Lady Gaga, lion's milk and parents; these are things that the street children we work with write poems about. In 2017, we started working with poetry writing to empower street children's voices - and as a way for them to be heard. Two volunteers with academic experience in literary studies came up with the idea, which is now a regular part of our partner's teaching of street children in Accra. The project is called Poetic Empowerment, and we sell here a collection of poems that the volunteers have created with the street children. In 2018, they wrote poems every month, which were displayed on 20 November as part of the Children's Day celebrations.
In 2018, our partner Catholic Action for Street Children (CAS) taught no less than 789 boys and 748 children to read and write: "Poetry readings, singing and drama have helped the children gain confidence, communicate more effectively and learnt how to work together as a team," says CAS.
Hear their voices as expressed in poetry:
Respect Your Husband
/Poem by Benice
I know some girl
She does not respect
Mother, father, family
And get five marriages
Five children
She sits down
And she thinks
That my friends gets one Husband
Three children
But me
I get five husbands
Five children
That five children
She go to look for her destiny
When the pastor see her
That old lady I'm talking about She was wounded
She was smelling
She lived in the forest for 30 years
And she never took a bath
The girl stays with the old
lady for three days
The old lady performed a
spell, the old lady gets
A cow thigh and give it to the girl
The girl take the cow thigh
The girl, place the cow
thigh front of the lion's cage.
And the pastor says
"I see that girl before"
I don't have any help
To help her
So the pastor couldn't tell her
to her face
And the pastor decide
He gives her a direction
she can't do
And the pastor tell her
Go and bring me a lion's
breast milk
And the girl turned
and leave
And the girl said
Me, I do not have any strength
The lion eats when the
lion baby drink breast milk
The girl layed on the ground
And crawled to the lion
and took the lions breast
and pured the milk into a bottle
The girl went back home
And she went to the pastor
When the pastor saw the girl
The pastor shouted the
girls name:
"EY! BENICE! YOU CAME
BACK! SO NOW GO!
You marry one man"
To bring a lions breast milk
So I'm going to kill myself
The girl goes into a deep forest
And decide to hang herself
When the girl take the rob
to her neck
Some old lady shout
"DON'T KILL YOURSELF! I
WILL HELP YOU.
But before I help you, you help me,
You sleep with me in one bed
We eat from one plate
We drink from one cup"
Every man who sees the
girl wants to Marry her
But now she came to get
Plenty of money
Plenty of houses
Plenty of cars
So the girl became rich
And built many houses
And brought many cars
The story so far should
give respect
To the man she lives with
And the family as a home
A girl who live on the street
/Poem by Gertrude, Cindy and Monica
When I was a child
My mother took care of me
She gave me everything I wanted
Later she left me Alone
So I did not know what to do
At the age of 12 years
My lovely mother died
A Woman called me
And said don't worry, I will take care of you
So in Kumasi the woman sell food
I was staying there for a few months
That place will be a help to get money
So Lady GaGa left me there
I was soo angry
And I don't have money
I had to sleep with a guy
So I met a guy called Beautiful
He told me about Cas
And said
Will I go with him?
The woman started treating me badly
So I ran away from Kumasi
And I got missing
I don't know the place I went
I met a girl called
Lady GaGa
She called me, Hji Hji,
Small girl where are you going this night
And I said
I don't have anywhere to stay
So she gave me place to sleep
Early in the morning
She wake up and called me
Girl, girl get up, we are going to Kaneshie
And I said yes, I will go with you
So now im in Cas
Im in sponsorship
Cas have helped me a lot
So help me to say thank you to Cas
Now see my life
OOO LO LO LO LO!
/Poem by Cletus
I was nine years
When I came to the streets
I came from Kumasi
And live at Kanta now
I came to the streets in 2009
I was nine years
I have three sisters
I have four brothers
My father is in Accra, he lives in Madina
I live in Kanta
I colour jeans and sell them
I earn 5 cedi for on pair of jeans
I sell plenty
Im 18 years old
I was in class six
When I stopped going to school
I was selling peer water
My name is Cletus Darko
/Poem by Linda Amakye, Hopeland
I helped someone
In selling foods
She treated me bad
Then she threw me
Out through the door
Way
That moment, I missed
My home
My daddy's love, I'm
Not a partaker of
Life on the street
/Poem by Osei Emmanuel, Hopeland
Many people on the street have two or three reasons why they are there
There're all kinds of different people on the street
They all have different back grounds and ideas
The same way we have people who are willing to make something beneficial from the street
Others are also there just because there is freedom
/Poem by Kingsley, Hopeland
The day I came to the streets
I was having some four friends
The first day I came to the streets
I was with my mother before I came to the street
And the day I decided to go to the street
One of my friends told me
We should go swim at a worker at our village
My friend told me
She have some place
I would enjoy
I was not happy with my mother
My mother and father was fighting
I told my friend
I will follow you on the streets
I came with my younger brother
Called Francis
The day I came the streets
I slept at Kasoa
I saw men and women fighting
And that day was Monday
And I remembered my mother and father fighting
I wanted to tell my friend
We should go back
My brother told me, he is hungry
We don't have money
My friend went and begged food
For my brother
Next day
My friend told me
We should come to CAS
That is the end of my story
How I became a street boy
/By Hopewell, Hopeland
Long ago, I was living with my grandmother at Darkuman. Life was very smooth with me and
all of a sudden, my grandmother died a mysterious death and I was very sad about how my
life was going to be. Even though my parents were alive but how my grandmother act towards
me was very interesting and it makes me happy. So, the day my grandmother died, I got lost
control. But in all that my father came to pick me to his place and took care of me. My father
provides me everything I need to be happy in life. I was schooling, and everything was
fantastic for me, but always my father is busy going to work leaving me alone in the house. I
only see my father on weekends. I was not happy about that, so I decide to go to my mom at
Accra my father refuse to let me go. One day, I tried to escape to go and search for my mom,
but I couldn't find her. I then went back to my father's palace, when my father got to know
about the escape he punished me with a faulbelt. My next attempt to escape, I couldn't find
her, so, I decide not to go home, course I know my dad will punish me again. And then I saw
two boys and joined them. That's how I became a street boy. So let us have time for our ward
and not to punish them severely but to advice or talk to them. Thank you.
