The Scavenger

When you go to most neighborhoods around here (Jos, Nigeria), you find little kids scavenging to survive. This is common where I am from. Little children age 10 and below leave their houses as early as 6:30 to scavenge for scraps like metals and some valuables from people’s waste bins. Then they go sell them for small small money. Scavenging isn’t necessarily bad, but a child this age should be in class or somewhere learning to work with their hands – as a cobbler, tailor, plumber, mechanic or something. They shouldn’t be in the garbage. The bottles used to be full of liquor. Now some of these kids, they come into contact with some of these things. At a point in time, maybe the consumer didn’t finish the bottle. They throw away one that is filled. Some of these kids, out of curiosity want to taste what is in there, because they have seen other people do it. Now they are small, and won’t be able to handle it. Some may do it once and feel sick and that is all. Others may become addicted. A long-term issue has started with a sip. It’s the same with the cigarette packs. I have seen little kids try to smoke the leftover pieces. There are more and more kids in the city now who are turning to drugs and alcohol to get relief from their situations. From “let me try” it becomes something else. Now there’s one thing about the scavenging. To put this piece together, I had to become a scavenger myself. This is really what made me realize that this is not something that kids should be exposed to. So we have a role to play in the lives of all the children we see out there. It might not be your children but if they turn into thieves tomorrow, or if their lives are miserable, it will eventually affect you. We share space. Their well-being is connected to your well-being and your kid’s well-being.