The children of informal activities

Note of purpose

At the beginning, the purpose was to get some true photographs of local working children in group for the needs of writing. Then, the plan was reformed on the base of emotion and thoughts which occurred during this first stage of its realization.

There are many children as itinerant dealers in our informal markets. The total profit discounted on their goods or items equal scarcely 500 F CFA, or less than 1 $. In order to get that, they have to go round the district, the town, to go from one agglomeration to the other without any paper of identity which would allow them to sell their goods. It is difficult to know their number because of their mobility and espacially because of the fact that majority of them is unknown by registry offices. Without instruction, with or for any professional experience, and unexperiment, they are thrown in the streets as providers of means to their protectors. They are considered as docile servants in a society with life difficulties and growing individualism which seems to blind the inhabitants on their condition considered as a fate. We have taken their photographs in the field, working, and in anonymity because they seemed not to make a spectacle of themselves as they were working !

Their “personal” adventures combined, result oftenly in one word : “betrayal”, because under pressure and threats of certain informal traders. That is a proof that our care for these children is a threat to their interests. Informal sector is a huge factory of children exploitation. We know that the countries of subsaharian Africa are underindustrialized and that almost the number of children as workers are involved in informal sector. There is a question : can we talk of serious fight against the work of children in Subsaharian Africa without making the control of informal sector be as a question which has priority ? What interest for do we sign written agreements and texts on the work of children (though often, we are the first to sign them), if this sector remains without law ? As an answer to that question, it is often opposed that this sector is out of public authorities’control. But it is scarcely argued that some State services collect nevertheless some taxes ; those organized services of micro credit are there, and they constitute groups of influence able to exert pressure for better future of these children. It is also opposed that they are victims of poverty. But let us say the truth : even if the “ very generous” donors of rich countries volunteer to distribute dollars to us everyday to satisfy all our needs, there will be nothing possible for these children who generally are without birth certificate, without badge, without identity paper. Especially there won’t be any known number of these children who that priority volunteers to save ; that means that there will be false figures and that will arrange the interest of the people who try by all means to live honestly on the financial difficulties of these poor children. The organizations of Human rights’defence and media regulary make reports on the abuses of Heads of States, but they almost don’t make reports on the abuses done by communities of citizens. Yet they mention a well-known market of a capital or of a town in which a thousand of children counted in less than three hours.

Let us mention that all our photographs have been taken between half past seven and eleven o’clock a.m, that is to say during the class periods of primary school. They go to the school in which, we quickly know that between reality and fiction, there is an immeasurable gap.

Thank you for your care.

Dissirama BOUTORA-TAKPA.

Team of show