By: J. Mason Kollie |Lofa County Correspondent
Voinjama city ,Lofa County-Wednesday, June 25,2025- Hundreds of Children are now being used as breadwinners by single parents in Lofa County, thereby resulting into serious situation in Voinjama city, and Lofa County in General.
During School hours, Children are found in the streets selling or looking for daily contract just to provide food for the home from which they hailed.
During our investigation in several cities and towns in the County, our microphone caught up with several children who were transporting planks for a little amount just to get daily bread for their homes.
“We are contracting in carrying this wood to get money for ourselves because our Ma them not get money for us to eat, so we do this to get food,” Little Mulbah said in an interview.
Another child, Kolee also spoken to by this reporter said “I don’t know my father, so my mother is the one taking care of me. She is not working and also not selling at all; the only thing that we do is to make garden, sell the produce and look for daily contract just for us to survive daily”.
When contacted some officials of the Gender and Labor ministries as to what they are doing about this situation of single parents transforming their children into breadwinners instead sending to school, they said it is an age-old problem, but they are reaching out to partners to help support the single parents in the county so that this would in turn allowed they the parents to send their children go to school.
“The problem of Single parenting started long time ago, and we sometimes get involve by advising women to be careful in bearing children but it’s difficult my dear brother, as we speak to you there are cases at the Court about lack of parental support, persistent nonsupport and many other issues. So we are not resting but we are doing our best to stop it,” an executive of the Ministry of Gender who preferred not to be named said in an interview.
When contacted also the Ministry of Labor office in Lofa County, they also expressed similar condition that they are faced with.
“We are facing a serious challenge with the issues of child labor in Lofa , we see children in the streets selling and some are cutting contract just to get daily bread. So parents are also supporting the ideas, so we can’t do anything about it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the situation continues as many children are now used as breadwinners thus involving into child labor.
Edited: Jesefu Morris Keita |Editor-In-Chief
