As part of their effort to prevent the migration of young women in the Northern part of Ghana to the South for greener pastures, Operation Mobilisation, an NGO have been sending some head porters (Kayaye) to High Schools and also offers skills training and development.
Speaking to the Media at the Hope during Easter outreach in Accra, Mr. Paul Tom Nyama, the Country Director of Operation Mobilisation (OM) pointed out that, over the years OM have been focusing more of their efforts in the Northern part of the country and Kumasi as well.
Operation Mobilisation he disclosed, have been operating in Ghana for the past eight (8) years but, came to Accra just one and half years to continue their operations.
Mr. Nyama indicated that, the main focus of OM is centered on the marginalized and depressed in the society.
OM is a Christian based organization, established to add value to humanitarian efforts in the rural places of Ghana.
Taking care of the needy he mentioned, is one of their Ministry’s activities they do as a way of extending God’s love to people and message of salvation as well.
“We believe that it is not only preaching the gospel but also, revealing God’s message which is the hope of humanity to the Kayaye people whom we are much interested”.
He however said, there are a lot of challenges facing the porters and is very unbearable hence, OM determination to give them a prosperous future.
Ing. Solomon Noi, the Director of Waste Management Department for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), representing the Mayor on his part revealed that, the City of Accra being a Cosmopolitan has diverse people trading, with the Informal economy forming about 80% of the City economy and therefore, initiatives like what OM have been doing to improve the livelihoods of the people must be supported.
He affirmed that, the basic infrastructure in the City is not helping at all mentioning the way markets are built and that, there is inadequate space for the Kayaye people to push trucks or wheelbarrows in the markets.
Lack of accessibility situations in the market according to Ing. Solomon Noi, is forcing the head porters to go into jobs that are impacting negatively on their health. “The average bail of second-hand cloth is about 55kg yet, most of them do not weigh up to 50kg. So, you can imagine a 60kg weight lady or girl, carrying 55kg load. And that impact heavily on their spine. Research has shown that most of them have their spine bent and because of that as a City, we are also much concerned”.
