (Grotberg, 1997). This helps to build resilience despite the adversities.

4.6.5.4

I AM (Autonomous and Responsible)

Once children can do things autonomously and accept responsibilities for their actions, they feel fulfilled and independent. This helps to trigger hidden talents in them which results in enormous creativity. In contrast, a child who is often bullied or deprived of expressing his or her own opinion often retreats into him or herself. This blocks the brain from thinking freely and developing to the fullest. A child who is often given the opportunity to participate and express his or opinion understands his or her contribution to an activity and recognizes the responsibilities of others (Grotberg, 1997).

4.6.5.5

I CAN (Social Interpersonal Skills)

These are the skills children learn by interacting with their peers and their teachers in class. Children with these skills can communicate fluently and politely and can solve problems autonomously and withstand adversities (Grotberg, 1997).

4.6.6 Structure and Rules at the Rehabilitation Home In the rehabilitation homes, I introduced the ideas of (Grotberg, 1997) which include clear rules and routines for children to respect. Workers were also asked to rely on the children’s honesty and to respect them. Rules and routines concerning daily tasks the children are expected to perform were set up. The consequences of breaking the rules were clearly stated and we ensured every child understood. When a child broke a rule, the child was made to understand the offense he or she committed and allowed to explain his or her own story of what happened. He or she was punished if necessary and then forgiven and reconciled with the staff. When the child was honest and followed the rules and routines, he or she was praised and thanked. The

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workers were cautioned not to harm the children during punishment. The children were taught the values of the society and were made to understand why the bad values they learned on the street were bad.

4.6.7 Role Models Rehabilitation workers and mentors were made to serve as role models. In this way, the children learned a lot from them. They demonstrated how to dress neatly and decently and how to ask for information and speak to others politely. We educated them on moral codes of the society (Grotberg, 1997). Religious believers were encouraged to practice their religions of origin when it was possible, but more emphasis was put on general morals and ethics.

4.6.8 Encouragement to be Autonomous The rehabilitation center manager and staffs were encouraged to teach the children to do things in their own ways, though with follow-ups and room for them to seek advice and help when necessary. This helped these children to be autonomous and resilient. They paid continued attention to the children who showed initiative and autonomy. They were cautioned not to praise children on isolated good performance, but to pay continued attention to incent progressively better behavior. When children are praised for isolated good performance, they tend to be very cautious and not to work on any project that will not yield the best results. In this way, they will lack the incentive to take in real challenges in life. In contrast, if their mentors pay close attention to what they do, and encourage them to catch up where they face challenges; they will work hard to counteract adversities during their tasks and will be ready to take on the challenges in life. Adults were advised to study the children’s temperament and theirs. In this way, they could adjust the speed and degree to which they encouraged autonomy in the children (Grotberg, 1997). Encouraging autonomy is a sign of love and a great boost to self-efficacy, self-esteem, and resilience.

4.6.9 Develop Hope, Faith, and Trust At the program, most of the children gained hope and developed faith and trust in themselves and in each other. The child is capable of determining what is right and what is wrong. He or she knows right is the good choice and often decides to contribute to it.

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4.6.10 Hope Enhancement With regard to hope enhancement, the teachers were taught how to incorporate hope education in their daily classroom activities. They enabled students to create scale of preferences of their important life components and discuss the levels of satisfaction they derive within those areas (Jennifer Lisa & Shane, 2008, p. 103). In the course of the research I realized that, resilience can never be singly enhanced. This means that to enhance resilience, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and hope must be also enhanced. On the other hand, trauma, negative automatic thoughts, and depression must be suppressed. A balanced interaction of self-esteem, self-efficacy, hope, and resilience is important to mold up a balanced personality or functional personality of the community.

4.7 Logic Model, Evaluation Questions, and Indicators for Resilience Enhancement The logic model (Fig. 4.2) reveals the step-by-step measures we took during the project. What we achieved in the short, medium, and long terms. This concerns the process while resilience enhancement and the inputs or resources which were used to attain the goal.

4.8 Results—Study 2 4.8.1 Demographics There were twenty participants involved in this study, with four being female and the rest male. All of these children were involved in a primary school education program at the Kana Foundation NGO. Prior to the psychological enhancement program, the survey indicated that thirteen of the children were not optimistic about completing their education. After the enhancement program, only one remained pessimistic about completing the course. Also, the pre-survey results revealed that eight children did not enjoy life within the rehabilitation home, but the result of the post-enhancement survey shows that, only one participant still complained of not being interested in life in the rehabilitation center. During the pre-enhancement survey, seven participants preferred life on the street to that in the center. In contrast, only one still preferred life on the street in the post-survey. Finally, during the pre-enhancement survey, four participants proved to be interested in joining gangs, but during the post-enhancement survey, only two were still interested in joining a gang. A paired t test was conducted to evaluate the psychological or resilience enhancement program at the Kana Foundation street children rehabilitation center aimed at improving the psychological health of the children (see Table 4.5). This project

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Activities Pr io ri ti e s

Situations

Outcomes impacts

Outputs.

Inputs

Participants Rehabilitatio n teacher and other rehabilitatio n staffs, Street children on primary education program, Community members.

Workshops on resilience , ,Practical enhancement of 6 domains of individuals participant resilience ,integration of resilience enhancing into primary education

Staffs, money, time, materials, research assistant.

Short term, term

Resilience awareness and some improveme nts in, hope self-esteem and selfefficacy.

Medium term,

Mild Increase in resilience skills used and improveme nt in primary education output.

Long term

Significant Improvement in the children‘s resilience and primary education output

Evaluation Questions: What is expected to be known? Were the inputs sufficient and timely? Yes. Did they meet the program goals? Yes.

Did all activities occur as intended? Some minor interruptions but were fixed. What was the quality of the intervention? Good. Was the content appropriate? Yes.

Did targeted Audience participate? Who did not participate? All participated. Did some parents of the street children show up? Yes. Did some responsible persons adopt any of the children? No.

Did understanding of resilience enhancing techniques increase ? Yes. What else happened? Better response to education.

Is the NGO continuing to participate in resilience enhancing activities? Yes. Or they participating in other activities?

To what extent has the resilience output of the targeted N G O been increased? Significantly. In what other ways have the children quality of life increased? Education Output.

Number, percent with increased resilience and abilities to read and write: 70%

Number, percent with increased resilience and abilities to read and write; 81

Additional outcomes:,

Additional outcomes

Indicators Number of staff;15 Funds invested;500000frs Evaluation timetable. Short term: April 9th 2015 Medium term: June 9th 2015 Long term: August 14th 2015 6months.

Number of workshops Scheduled; 1month Working materials printed; toolkits of 23 pages. Number of events

Number of community members participating; 20. Number of teachers attending workshops: 5

Number, percent with increased resilience and training performance; 60% Additional outcomes

Fig. 4.2 Logic model, evaluation questions, and indicators for resilience enhancement. Source of model Taylor-Powell, Jones, and Henert (2002) Table 4.5 Paired t test M (Before) M (After)

SD (Before) SD (After)

t value

P value

Automatic thought 3.77

2.49

0.42

0.30

−9.83

p < 0.001

Children’s Hope

1.76

3.71

0.33

0.46

16.37

p < 0.001

Resilience

2.38

4.54

0.35

0.47

18.15

p < 0.001

Self-efficacy

1.84

3.39

0.34

0.32

17.19

p < 0.001

Self-esteem

0.62

1.37

0.34

0.49

4.72

p < 0.001

involved five variables: automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. As predicted, all measures of psychological health improved over the course of the education program. Automatic thought decreased while Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem all increased. All of these improvements were significant at p < 0.001 (see Table 4.5).

4.8 Results—Study 2

105

4.8.2 Evaluation Scores for Resilience Table 4.6 shows the range of resilience scores for each category from “very low” to “high.” As seen in Table 4.7, the pre-resilience enhancement scores fell into the “very low” range for all 20 of the participants, whereas in the post-test all participants improved their resilience scores, with 17 of the 20 moving out of the “very low” category. Seven participants moved into the “low” range, nine to the “moderately low,” and one to the moderate range. The resilience component remains a permanent, integrated part of the rehabilitation reintegration primary education program (Tables 4.6 and 4.7). Table 4.6 Method of categorization of degree of resilience Wagnild (2016) 25–100 Very low

101–115 Low

116–130 On the low end

131–145 moderate

146–160 Moderately high

161–175 High

Table 4.7 The pre- and post-resilience enhancement intervention survey evaluation score, based on Wagnild’s categorization approach (A) Evaluation scores before the (B) Evaluation scores after the intervention intervention Participants Scores Scores 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

49 48 54 83 50 66 52 59 60 51 58 65 63 64 62 55 57 54 65 73

98 96 94 106 104 112 117 103 118 123 131 110 103 128 110 123 120 130 117 129

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Table 4.8 Structure of the Resilience project Intended action

Project achievement

1. Identify the children and allocate codes numbers

Completed

2. Provide consent information to Kana Foundation and children

Completed

3. Test the validity of the questionnaires

Completed

4. Obtain (pre-enhancement) baseline quantitative measures of intervention so far using questionnaires (requires meeting with children, Kana Foundation social worker staff, and teachers)

Completed

5. Carry out initial training for workers

Completed

6. Workers carry out assessment using resilience workbooks and begin to formulate intervention plan to be over approximately 3 month period. Daniel and Wessell 6 domains

Completed

7. Carry out follow-up training for workers where intervention plans are developed and refined

Completed

8. Implement intervention plan for (a total of six months)

Completed

9. Obtain follow-up independent measures examining case by case. Completed Daniel and Wessell 6 domains 10. Obtain follow-up quantitative measures of intervention so far Completed using questionnaires (requires meeting with children, Kana Foundation worker staff and teacher) 11. Analyze data and write report

Completed

Source adapted from Daniel and Wassell (2005) Open Government Licence v3.0. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licenc e/version/3/

4.9 Summary This chapter presented the results of two related empirical studies. The first looked at the differences between children of the street (those who work and live on the street) versus children on the street (those who work on the street, but have homes to return to at night). The results of the first study showed the great advantage of having a home to return to. While all of the street children showed some psychological damage in terms of automatic thought and lack of resilience, hopelessness, self-esteem, and self-efficacy, those who had homes to return to were clearly better off psychologically than those who spent their nights on the street. The results of the second study demonstrated the improvements in psychological well-being that can result from a coordinated rehabilitation program, such as that of the Kana foundation. Children who participated in that program improved on all five measures of psychological health.

References

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Chapter 5

Resolving the Problem of Street Children and Youths in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract This chapter is made up of recommendations, looked at in terms of curative and preventive policies. Curative policies are aimed at getting those who are already on the streets off the streets and reintegrating them into the mainstream socioeconomic activities. Preventive policies are aimed at preventing other children from moving onto the streets. In the interest of furthering preventive policies, I have emphasized the importance of good institutions, economic development, and a vibrant industrial sector. If we continue to cure those already afflicted, without making an effort at prevention, then the phenomenon of street children and youths will continue in a vicious cycle. The first section of the chapter is made up of the following curative policies: the therapeutic strategies, free education, and financial support, helping the street children and youths to make use of garbage, help change street children from beggars to food providers, help change street children and youth from homeless to home builders, the creation of vocational carpentry workshops, humanitarian aid to NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa, and recreational activities. The second section is made up of: technical expertise training, importation of technical expertise, investment in infrastructure, relocation of factories into sub-Saharan Africa, land reforms, monitoring international companies, removing dictators from power by means of free elections, the creation of social enterprises, and ending financial aid to the governments of sub-Saharan African countries. This chapter also provides information on the recent winds of change blowing across Africa and peacefully changing “Monarchical Republic” regimes to democracies without a single gunshot.

5.1 Curative Policies 5.1.1 Therapeutic Strategies One of the most important curative aspects is the psychological healing of street children and youths. Psychological readjustment of maladjusted street children and youths is a missing link in the reintegration programs of Yaoundé and Douala, Cameroon. Psychological treatment is an approach that has been successfully used © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3_5

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in the developed world, but this is not widely practiced in the developing countries. With this approach, all children who have undergone severe trauma must be given therapy by family social workers trained within the context of sub-Saharan Africa. It is unfortunate that, in most developing countries, psychological healing pertaining to street children and youths still need further development even though the consortium of street children is already working on that. The case of Cameroon is even worse in that there has been less research on street children in Cameroon than in any other at-risk country (Dryjanska, 2014). Children often escape from reintegration study programs because they are not psychologically balanced. When they receive psychological treatment and work in a bio-ecological development environment that is favorable, with resilience enhancement, they become resilient with regard to their education programs.

5.1.2 Education and Financial Support The introduction of free education and financial support is also very important. Even though most governments have made primary education free, vocational education for children of the poor who may not have money for secondary education is very important. Free primary education alone is not enough to help the adolescent integrate into mainstream socioeconomic activities. The government also needs to create financial schemes to assist young entrepreneurs in starting their own small businesses. The government needs to institute comprehensive inclusive economic policies for exclusion from mainstream socioeconomic activities is the main cause of poverty and street children phenomenon. According to Aptekar and Daniel (2014), “…laissez faire states (uncaring), has a bearing on those who finally make the choice to leave home as well as those who continue on the street” (p. 6).

5.1.3 Recycling of Garbage and Environmental Entrepreneurship Another good idea is to help street children and youth to make use of garbage. Most of the street children and youths of Yaoundé and Douala are found around trash dumps scavenging food, scrap metals, and plastics. This is because they often have limited access to these resources in their purest forms. However, some of them have been able to successfully make a living out of these resources, known to be waste. In the preceding chapter, we saw how a street youth used scrap aluminum from garbage to produce pots. After discovering this technique, he retired from the street and started a lucrative pot-fabrication business, which enabled him to also get his younger brothers off the street and into school. This is a clear sign that most of the children of the street are not just there on an adventure, but in search of their niche in

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society. Street children have proven to be good environmentalists, as they excavate the soil and remove hard metal and plastic pollutants, which are used either by others for recycling or by themselves. However, most often they do not know the dangers involved in handling these materials. Sometimes they burn toxic trash and inhale the poisonous smoke. And sometimes they handle toxic chemicals poorly. I invite others to join me so that we can work with these environmentalists to make the world a better place. First, we must teach them a safe way to handle waste, and modern technologies for dealing with it. By upgrading the use of waste, this would enable them to have a living wage from waste management and, at same time, save the environment. My experience reveals that, though Cameroon has policies discouraging the dumping of industrialist countries’ waste, it does not have a comprehensive waste management program. At present, they make use of recycled scrap metal, but plastic waste still litters the streets, gutters, rivers, and the sea. I was shocked to learn that tires are sometimes used in Cameroon to burn Indian Bamboo on the fields for easy removal of the bamboo. Laws against this practice must be passed, for we need the bamboo; it is a vital resource. Carbon dioxide and other chemicals from burning tires are very dangerous to the atmosphere and the ozone layer. Bamboo and other plants are also a source of stored carbon which, when burned can be harmful to the atmosphere. By working with street children and youths on garbage dumps, I plan to operate a street children environmental protection NGO. It is hoped that the children would embrace this, for it is a domain they are already working in. I would appeal to the government and other supporters to join me in this struggle. I prefer to work under the canopy of an existing international NGO. Since many metal scrap recycling factories already exist in Cameroon, I would concentrate on the recycling of plastics and papers. I recommend that the Cameroon government earmark some parcel of land for this street children environmental program. Land in the outskirts of the town for our NGO would be better since plastic recycling involves pollution and requires space. Additional land closer to the city would be necessary for a rehabilitation home, a primary school, and a vocational school. We would introduce a medium-sized plastic recycling factory to produce plastic buckets, basins, chairs, and roof tiles. Street adolescents from 18 to 23 would receive a living wage. I already paid a visit to Sinseng Industrial Co, LTD in S. Korea where we gathered information about this. I also recommend that the government should not only focus on granting scholarships to school children to study abroad. They can also grant scholarships to street children to go and learn a special trade abroad. In this way, other street children and youths would be motivated to build up resilience at rehabilitation programs. The manager at Sinseng Industrial Co, LTD proposed that a capable child from Cameroon can come over to Korea and learn how to work on the machines. I also plan to recommend this study program to the government and other wealthy well-wishers to sponsor a gifted youth of the street to go and get the training. I also plan to maximize the use of waste tires. I hope to create a medium-sized tire retreading factory with technology from Korea. There is presently no tire retreading factory in Cameroon; waste tires are often burned, causing too much atmospheric pollution. The children would also be

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taught how to produce sandals from waste tires. I also recommend helping to set up a pencil factory, using waste newspapers. Through these ventures, the children would be paid a living wage for working in the factories. These and other ventures will create many opportunities for those street children who choose to engage in them. Available work would range from gathering the plastics and working on the machines to selling the items. This would be a kind of social enterprise. I would encourage the government to provide some start-up capital to children who have graduated from vocational school. I also plan to create a Cooperative Credit Union for street children, where they can borrow money to expand their businesses, because we are going to teach the children about entrepreneurship. I am going to label the products as “street children environmentally friendly products.” First, I would make high-quality goods and encourage the communities to give priority to them in order to support the fight against environmental pollution and the street children phenomenon, since the activities give the children a healthy source of income. From this, I realized that teaching the children without giving them a job or initial capital to start their own small enterprise does not solve the problem. I plan to educate the children for different domains in our vocational school. Those who want to work in the recycling factory would work there on a living wage. Those who want to start their own business would be provided with initial capital, if necessary, from the Cooperative credit union. I would start in one town and, if it works out well, then I would extend to other towns and eventually other countries in Africa. I would also lobby for scholarships from the government and international donors for the children who do exceptionally well in our primary school to attend secondary schools. I want to give every street child the opportunity to excel. While in the field, I also discovered that the western world is not doing much to transfer environmental engineering technology to the developing world. This does not seem to make sense during an era when we are fighting against global warming. Overcoming global warming requires a holistic approach, because ozone depletion and global warming is a consequence of discharge of pollutants into the atmosphere. It does not matter the direction the pollutants are coming from. So, controlling the discharge of carbon dioxide in the western world, without equally transferring the same technology to control that of the developing world, is a big mistake. We need to recycle the waste tires of the developing world instead of burning them, so we need to transfer the retreading technology to most parts of Africa but, sadly, most industrialized developed countries dump their industrial waste in Africa.

5.1.4 Street Children as Providers of Food By helping to change street youth from beggars to providers of food we will give them a fulfilled life. This involves government intervention to provide fertile arable land and financial support from international donors, the government and well-wishers. One important issue that must be taken into consideration is that street youth are not necessarily disabled persons. They are not outcasts, as some societies see them. They are merely unfortunate children and youth who have been thrown out of the

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mainstream socioeconomic activities. Most of them, if exposed to the various resources necessary for human development, would excel. After healing them psychologically and physically, it is important to teach those who love agriculture basic techniques. My plan is to lobby the government to provide us with a parcel of land where my team would operate a piggery and poultry farm near Yaoundé or Douala. The team would train street youths from age 16–23 to work on these farms. The droppings from the poultry would be used for market gardening (tomatoes, lettuce, carrots etc.). All the children would be given a decent standard of living. The mature ones who complete their apprenticeship would be given fulltime employment at a livable wage. The apprentices would be well-fed and clothed on an allowance. Those who want to start their own business after apprenticeship would be helped with start-up capital. I have a strong conviction that chicken and pork would be in high demand by the local population and at the various hotels in Cameroon. By putting the label “street children products” this will expand the market, for people would be encouraged to promote street children activities so that they do not remain a threat or nuisance to their communities. I am going to ensure that resilience enhancement remains an integral part of the activity. Without building a strong love and resilience for the program, the children would return to the streets. The big question is why should healthy and capable children, willing to work, be idling on the streets, when there is much to do for the nation? We are wasting the talents of our own young people. I also plan to create a small-scale street youth chocolate manufacturing factories. This will provide a cheap source of chocolate to African kids as opposed to the expensive imported chocolate which only the children of the rich can afford. It beats my imagination that, the cocoa beans used for the manufacture of chocolate is from Africa yet African kids have limited access to chocolate and as if that is not enough, most of them are used as children laborers in cocoa plantations. I researched these small-scale machines online already.

5.1.5 Street Children as Providers of Homes I have plans to educate street children on how to produce eco-friendly bricks and low-cost houses. I plan to use interlocking compressed earth bricks. They are environmentally friendly and capable of facilitating the piping of water supplies and the wiring of electricity. The cost of such housing is low. I am appealing to NGOs, the government, and individuals who have some compassion for street children to assist in the purchase of the machinery. I am also going to seek land from the government to be used to create a factory for the molding of the bricks. This factory will help to employ many street children at a living wage. With the bricks, we are going to construct a low-cost rehabilitation home for the children. The creation of vocational carpentry workshops can also be attractive to most of them based on the interview I had with them in the field. If well-equipped carpentry workshops are created purposely for street children, the trained individuals will gain

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the ability to contribute to mainstream socioeconomic activities, in this case with modern machinery, which can produce window frames and windows, door frames, and doors. This requires machines such as planers and jointers. The children would be taught, by volunteers and some workers, how to work on these machines and how to use local tools to produce similar products so that they can operate their own local shops.

5.1.6 A New Model of Rehabilitation Creating an ordinary Cameroon-style vocational institution would not work for street children and youth, for all of them will eventually return to the streets. Within the regular Cameroon apprenticeship, there is great deal of control. The senior apprentices often bully the junior apprentices. This approach may work for highly devoted and motivated persons who have come to learn, but would not work well for most street children, who already suffer from trauma. That may be the reason that street children so often run away from vocational training in Cameroon. I recommend that all rehabilitation homes for street children embark on psychological healing and resilience enhancement programs in their work with children. After training the children, they should lobby the government and other international donors for initial capital that can enable the children to start their own small businesses. While working on their own businesses, young people should be monitored and matched with mentors who can guide them. If they are trained and allowed to leave without even basic work skills and tools, they will still go back to the street. We also need to introduce recreational activities is part of resilience-boosting program. The government is encouraged to create more youth centers for recreation. I plan to organize games with trophies, especially football tournaments, for the children. I would also organize film shows and excursions. These make the children more united and loyal to the rehabilitation program. We are planning to have an orchestra for the rehabilitation home. Children would learn music and those for whom it is a gift would be encouraged to proceed with it. Music is another unifier and it attracts the youth. I am going to invite the major artists of the world who have a passion for children and African music to join me in the fight. My experience reveals that music has become a big industry in Africa and most of the children I met on the street are good singers but lack sponsors. Most of them sing in exchange for tips using their own locally made instruments.

5.1.7 The Importance of Humanitarian Aid Humanitarian aid should be pumped into NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa so that they can help those in poor communities to live a better life through development schemes

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and to send their children to school. Aid geared toward natural disasters such as flood, eruptions, and droughts leading to poor harvests are also encouraged. Even aid for man-made disasters such as wars and refugee crises is important. However, there must be evaluations, assessments, and monitoring of projects by experts.

5.2 Preventative Policies 5.2.1 Educational and Technological Development For sustainable development to take place, technical expertise training is crucial. Sub-Saharan Countries need to design better technological study programs which match the twenty-first-century technology instead of relying on the obsolete programs handed over to them by their ex-colonial masters and in some cases neo-colonial masters. Even though there is shortage of experts in Africa I suggest that if the Western world and China actually want to help Africa become industrialized, they can start by transferring those factories which require limited skills and general labor intensive. As the technological expert availability improves, more sophisticated factories can be relocated. They can also send their own technical experts to work with and train the Africans. Africans should be awarded scholarships to study more technology in Asia and the Western World. It is also of the best interest for African nations to allow room for dual citizenship so that experts of their origins who have gained citizenship in a Western nation can come in with their expertise to develop their nations of origin. Generally, Western experts of African origin need to be patriotic to go home and help in their nations building. To justify why this method is important to industrial development, it has been used in successive newly industrialized and developed nations. For example, while implementing the 1947–1951 Marshall Loan to European countries, the USA technically assisted the countries and transferred factories into Europe (Provan, n.d.). Also, according to Liu an African analyst at the Institute of African studies as cited in Li and Hou (2015), there has been similar transfer of factories and technology in the past from the USA to Japan, then from Japan to the four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea). Even China has gained from translocation of factories from the USA. This is one of the strategies President Park of South Korea used. He invited educated South Koreans working abroad to come and serve their country, though he promised, and paid, them good salaries while working under good conditions. I personally met with Prof. Jwa Sung-Hee, a Bio-Chemist who is one of those who were invited back from the USA during the 60s by President Park to contribute in the opening of the Korean Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT).

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5.2.2 Infrastructural Development For Sub-Sahara Africa to attain sustainable development, much investment is still needed in infrastructure development. According to Ha-Joon (2010), the Western nations need to focus more on infrastructure investment in the developing countries which is one of the main objectives that the World Bank has long neglected. However, China has already been working hard on infrastructure investment and it is speculated that when rail and road networks link the whole sub-Saharan Africa, there would be a wider market within Africa to consume the goods produced by factories. China is also constructing seaports and airports in the Sub-Region to serve the area internationally.

5.2.3 Relocation of Factories into sub-Saharan Africa The West and Asia need to also help in relocating factories into sub-Saharan Africa. Most present developed countries and transitional economies started with this type of help. Newly industrialized economies and developed countries need to help them by foreign direct investment in labor-intensive factories which can cope with their present level of technological know-how. China has been successful in the transportation of some labor-intensive factories in sub-Saharan Africa. According to Pilling (2015), within a period of 10 years (2005–2014), trade between China and Africa increased 20-fold which amounted to approximately $200 billion. Currently, China is transferring labor-intensive factories to Africa. A good example is Huajian leather factory which is one of the biggest shoe manufacturers in world. It is in Addis Ababa employing 4000 workers (Pilling, 2015). This kind of big manufacturing industry can easily compete at the international markets. Another is the Lifan motor car manufacturing company in Ethiopia (Li & Hou, 2015). According to Ha-Joon Chang, a development economist at Cambridge University as cited in Pilling (2015), though China has often been as exploitative as the Western Countries, their growing presence in Africa has been beneficial to the region. China has taken the lead to demonstrate that Africa is capable of sustainable industrial development if the industrial sector is revamped and nurtured to grow. According to Li and Hou (2015), in 2013, manufacturing investment by China in Africa was third overall, second in mining, and first in infrastructure.

5.2.4 Land Reform Sub-Saharan African countries desperately need land reforms. Some of the governments sell or lease out huge arable land parcels without consulting the indigenous people and ensuring that the investors provide jobs with living wages. For this reason, African Countries also need to have comprehensive land reforms that spell out the

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benefits to the local populations and environmental impacts when foreign investors buy or lease their lands. Otherwise, unscrupulous companies can bribe the elites and confiscate land. Land is very important; for once people’s livelihood on the land has been hijacked without any form of replacement such as jobs, roads, and hospitals, they become destitute. This is one of the most important causes of street children and youth in some of the nations in the Sub-Region.

5.2.5 The Problem of Corruption There is also a need to monitor the international companies operating in this region. International bodies should be created to monitor the excesses between corrupt governments and unscrupulous international companies. For example, some international companies sponsor the election campaigns of dictators and operate without any principles of corporate social responsibility. Countries need to have good-faith rules governing the activities of their international companies abroad, as practiced in the USA. I would appeal to sub-Saharan African countries to welcome companies. However, they need to ensure that the companies respect sound and inclusive corporate social responsibility policies. Handing land to multinational corporations is not the problem. Respecting environmental rules and fostering land laws that help to include the local population is the key. If land must be given out for mechanized agriculture, especially if this concerns cash crops such as sugar cane for bio-fuel or cotton for textile, then some land must be earmarked for the growth of food crops by small landholders. Every investing country needs a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or there should be an international one. According to US Department of Justice (2017), “the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. (“FCPA”), was enacted to make it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.” In 1998, the Act was modified to apply also to foreign firms and persons negotiating a contract directly, or through an agent. This helps to protect the indigenous population from the unscrupulous actions of government officials. The local communities are free to investigate and file a petition directly to the US Department of Justice if it is concluded that an irregular contract has taken place between their government and any US firm, or citizen, or agent contracting on behalf of the firm or citizen. A complaint can be sent to this email: [email protected] or this Fax: 202-5147021. With this assurance, I encourage sub-Saharan countries to engage in business with US firms.

5.2.6 Democracy and Protection of the Constitution The UN, Commonwealth, and African Union need to ensure that, incumbent Presidents do not violet the constitutions of their various countries especially changing

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the constitution to remain in power forever. If regimes which overthrow with the gun are never recognized by these bodies, then why should regimes which disrespect their nation’s constitutions with a subsequent rigging of elections be recognized by the bodies? This is double standard. If these people need to be respected, then they should first start by respecting the constitutions of their various lands which have been kept under their custody to be protected by them. If sub-Saharan African states copy the aggressive approach of democracy practiced in South Korea, things will change positively for development. South Korea does not only hold steadfastly to impartial elections. They go as far as checking the excesses of the various Presidents. One of the most serious cases in question is the current corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-Hye, the first and only female President. She has not only been impeached but was taken to court on March 30, 2017, after which she was found guilty and was served, with an imprisonment term. She is the third President to be arrested in S. Korea for former President Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tea-Woo where already arrested and imprisoned in the past. South Korea is a good example of countries that strictly put equality before the law into practice. In contrast, the African dictators claim to be demi-gods and control the wealth of their various nations as though it is their private property. Effective development can only take place as it happens in S. Korea, when the successive Presidents are required to render account of their stewardship. Development is also effective when the excesses of the executive are checked by the legislative and judicial branches. Sub-Saharan African countries should stop grooming ruthless elites and work toward preparing a vibrant middle class that can hold the executive and the corporate bodies accountable. Some authorities believe that democracy is still at its infancy in Africa; hence it must be nurtured to grow. This is a false pretense for democracy is not a child that must be allowed to grow. It is just the will to respect and implement a well-drawn constitution. Election malpractice and violation of the constitution is not a matter of immaturity, but of viciousness. Those in power just want to maintain the status quo. Fortunately, presently a wind of change is blowing across Africa and sweeping away the dictators of the “Monarchical Republics” peacefully, without a single gunshot. A good case is Zimbabwe. The fall of “Monarchical Republics” may pave the way to true democracies, good institutions, and economic development. This is obvious, for African countries with advanced democracies such as Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Botswana, and Tanzania have demonstrated that true democracy can enhance peace and development. The peaceful military coup, which resulted to change of power from Robert Mugabe to his vice President, is a clear example that Africa is becoming mature and ready to be able to adequately take care of its own business without seeking external interventions. Even though some people think that the USA and China are behind this move of the Zimbabwe military, according to (Sippho, 2017), they played “no role in the plan.” A series of events took place to arrive at this coup. These include the dismissal of the vice President Muangagwa and the news that Ex-President Robert Mugabe is planning to hand over powers to his wife.

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5.2.7 The Transformation of Natural Resources Sub-Saharan Africa Region is fortunate to be one of the natural resource-rich regions in the world. If the resources are optimally utilized, no child would be found wandering on the street but, sadly, these resources are being sold abroad in their raw state, which makes them cheap. Transforming raw materials into finished goods before export is very important. This helps to create jobs for the parents of children and adolescents, so that families can have enough money to be able to meet their needs. This will help to reduce poverty, which is most often the main cause of dysfunctional families. Adding value by processing the raw materials or manufacturing finished goods from the raw materials before exportation helps to improve on balance of trade.

5.2.8 Aid to Governments Versus Direct Aid Aid to sub-Saharan African governments is known to encourage laziness. In effect, sub-Saharan African states desperately need good policies not aid. Being a resourcerich region, if good internal and foreign policies are implemented, it will become a paradise on earth but, sadly, the reverse is true. As though the consequences of the poor policies are not enough, the implementation of aid as a cure has instead worsened situations. The dictators already ruling without the interests of their citizens at heart are given leeway, through aid, to work without accountability. When government expenditure comes from taxes paid by citizens, the government is often bound to render account on how the citizen’s tax money is being spent. In this circumstance, it is committed to spend the money rationally. On the other hand, if it is from aid, they can be careless about rendering any account to the citizens. According to Deaton as cited in Swanson (2015), it is not certain that much of the $135 billion that was given as official aid in 2014 ended up being used as expenditures on helping the poor. In my humble opinion, only humanitarian aid and bilateral aid via direct individual recipients, national and international NGOs, should be allowed to flourish. The NGOs should be rigorously monitored to ensure that the aid reaches the poor or is used to carry out projects to improve on their livelihoods. According to Easterly (2003), “the high-income country governments may have many different objectives for their aid besides poverty reduction, such as rewarding allies, promoting donor country exports, or fighting drug trafficking”. Ensuring a fair-trade deal in the international market is one of the fundamental issues to boost development of sub-Saharan Africa still pending, yet sometimes the aid is given on conditions to compromise balance market deals. Looking at the chart below, even though foreign aid as percentage per GDP received by recipient countries went up drastically , per capita growth did not. Good policies, not open-

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(Easterly, 2003), "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?"

Fig. 5.1 Aid and growth in Africa

ended aid, lifted countries such as South Korea and the Asian Tigers from poverty in recent decades. Even though the USA gave South Korea some aid, it was not open end. They had to later run engage into transparent business and loans from IMF (Fig. 5.1).

5.2.9 Breaking Trade Barriers I also suggest that, instead of going into free trade to compete with Western giants, Africa should consider breaking the trade barriers within its continent. This will create a huge market for Africa and attract manufacturing industries to relocate into African countries. For example, the huge market of China attracted manufacturing and development. An added advantage is that African countries can engage in a fair market competition with each other as opposed to the fierce competition with the giants of the Western world. Africa can fit into a free market with the Western world only after attaining a reasonable threshold of development. For example, free trade within Asian countries contributed to the South Korean development miracle before she entered into free trade agreements with Western countries when she was mature enough.

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5.2.10 Immediate Causes and Suggestions to a Solution to the Anglophone Problem This crisis will result in unbearable hardship and the escalation of street children and youth if not tactfully managed. It is regrettable that, the Anglophone crisis has escalated into an ugly phase. This is a problem which ought to have passed unnoticed between the government and the Cameroon Common Law Lawyers’ Association if managed tactfully from its beginning. According to a letter by the leaders of the Cameroon Common Law Lawyers’ Association (cited in Cameroon Intelligence Report, 2016), the government failed to respond to their complaints for a fixing of the eroding common law system in the country twice. One was sent on May 9, 2015, and a second one on February 13, 2016. During a peaceful protest on November 10, 2016, to express their discontent and frustration, the lawyers were brutalized by the forces of law and order (Cameroon Concord, 2016). When this happened, the teachers association joint the protest. After this, the government was forced to come on a dialogue table but the dialogue, ended in a stalemate (Cameroon Intelligence Report, 2016). Due to this struggle, many other economic sectors of the society like the drivers Association joined the protest. The idea of going back to federalism was then suggested as the best system which can enable both systems to coexist without any assimilating the other. As the forces of law and order started abducting, killing, and injuring, without any remorse by the government, Southern Cameroonians decided to demand for self-determination for they concluded that the government is using force to assimilate them. Looking at how this ugly situation unfolded, every sane person will understand that, the primary object was not aimed at the reinstallation of the former Southern Cameroon. After all even though the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) has existed, most Southern Cameroonians before this crisis paid little or no attention to what it was all about. It is due to the unbearable torture both physical and emotional by the government during the protest that most people decided to follow up to know, “where we come from”. This is to say in the course of the government’s desperate efforts to use force to assimilate the Anglophones, they ended up radicalizing them. International organizations are already aware of massacring of innocent children and old people by forces of law and order. The organizations are appealing for the investigation of four people killed when security forces fired live bullets and launched teargas into a calm market with no protest in progress (Eyong, 2017). The death toll from Southern Cameroons crisis has risen to 17 as forces of law and order opened fire on peaceful protesters (Al Jazeera, 2017; Amnesty International, 2017). “The reported unlawful killing of several people in the Anglophone regions by the security forces coupled with the blocks of Facebook and WhatsApp represent an extremely worry escalation of the government’s ongoing campaign to silence any form of dissent in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon” (Amnesty International, 2017, para 1). On October 1, 2017, the UN Human Rights office denounces the murdering of protesters and the impartial investigation of the events within Anglophone Regions (Schlein, 2017). Also, “the statement issued by the US State Department spoke person, Heather Nauert, While expressing concern

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about the situation said Washington found the use of force in handling protesters grievances as ‘unacceptable’” (Abdur, 2017, “US Government”, para 1). Well based on this massacre, most Anglophones are now terrified and not feeling being at home once with East Cameroon. Most have lost loved ones and some Southern Cameroonians have volunteered to sacrifice their own lives to form the Ambazonian Defense Force (ADF) and Ambazonian Tigers (which are civilians defense forces) to defend their grandmothers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, etc. who are being raped, killed, and adducted by the unprofessional forces of the Cameroon government. These are upright gifted people, not terrorists. Calling people who are grieving and defending their love ones terrorists is a mockery and not acceptable. Cameroon does not breed terrorists. The international bodies need to help intervene and protect Southern Cameroonians from the grip of Cameroon’s unprofessional security forces. It is not because the forces killing them belong to their government that they will be ignored to die. Imagine innocent grandmothers who have committed no crime but sat calmly on their sick beds with bullets in their heads. Imagine innocent youths robbed in stinking mud and some shot by the forces who earn salaries from taxes paid by this same people to protect them yet the government showed no remorse but when a few security forces died they became very furious. As if that is not enough, the regime labeled a civilians defense force (Ambazonian defense force [ADF]) which sacrificed their own lives to defend their loved ones a terrorist group. In my opinion, the government needs to start showing some remorse to the civilian families who have lost loved ones instead of sympathizing only for the families of the dead soldiers. The word secessionists, separatists, or worst of all terrorists is a kind of stereotype since even those who seek for independence are not extremists. The decision for independence has been arrived at due to the barbaric action of the forces of law and order. We love our Francophone brothers and sisters and we know that, most of them love us as well. A good example is Hon. Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya a motherly Francophone woman who grieves at the side of any dying Cameroonian regardless of their origins and even professor Patrice Nganang of the USA. Amnesty, dialogue, and mediation are the magical forces which can glue this puzzle together again. Dialogue without amnesty will not work for Anglophone will not comfortably dialogue with some of their compatriots or comrades still in prisons. Proving strong by blocking dialogue, negotiation and mediation is very dangerous. Using guns is old fashion and the eighteenth-century method of ruling not leading. That being said, as a nation with two ways of life, it is easier to manage the two systems as a federation with strict respect of the terms of the federation like power sharing. It is also important to ensure that, the interests of the Anglophones and that of the Francophones are well coordinated within the Central government. Design good economic policies which are participatory and inclusive with a great respect of both English and French systems of operations. After the above conclusion, the tactlessness of the regime drove the crisis into a full scale blown war with over six million refugees who immigrated into Nigeria by March 6, 2018. The cabinet of the interim government of Ambazonia made of

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13 persons including their President Mr. Ayuk Tabe was abducted in Nigeria by the Nigerian security forces and extradited to Cameroon without going through legal extradition procedure. They have been kept incommunicado since their abduction and extradition to Cameroon till present date so they is fear looming over the horizon as to whether they are still even alive. According to (Cardinal Christian Tumi, 2018) some villages have been totally burnt down and reduced to dust and ashes and an old woman who could not run was burnt to ashes by the Cameroon army in Kwa Kwa. The homes of these villages were ramp sagged and the property of civilians looted by government security forces. The Cardinal unconsciously came up with a poem on this which I am going to present in his own words below. The poem I named it, ‘I saw’. I saw which means he went there and witness it by himself as opposed to the President who is never present on the field but keeps sending people who never actually give him the right information on the ground. The presence of the army coincided with my presence in that area or part of the country. And in Mbim that is a village about 40 minutes’ drive from my village which has been visited by the army the day before I went there. I was there on the 28th February 2018 and I think the army had been there on the 27th. I saw and listened to people in their depression. I would say it was as if the whole village of Mbim was mourning for somebody who had died but nobody was killed there. To be frank with you but; I saw houses that were reduced to dust and ashes. I saw a man who had run away with his wife and six children and their house had been reduced to dust and ashes. I saw the materials of a water building project in Mbim. The pipes had been all broken. I saw chairs of a cooperative union which had all broken down. I saw the house of an old man ramp shackled and I was told the army has done away with two electric generators of the family. I saw a man looking completely depressed from whom the army has made away with 800,000 francs cfa. I saw a bar of a young man running a small business from where hundreds of bottles of beer have been taken away by the army and what could not be taken away was broken to bits and pieces. I saw windows of houses broken. I was stroke by the question an old man asked me, cardinal what wrong have we committed that the army should be sent to treat us this way? I saw crops, corn, beans, coffee, reduced to dust and ashes a year’s harvest gone and I asked the people what the army said you had committed as a crime? What was your fault? The people said the army said they were looking for guns but they found no gun. (Cardinal Christian Tumi, 2018, video file).

The situation painted by the above unconsciously created poem by the cardinal is just one of the visited villages and even the least stroke by the army for, in Kwa Kwa and other villages in the South West Region; the entire villages were easily burnt into ashes since most of the houses were constructed with wood. According to (BBC News, 2018, video file), the following villages in South West Region (Azi, KukeMbomo, Munyenge, Bole, Kumukumu, Bekora) have been burnt down by the forces of law and order as confirmed by some citizens. At the moment the villages of Batibo

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Sub-Division have been visited and drums of armless civilian edible palm oil were being poured down. The motorbikes of youth bought with their hard earned currency as a means of living since they can hardly find employment within the formal sector have been all burnt by the Cameroon army. This will not result in hardship only to those youth but the entire community since these bikes had been used to solve the problem of lack of motorable roads into the hinterlands or remote villages. Now as we speak on March 07, 2018, the war against civilians is still in progress with people homeless and wondering in the bush. According to (Esteem Television, 2018, video file), two young girls were brutalized and orders to crawl in mud at gunpoint by the forces of law and order. Also in (Esteem Television, 2018, video file) you can see the forces of law and order shooting into civilians homes in Ekuna blatantly. Based on the above atrocities inflicted on the civilians by the government, the population has lost confidence in the administration. It is also believed that the President is not aware of the situation and those in charge are certainly not actually furnishing him with the right information (Cardinal Christian Tumi, 2018). Actually, I share the same conclusion with the cardinal about what is happening on the field and that the people have lost confidence in the government, but vary radically with him over a possible solution. Contrary to him I believe that mere inclusive dialogue is not enough to solve this problem any longer since the citizens already lack confidence in the administration. However, beside the present government has proven beyond an iota of doubt that they are not ready for an inclusive dialogue as well stated by the communication minister Issa Tchiroma that they cannot dialogue with terrorists (Breaking news, 2018). In my humble opinion, as the people have lost the confidence of their government, the President needs to resign for a comprehensive transparent electoral code to be drawn before the forthcoming Presidential election. We have to also ensure that the next government takes Cameroon out of the colonial pact with France which has been the core of perpetual bad institution. This pact undermines self-actualization and inclusive economic development. They should also reinstitute the federal system as it was. If this option is taken off the table, then Southern Cameroon should be allowed to take their destiny into their hands. The burning of homes, looting of property, raping of women, and stopping of schools would likely lead to an outburst of destitute and street children and youth. Imagine women running in the bush for weeks without sanitation pads for menstruation and even taking the risk of stumble over mines already being planted on fields. One woman advised the others to use moss plant as an alternative for sanitation pads and that is what most of them have been using. One put to birth alone in the forest and had to move with her baby to Nigeria for if discovered by the Cameroon security forces they would have had her shot. The million questions include what these armless civilians have done to be killed in the fashion. This regime is in the course of inflicting unimaginable pains on the people of North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. These regions are at the verge of being transformed into the Stone Age. Imagine that people are now wandering in the bush and the rainy season is just at the corner while their homes have all been sprayed with petrol and burnt. By January 8, 2018, it was concluded that the registered refugees under the UN have risen to 17 thousand. Where are the UN, EU,

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AU, and Commonwealth to put pressure against this destruction of humanity. There is a necessity for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the extrajudicial killings in Cameroon. Is it okay for this to be left in the hands of the government of Cameroon on grounds that it is an internal problem? Why are these organizations meant to enforce international laws aimed at protecting oppressed people not reacting to this alarming man-made disaster? Is Cameroon government which is a signatory to a host of human rights treaties not truly breaking these international human rights laws as amnesty international has been observing and reporting? Do Africans not merit the right to enjoy democracy and good governance just like any other parts of the world? It is an uphill task for any opposition party to win an election in Cameroon, because elections Cameroon (ELECAM) officials are appointed by the incumbent President. That is, during the elections of 2011, eleven of it twelve board members were appointed by the incumbent President and are all members of the central committee and political bureau of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement [CPDM] (Cameroon Today, 2011). If ELECAM is a neutral body which supervises or oversees election in Cameroon, then this is equal to players of one participating team given the authorization to serve as referees of the tournament. Well, there is doubt as to whether there will be a mixed commission member to participate in the revision process in 2018. The Constitutional Council functions include watching over the regularity of Presidential elections, parliamentary elections, and referendum operations. This council also proclaims results of the elections. It is rather unfortunate that this Constitutional Council made up of eleven members is appointed by the incumbent President for a term of 6 years renewable (Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, 2018). With these two institutions in the grip of the incumbent President, it is certain that it would be a bloodshed for an opposition party to follow up irregularity within an election. So my question here is, why go in for an election when you already know that it will end up in stark futility? So the best way out is that this unpopular regime should resign for us to give our country some constitutional sanity before the elections. This will serve us some lives which could probably die in the struggle after a rigged election. This kind of political transition has helped in other countries such as Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Egypt, and South Africa, and hence, Cameroon is not an exception.

5.3 Conclusion Imagine a world wherein all children have equal opportunities to explore their talents to the fullest. Unfortunately, a majority of them, especially in sub-Saharan Africa have been deprived of the basic resources necessary for development. The phenomenon of street children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa is a social issue requiring further attention and resources. The children and youth in street situations face many challenges in reintegrating into society as healthy, working adults. In

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case of Cameroon, its Government and NGOs are the greatest providers of these services. This book has looked at the reintegration or integration of the children into mainstream socioeconomic activities as well as the causal factors that play a role in how and why the children take to the streets. In the course of the research, I realized that street children and youth in Cameroon just like other sub-Saharan Africa countries are prone to many traumatic events. For this reason, they are psychologically maladjusted and rehabilitation homes in the country find it very difficult to maintain them, especially the adolescents. They have been able to deal with other groups of vulnerable children effectively, but street children remain a big problem to be solved. For this reason, I have tried to introduce or propose a new paradigm into the rehabilitation of street children, based on psychological healing and the provision of economic opportunities via economic development policies. In study 1 the result of my findings on psychological condition suggests that, children and youth of the street of Cameroon generally have a higher mean value in terms of Automatic Thought, and Resilience than children and youth on the street, but Children’s Hope, self-efficacy, and self-esteem were higher in children and youth on the street than the children and youth of the street. But the reverse is true for Resilience. The first set of differences is obvious, since most children and youth of the street have no real homes and no responsible persons for guidance or attachment, they must fend for themselves and most often attached to peers and gang leaders who are not responsible. They are those who also suffer the most from stereotypes and prejudice in the communities where they live. On the other hand, children on the street have a home and some of them have responsible guardians or attachment. As already mentioned, the degree of responsibility of guardians varies in these groups. The first category is children of middle-class families who work to subsidize their living expenses and/or schooling, those of the lower class or the poor who may work to provide the basic needs of their families, and those working for child traffickers. Though some children of the poor and trafficked children may have a poorer psychological condition than some children of the street, the overall result suggests that the condition of children and youth on the street is better than those of the street. In addition, children on the street do not generally go through the stereotyping and prejudice that children of the street go through, for they are often not considered to be real street children. Most of them are within the mainstream society (involved in apprenticeships, primary schools, secondary schools and even universities). It may sound astonishing that children and youth of the street have more Resilience than children and youth on the street despite the numerous adversities faced by children and youth of the street compared to children and youth on the street. Since these children have been left to fend for themselves, they are compelled to counteract the numerous adversities in order to work for their basic needs, else they would perish. They also have encouragement from the attachments they make on the street. Looking at correlations, automatic thought is negatively related to Children’s Hope, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Taking Children’s Hope as the dependent variable, the multiple regression result suggests that automatic thought makes a negative contribution to Children’s Hope. On the other hand, self-efficacy contributes the most to Children’s Hope, while resilience makes a moderate contribution. A careful examination of pre-

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and post-survey of study 2 reveals that, automatic thought decreased while Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, self-esteem all increased. The various organs of the government of Cameroon and Non-Governmental Organizations have been working very hard to counteract the phenomenon of street children and youths, but it has been very stubborn to control. Besides the new paradigm of psychological healing, as suggested by these studies, I have also recommended different economic activities that can facilitate the reintegration of street children. Lastly, each of us needs to be patriotic to our country. Greed, which has resulted in irrational distribution of income, is one of the major reasons for poverty. We need to start by changing our individual mindsets in a positive direction. We need a more development-driven approach with strong institutions if we are to pull our population out of poverty. If all of us start playing our roles in a responsible way, we would broaden our path into development and be able to remove the greater population which has been entrapped in poverty and homelessness. I strongly believe that, sub-Saharan African industries can withstand the competition from newly industrialized economies and developed countries only on condition that they are nurtured to grow at a fast rate by means of teamwork and collaboration with local and international experts. This falls in line with the speech of the director of IMF, which highlights inclusive and collaborative growth. I feel comfortable that they have identified where they went wrong. According to the World Bank Group President (2017), investment in human capital and acceleration of inclusive and sustainable economic growth is going to be a top priority. The West also needs to engage in serious foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa. The region is fast becoming politically stable and conducive for investment. I am skeptical about the collaborative development approach highlighted by the IMF for this would likely be counteracted by the bad faith of some African dictators and some Western nations who would prefer to maintain the status quo of exploitation of sub-Saharan Africa nations instead of collaborative development. If the above approach fails region, then they have no choice than to follow the path which was taken by the present successful transitional nations and developed world. This was protective trade to nurture infant industries to grow before gradually moving into free trade. To do this, it would be advantageous for them to open all their borders within Africa to free movement of goods and services or trade. This is because sub-Saharan Africa countries can have a fair competition among themselves as opposed to the giant industrialized nations. Furthermore, when they open their borders they become opened to a broader market which would attract foreign investments in the form of industries. To encourage development, hard work should be rewarded and wrong-doing punished. According to the President who stirred up development in South Korea (Park Chung-hee), “Never fail to reward a merit nor let a fault go unpunished” (Jwa, 2015, p. 29). All those who perpetuate adverse development actions need to be severely punished. This very punishment has been meted out upon her daughter (former President Park Geun Hye) recently, without any preferential treatment. The President of Ghana as seen in Chap. 2 is an advocate of this path where in Africa need to take its own destiny into its hands. Sub-Saharan Africa desperately needs strong institutions with a rule of law to be able to drive

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their economies forward so that their citizens can be employed, leading to a reduction in the number of street children and youths. To conclude, my plea is that, the various actors involved in the fight against street children and youth phenomenon should unravel it from all its ramifications. The social work approach of rehabilitation homes has been unable to guarantee a lasting solution to the problem because, it is a curative measure. We need preventive measures by investigating the loopholes in our institutions which allow room for our children and youth to end up on the streets. Institutions with inclusive approach to socioeconomic activities would obviously discourage youth from roaming the streets. Institutions which allow room for parents to have attachment or bonding with their children in the course of childhood development would discourage childhood trauma and children roaming the street. Institutions with youth development programs aimed at undercutting them from transiting into hopeless street roaming children also discourage the phenomenon. Indeed, as opposed to the belief of many that Africa is a resource-curse continent, Africa is a battered “development lion,” lying dormant awaiting its wounds to heal so that it can roar once more and this time louder than ever. Parts of its body, such as Ghana, Mauritius, and Botswana, are fast healing whereas serious germs in the form of neo-colonization and or “monarchical republics” still infect the whole of Francophone Africa: Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Uganda, etc. Given the fact that civilization began in Africa, if today it is taking a back seat in terms of development, then something went wrong somewhere. It is time for it to be fixed by this generation. Imagine that, we use the money the dictators in Africa use for their lavish extravagant lives in hotels abroad, illicit financial outflows, and corruption to cater for the children of sub-Saharan Africa, then the continent will become a better and more peaceful place to live.

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Cameroon Concord. (2016). Cameroon lawyers protest: Police injure dozens, raid law offices—American diplomat steps in. Cameroon Concord. Retrieved from http://cameroo n-concord.com/headlines/item/7265-cameroon-lawyers-protest-police-injure-dozens-raid-law-o ffices-american-diplomat-steps-in. Cameroon Intelligence Report. (2016). Joint communique from the Cameroon common law lawyers to President Biya. Retrieved from http://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/joint-communiq ue-from-the-cameroon-common-law-lawyers-to-president-biya/. Cameroon Today. (2011). Elections Cameroon, ELECAM an overview of the Cameroon’s election body. Retrieved from https://www.cameroon-today.com/elecam-elections-cameroon.html. Cardinal Christian Tumi. Kmer Replay. (2018). The Inside (Guest: Cardinal Christian Tumi) Equinox TV [video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXvDd8_j7Ww. Dryjanska, L. (2014). Thematic review: Negotiating identities of street children. Paper on Social Representations (Peer reviewed online Journal), 23, 3.1–3.27 (ISSN 10121-5573). Retrieved from http://www.psch.lse.ac.uk/psr/. Easterly, W. (2003). Can foreign aid buy growth? The Journal of Economic Perspective, 17(3), 23–48. Retrieved from http://www.development.wne.uw.edu.pl/uploads/Courses/dev_easterly_ 2003.pdf. Esteem Television. (2018). Voices episode 36; The war criminals in Ambazonia [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA4MPVQ_eyo&t=20s. Eyong, B. O. (2017). Cameroon urged to investigate deaths amid Anglophone protests. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/13/cameroon-urged-investigate-clashes-ang lophone-regions. Ha-Joon, C. (2010). [G20 HR Forum]. (2010). GHR Forum 2010: G20 Special Session 3: G20 Seoul Angenda from Non-G20 perspectives [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=-5mzcXCktPY&t=10s. Jwa, S. H. (2015). Ajou GSIS reunion homecoming 2015. Ajou University Graduate School of International Studies. Li, L., & Hou, L. (2015). Smaller Chinese factories win big in Africa. Chinadaily. Retrieved from http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2015-05/22/content_20789887.htm. Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon. (2018). Constitutional council. Retrieved from https:// www.prc.cm/en/Cameroon/institutions/171-constitutional-council. Pilling, D. (2015). Africa ties with China are about more than raw materials. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/e6b692ec-5e2f-11e5-a28b-50226830d644. Provan, J. K. (n.d.). The marshal plan and its consequences. Retrieved from https://www.georgemarshall-society.org/george-c-marshall/the-marshall-plan-and-its-c. Schlein, L. (2017). UN rights office denounces killings of Anglophone demonstrators in Cameroon. VOA. Retrieved from https://www.voanews.com/a/un-rights-office-denounces-killings-of-anglo phone-demonstrators-in-cameroon/4060595.htmlonsequences/?loginfailed_error=2#onthe12/2 6/2016. Sippho, M. (2017). China, US knew of Zim coup. News24. Retrieved from https://www.news24.c om/Africa/Zimbabwe/zim-coup-one-way-or-another-mugabe-must-go-20171119-2. Swanson, A. (2015). Does foreign aid always help the poor? World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/10/does-foreign-aid-always-help-the-poor/ (Published in Collaboration with Washington Post). United States Department of Justice. (2017). Foreign corrupt practice act. Retrieved from https:// www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act. World Bank. (2017). The World Bank in Cameroon: Overview. Retrieved from http://www.worldb ank.org/en/country/cameroon/overview.

Appendix Methodology

Distribution of Participants Study 1. The first survey took place in Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Quantitative data collection involved 508 participants pulled from different parts of these towns. The composition of the participants was 254 children and youth of the street and 254 children and youth on the street from age 12 to 18. Study 2. The second survey took place at the Kana Foundation NGO in Yaoundé, and the quantitative data collection involved 20 former children of the street.

Interviewing Procedure Collection of field research data with street children is complicated by the fact that the children are often apprehensive, and so mistrust any stranger, especially adults interviewing them. To overcome this problem, in this research I used former street youth over age 18 to deliver the questionnaires to persons they identified as children on the street or of the street under the age 19 and over 11.

Collection of Quantitative Data Study 1. The simple random sampling approach was applied with closed-end questions. Since most street children are not educated, they could not read the questionnaires. For this reason, a face-to-face interview was conducted in most cases and then transferred to the questionnaires. Those who could read well answered directly on the questionnaire under the supervision of the former street children who were recruited. Consenting children and youth of the street were © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3

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evaluated for their levels of automatic thought, Children's Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Participants were informed that their decision to participate in the research would not in any way compromise their subsequent access to standard treatment. A packet of biscuits was offered to each child as a motivating gift for spending approximately an hour to answer the questions. Though participants were allowed to drop out of the research at any point, all consenting participants continued to the end of the research though a few did not answer all questionnaires. Study 2. I received permission from the administrative officer in charge of the Kana Foundation to carry out the research project in their NGO. Initially, my interest was to study resilience enhancement on former street children and youth pursuing vocational training programs. However, that was impossible because there were very few children in vocational training programs. For this reason, the research was carried out on street children pursuing primary education. Enhancement within the vocational training programs for former street children remains a research gap that is worth future investigation. Within the Kana Foundation’s rehabilitation primary education program, a project with 20 children between the ages of 12 and 15 went on for 6 months. A pre-project survey was conducted, and after the project went on for six months, a post-project survey was then conducted. The study took place between February 9, 2015, and August 14, 2015. The project was supervised by the Kana Foundation staff members with the aid of some former street children. The children were given packets of biscuits each every time they took a survey. During the surveys, we also guaranteed the participant’s privacy. Participants were allowed to withdraw from the research whenever they wished. Some scholars argue that the concept is not perfect for some children and youth work and spend their nights on the street during one period and spend another period working on the street while sleeping at home at nights. To work on the inter-lapping which exists between these two groups of street children and youth, in the course of the interview we tried to classify those who spend limited nights at home under children and youth of the street and vice versa.

Research Design In both studies, we used quantitative methods to examine the results of surveys consisting of forced-choice questions. The reason for applying this method was to be able to arrive at a verifiable result. We also included some qualitative research, involving interviews with open-ended questions. Study 1. This study examined the results of the surveys, evaluating the difference on each variable between children of the street and children on the street (independent t test). Across these two populations, the study also looked at the correlations among the variables and followed up with a multiple regression analysis in

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which Children’s Hope was the dependent variable and the independent variables were automatic thought, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Study 2. For the second survey, matched pair t tests were used to compare pre-enhancement surveys to post-enhancement surveys. The variables used were: automatic thought, Children’s Hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The first study investigated the psychological conditions of street children and youth. The second study tested the effectiveness of resilience enhancement within a rehabilitation home for former street children. Cronbach alphas: They are reported separately for the two studies as Tables A.1 and A.2. The questionnaire was then pilot tested by giving it to former street children who are on a Kana Foundation rehabilitation education program to assess face validity. Emphasis was put on differentiating the children and youth who work and live on the street (children and youth of the street) from those who work on the street and retire home at night (children and youth on the street or workers).

Table A.1 Cronbach alphas for study 1 Variables

Overall Cronbach alphas for each variable

Automatic thought Hope Resilience Self-efficacy Self-esteem

0.861 0.823 0.812 0.892 0.795

Table 2 Cronbach alphas for study 2 Variables

Cronbach alphas for pre-survey

Cronbach alpha for post-survey

Automatic thought Hope Resilience Self-efficacy Self-esteem

0.826 0.704 0.811 0.719 0.871

0.882 0.753 0.793 0.96 0.757

Index

A Automatic thought, 2, 3, 5, 6, 73–77, 79–82, 86, 88, 89, 93, 95, 100, 103, 104, 106, 128, 129 C Children and youth of the street, 1, 74–79, 84, 86–88, 92, 128 Communities with threats of self-destruction, 21, 25 E Economic underdevelopment, 21, 22 External negative forces, 21 F Francafrique or Francophone Africa, 24, 28–31, 34, 130 H Hope or Children’s hope, 2, 3, 7, 73, 77, 79, 80, 89, 95, 104, 128, 129 I Internal negative forces, 21, 25

R Rehabilitation, 2, 3, 16, 17, 67, 68, 73, 75, 93–95, 98–103, 105, 106, 113, 115, 116, 128, 130 Reintegration, 2, 3, 16, 64, 67, 93, 99, 105, 111, 112, 128, 129 Resilience, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16, 21–23, 60, 73–76, 78–81, 89, 90, 92–95, 97, 98, 100–106, 112, 113, 115, 116, 128, 129 S Self-efficacy, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 16, 73–76, 78–81, 89, 93, 95, 97, 100, 102–104, 106, 128, 129 Self-esteem, 2, 3, 5, 8–10, 16, 73–76, 78–81, 84, 89, 93, 95, 98, 100–104, 106, 128, 129 T Trauma, 5, 6, 13, 76–78, 81, 82, 86–89, 94, 97, 99, 100, 103, 112, 116, 130 W Weak institutions, 21, 23–25, 32

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 W. M. Sanji, Resilience and the Re-integration of Street Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2074-3

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