The child traders of Mombasa Road

By Alex Kiprotich

Each day at dawn, they leave their homes with plastic bags strapped on their small backs and small basins in their hands.

The routine journey is not to school, but to ‘work’ stations –– busy streets in the city and shopping malls.

Along Mombasa Road in Nairobi, children too young to memorise the alphabet are masters of trade.

They sell groundnuts, fruits, vegetables and plastic bags.

Their "Njugu, njugu, njugu," calls are hard to miss. They walk and work swiftly. The money they make depends on the length of traffic jams. They also have to compete with adult hawkers. "We have to be very fast," says Geoffrey Mwangi.

Most of the children say they have been forced to work to supplement their parent’s wages.

Others are hired for a paltry Sh50 per day.

"My mother told me to choose between selling fruits along the road and get food or going to school on an empty stomach," Mwangi says. On a good day, he makes Sh200 from selling fruits.

"It is difficult but my mother is very strict. She doesn’t give me food when I go home empty handed," he said.

Some of Mwangi’s age mates go to school but report for ‘work’ in the evening and during weekends.

"After school, I rush home to change, pick up food stuffs and go to the highway," says Andrew Otieno a pupil at St Bakita in Mukuru Kayaba slums.

Otieno, 10, sells groundnuts to supplement his mother’s income as a clothes washer.

He and his two brothers have allocated themselves different selling spots along the busy Mombasa Road. Otieno covers the area around Nyayo roundabout, his brother Bryan Amisi, seven, Bunyala roundabout and the youngest, Bernard Ochieng, is stationed near the International Church Centre.

In spite of the chilly weather, they wake up at 4am in the morning so that by five they are on the road.

Difficult task

Otieno, who supervises his younger siblings, says they make about Sh600 per day.

"It is hard but we are used to it. If we do not come and sell, we cannot get food," he says.

Amisi says they stay up to 9pm when there is heavy traffic on Mombasa Road.

"It is hard to convince motorists to buy. We are always met with blank stares and at times windows are rolled up," he says.

John Karanja, nine, says the conditions they are exposed to horrible. "But this is the only way can feed myself and my siblings," he says. Karanja, who walks every day at dawn from Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums, says he sells groundnuts for a neighbour for a commission.

"At the end of the day, I sell groundnuts worth Sh300 but I only get Sh50," he says.

Sometimes their wares and money are snatched.

"Some adults take our goods and money. When that happens, we go back home empty-handed to face the wrath of our employers," he says.

Peter Kamuyu, 12, says council askaris also harass them. "They take our goods, but they do not touch our money," he says.

Dropped out of school

Kamuyu was lured out of school by the roadside business.

"I dropped out of school after I realised I could make money as a hawker," he says.

Most of the children are poorly dressed. "One looks at them and sympathises but why is the Government allowing this?" poses Mr Tom Tirok, a motorist.

He says the Government did a commendable job when it rounded up mothers who allowed children to beg in the streets but has failed to deal with the children hawkers.

Another motorist, Catherine Munuve, says the Government should get the children out of the highway for their own safety.

"With the rise in kidnappings and child molestation, they can easily be harmed," she says.

Mr Bernard Momanyi, a security officer says the children are exposed to risks, especially at night. "Some of the old hawkers might even be dealing with drugs and the children can easily be lured," he says.