By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, April 1, Mana: It has been hell on earth for Major Lyton and Yamikani Dyless. Sleeping on an empty stomach, going from one place to another in search of pieces of work in order to find food, clothing and school materials on their own has been a part of their lives.

This is what has been characterizing the lives of young Lyton, aged 11, and Dyless, aged 13, born from different poor and irresponsible fathers in the area of Traditional Authority Chitekwere in Lilongwe District.

“Since our mother (Teresa Alick, aged 30) got married to another man, our lives have never been the same. My four siblings and I lack a lot of things in our lives, and this has even caused us to stop going to school.

“We do almost everything on our own through pieces of work, as our stepfather too depend on pieces of work for us to eat on a particular day. We go and herd cattle, goat and work in different farms just for our survival,” said Dyless with tears in his eyes.

He says recently he, together with Lyton, walked for about 80 kilometres (from T/A Chitekwele to T/A Chadza) just to find pieces of work for their survival.

 “We left our home and went to the area of T/A Chadza where we were employed to herd cattle. It was not easy at all because in most cases, we were herding the cattle in a thick forest bare footed and we were reporting back home very late without eating anything from morning to evening,” Dyless said.

After learning of this sad development, Lilongwe District Labour Office and other stakeholders teamed up to withdraw the two young boys from herding the cattle, describing it as child labour.

Lilongwe District Labour Officer Chiletso Mbewe has since singled out child abandonment and lack of support for the children as some of the factors fueling child labour in the district and the country at large.

“It is sad that many families, more especially in the rural areas, continue bearing many children that they cannot afford to take care of. This forces young children to go out and find pieces of work for their needs,” she said.

Malawi National Child Labour survey (2022) clearly shows that the vice continues to affect an estimated 2.1 million children, aged 5 to 17, representing a 38 percent of this age group.

These numbers clearly indicate that efforts in this regard need to be intensified and accelerated in order for the goal of child labour elimination to be reached in the nearest possible future.

The survey also revealed that child labour is higher among children from poor households and even among best-off households, as it shows that more than one in three children are in child labour.

In policy terms, this result suggests that a strategic response based on poverty reduction alone is unlikely to be effective in eliminating child labour.

The statistics further indicate that 72 percent of children, aged 5 to 17, works in agriculture sector, 23 percent in domestic sector and three percent are in wholesale.

In urban areas, less than half (46 percent) of those aged 5 to 17 work in agriculture, forestry and fishing industry, 11 percent are in wholesale and retail trade, 39 percent in domestic sector and four percent in other sectors.

Mbewe then urged parents and guardians to take care of their children by, among other things, providing for their needs such as food, clothing and good shelter so that they do not go out and work in hazardous places.

Said Mbewe: “Section 9 of the Childcare, Protection and Justice Act clearly states that where a parent or any other person who is legally liable to maintain a child or to contribute towards the maintenance of the child, neglects to maintain the child, neglects to maintain the child or to make the contribution, the following persons may apply against such person to the child justice court for a maintenance order of the child.”

She further said the Act also allows the child, the parent of the child, the guardian of the child, relatives of the child, a social welfare officer, a police officer, a teacher, a health officer, and any other appropriate person to apply against such persons to the children’s court for a child maintenance order.

 She then disclosed that Lilongwe District Council has already formulated by-laws that will deal with all parents and guardians that allow their young children to work in hazardous places like estates, mines and factories.

“These children we have repatriated and withdrawn, walked on foot for a distance of about 80 kilometres [from T/A Chitekwele to T/A Chadza] just to find pieces of work. They have been working as herd boys at that age. This clearly shows that these children are not taken care of by their parents. It’s quite pathetic,” she said.

Gikilosi Phiri, aged 32, admitted that he is failing to take care of his stepchildren because he is not working and that he doesn’t have any stable business to depend on.

“I depend on pieces of work to feed my family members. As you can see here, even our house doesn’t have door cover and we sleep like that. It’s not deliberate that these young children go out to look for pieces of work, but it’s the situation we are in that is forcing them,” he said.

Phiri has since asked Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), churches and well-wishers to assist the family with essential items such as food, clothing, beddings and some cash for the family to start a small business.

However, Malawi News Agency also observed that the family doesn’t even have a toilet, a bathing room and even their dwelling house doesn’t have privacy since the house doesn’t have separate bedrooms.

We also observed that there is no child that goes to school due to lack of required school materials such as bags, exercise books and pens.

We further noted that although Phiri’s family is passing through such a difficult situation, his wife is again expectant and very soon the number of family members in the house will be increased, thereby worsening the situation.

Group Village Headman Chinyama in the area of T/A Chitekwele thanked the district labour office for withdrawing the young boys from herding the cattle, saying their future would have been completely destroyed if the office had not intervened.

“It is pathetic to see young children like these working in such hard conditions while their friends are at school,” he said.

Chinyama further thanked the council for coming up with by-laws which he said will assist to protect children from hard labour.

He then warned his subjects against exploiting young children, saying the tendency is counterproductive.

“Send children to school so that they become productive citizens in the future and take part in developing their areas and the country at large,” he advised.