@Davinchysax 4 March 2021 more from that month

The Challenges of Ikem.

Each passing day takes us closer to our purpose on earth either in the negative or positive form. We gradually attain that stage where everything we do affects us in all ways. I have looked at this critically and this led me to write this article. In the course of this article, Ikem is a poor man whose life is filled with a lot of sufferings and challenges of life, also this article will bother around the daily challenges of those who live below $2 a day. Ikem will represent every poor man out there.

Source https://images.unsplash.com/flagged/photo-1555251255-e9a095d6eb9d?ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80 Ikem was born in a family of nine children with a father whose occupation is nothing but hawking second-handed clothes around the markets and streets. He goes out every day with no hope of making ends meet and yet he was able to give birth to more children than he can cater for. Ikem who is the first son grew up knowing hardship in all ramifications. As the first son, Ikem was made to drop out from school because there was no much fund to carter for him and the others moreover he was made to sachet water known as pure water around schools. Each sells gives him less than 50 Nigerian naira and this goes straight into supporting the family through feeding. Ikem’s father could not save even a penny from his daily hustle because the little money he makes daily was not even able to give the entire family a decent meal every day.

Source https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1611775838750-9b6743a632ff?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=625&q=80 Ikem embraced poverty with his whole heart because he found out that there was nothing he could do other than to keep hustling. One faithful day, Ikem was hawking his sachet water which has been his daily routine. As he got to one of the schools he hawks, he found out that the school was on midterm break. This made him very sad because he has walked a very long distance from the place he buys the water from and the implication is that by the time he gets to another school, the water would have become hot due to the heavy sun. He made up his mind to trek to the other school because he had no other choice and if he doesn’t do so, there wouldn’t be food for him.   As Ikem was walking so fast under the hot sun, a did not see the bus coming behind him and before he could understand what was happening, some men jumped out of the bus and grabbed him and his bucket of sachet water. Poor Ikem was left in a big state of confusion because he was still trying to understand who these men are and why they took him. At this time Ikem was already 13years of age and in his confusion, he was shouting and crying for help but one of the men told him to shut up or he will be forced to flog him. The moment Ikem heard this, he became quiet and asked the man who they were and why they took him and his sachet of water. The man looked at him and told him that they are from the government and that they arrested him because he is a child who should be in school and not on the streets hawking. On hearing, this Ikem became confused but the only thing he could do was to start begging the man. Ikem narrated the ordeal of his family to the man ranging from how they barely find food to eat daily. He also told the man that he could not go to school because there was no money to take care of his education.   The man told him to shut up that when they get to the station he will provide his home address so that his father or mother will be invited to say why they could not send him to school. Ikem begged him harder as he tried to explain to the man that life has been so unfair to him and his family, that he would love to go to school but how will his father pay for the school fees of every one of them with little or no income. Ikem was taken to the station and was kept in the juvenile section pending till when his parents will arrive.   If you hard carefully followed this article, you will notice that this is what happens to a lot of people out there. Some families live below $2 every day and each time I think about this, I keep wondering how they survive. We cannot say that we do not see these people all around us but most times we end up keeping a blind eye to helping them. Life is not balanced but we could try to extend a helping hand to each other. Ikem is one out of many others who roam the streets hawking one thing or the other just to make ends meet. My question to you is this; how have you been of help to people like Ikem living around you? You may not give them everything but your constant support and advice could go a long way.

Source https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1575998064976-9df66085cc83?ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=666&q=80 This brings me to the last and the most important part of this article. We hear about family planning every day and yet we still see couples who can barely afford a decent meal go into childbearing as though they are animals that lay an egg. They end up bringing these children into this world with no plan of taking care of them as they should. We have a lot of them on the streets who are desperately looking for a way out of poverty and this leads most of them into armed robbery, prostitution and other vices all in the name of survival. Do not give birth to a child if you have no plans of taking good care of him. I will suggest that the government will intensify this orientation on family planning and there should be strict penalties for any parent or parents that fail to take care of their children. This is the number one problem of Africa as a continent and it must be carefully looked into.   Help remove children like Ikem on the streets because a child without a proper education is a time bomb waiting to explode. All hands must be on deck if we wish to achieve this, especially in Africa. Embrace Family Planning today and enjoy the peace of your child and the community tomorrow.   Lead image https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1610364259697-f6a1dc7033e3?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MXwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHw%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=634&q=80