DINNER ON THE TABLE

 Kola is really hoping that his barber boss will give him some money so that food will be in his belly tonight. Later in the evening, Tunde walks by the barbershop and sees a boy, surely in his age grade, eating a meal comfortably at his own pace and when he wants to. On the other hand, he has to be at home for the night meal at the dining table where the other members of the family must be at the table. He, amongst other responsibilities, must be clean at the table, and hands washed or else the food will likely be forfeited.

Perspectives. Kola needs to literally make a daily income to eat every day. This is not because he is a biological orphan, his folks are alive, they just have many mouths to feed. Tunde is not aware of this childhood turmoil that is Kola’s life, except for the chilling young man who eats alone at the barbershop.

What’s spectacular about eating in the dining room every night. A few things come to the fore, but the striking feature, which is rapidly depleting in Kola’s upbringing is a sense of family and family values. Most nations of the world pride themselves on upholding family values as much as possible. It’s still notable that some western countries, although less direct, consistently try to ensure all underages are in foster homes to get a family-esque experience in their formative years. 

Cue Nigeria. NGOs want to take over the government’s responsibility. E no go gel (It will not work!). A pivotal influence in matters concerning child abuse, and taking children off the streets is the political will. Nothing, very little if optimistic, will be done without the institution of policies and continuous evaluation, monitoring and implementation of policies by the government and her parastatals to curtail this epidemic.

The message is simple. The government still has to do better. NGOs and social enterprises can never fully achieve what a responsible government can. For now, Kola gets to eat twice per day. Hope is all that’s left for his meal or his entire life not to derail.

PS: A meta-analysis of outcomes of parenthood on children spanning over their entire adult lives will strengthen the hand of policymakers in this direction.