Refugees in Togo

In most countries around the world, there are people who live on the streets. They are homeless and roam the public space. Most of them often sleep under the stars. Togo is no exception. We find them much more in Lomé. However, the phenomenon is growing and becoming alarming. A few years ago, it was indeed very rare to see people living in the streets of Lomé, even those suffering from psychosomatic illnesses.



They are thousands, children, young people or even adults of any kind to reside in unsavory places. Each has its own history. But, all these people remain at the mercy of the whims of nature and flounder in a daily made of misery. This phenomenon also sets the stage for juvenile delinquency, which takes up a significant proportion of society. The case of street children is even more worrying. What drives everyone to find themselves in the street? How is life in this "catch-all" world? Do some people manage to reintegrate socially after a walk on the street? To find answers to these questions, we went around Lomé streets (day and night) to see the realities of the street.


A galloping phenomenon

Today apart from the mental disturbances, they are thousands to squat the sidewalks with different profiles. In Lomé, these people usually find themselves at the level of the circular boulevard, the Togo-Ghana border, the port area and so on. Several causes are at the root of this situation. They differ naturally from one person to another.

Generally, it is the lack of means that drives some Togolese on the street. There are entire families who find themselves in the street because of lack of means. Sometimes, owners put out some tenants unable to pay their rents. Naturally without support, they end up in the street. The dislocation of some couples means that in many cases, women and children with no place to pack their bags, find themselves on the street. During this report, we came across a woman and her children on the circular boulevard, in front of the Byblos night club. Late in the night around 10 pm, she kept her children lying on the ground on the median. Visibly tired, face closed, she did not want to reveal the reasons for their misfortune. "Just know that life is full of surprises," she says in total disarray. All attempts to learn more about the family's history have been unsuccessful. The neighbors approached in the area to find out more did not give more details, only that it has been a long time since the woman and her children come to spend the nights there.


Some people deliberately decide to come on an adventure in Lomé. With their heads full of dreams, they leave their villages for the capital, which they rightly or wrongly regard as an Eldorado. But often the adventure turns into a nightmare. Without work and homelessness, they are today adrift on the sidewalks of the capital. They are mostly found at the cables of the large market of Lomé, all along the beach and on other arteries of Lomé. They constitute part of the lot of "onlookers".

Some taxi-motorcycle drivers are also homeless in Lomé. They arrive from the surrounding prefectures of Lomé to find the maximum number of customers and make consequent profits. Unfortunately some of them do not have decent places to spend the night. Thus, once night falls, they gather around the crossroads, gas stations along the roads and stay there until the early morning. Their bikes serve as their bed. There are no corners in Lomé where they are not found. We were able to negotiate an interview with one of them, who kindly told us his story. "I come from Kpalimé and I rarely come home. Having no one to sleep at in Lomé, I have no choice but to stay under the stars and spend the night there. In the mornings, I will shower in the public toilets and life goes on. It is not an enviable life, but I do with it, "he says, before ironizing that the street does not belong solely to madmen.
Some girls who also come in adventure often end up without roofs and ... in the street. They do almost everything. Laundry, dishes, intimate toilets and others. Some of them also have children with men of the same status as themselves. To get by, some become porters while others choose prostitution. They live mostly at the level of Agbadahonou, north side of the large market of Lomé. At nightfall they set up tents with their loincloth.

The tragic case of children

Children are among the vulnerable segments of society. On this basis, they will have to receive special attention, whether from their parents or society as a whole. Unfortunately, this is not often the case for some. The latter end up in the street. They are now estimated at more than 6000. In the 1980s, they were estimated only a few tens. This exponential growth is due to several causes. "The first cause is the separation or divorce of the parents. This situation causes the child to walk between the parents without any serious care, especially if one or both parents have each remodeled a home. In this case, the children no longer have this parental affection, worse they are subjected to acts of physical violence. Result, the child flees the home to take refuge in the street ", enumerates Gabriel Kossi Amouzou, president of the NGO ANGE.


These teenagers living on the streets lead a life of tramps. They are all over Lomé. During the day, they take by storm the traffic lights, either to beg or to make small jobs history to find what to subsist. Their clothing is poor. Because the street is not the ideal setting for quality education, these children do not resist the drugs and alcohol that circulate easily in these environments. Small as they are, they master the methods of "gangster" perfectly and operate in their zone of predilection. Those who have not been totally transformed by street life, become budding archaeologists. They spend most of their time on dumps in search of scrap metal that they will sell at ridiculously low prices. The Zongo neighborhood behind the BTCI headquarters and the Circular Boulevard remain their headquarters.

Koffi, who is just 10 years old, lives on the street. He has been there for two years already after having distorted his guardian who "maltreated him cheerfully". He eventually adapted to the life of the street. "No one cheats you here any day. If someone wants to fight you, you defend yourself too, "he says. As for his daily life, he ensures to be regularly to the large market of Lomé to make rickshaw, which allows him to often bring 200 CFA francs, or 300F CFA at most. "With this, I make my life quiet," he adds.

These teenagers have a deplorable lifestyle. The sea remains their par excellence. They groan and leave the rubbish. They do not benefit from any social security cover and are left to their sad fate. "Thank goodness you rarely get sick, but when that happens you get by with medicines bought from the good ladies," says a youngster.

Act together !

If the homeless multiply in the street, it is the proof of a failure of the social policy of the rulers. But they are not the only ones responsible. Parents who fail to offer their children a well-being are also to blame. As it is often said, children have not asked to come into this world, so take care of them so that they do not end up in the street.

For those who are already there, there are NGOs trying to do some field work to help them. But this work remains ineffective despite their dedication. Thanks to them, some people, including hundreds of children, were able to leave the street. Some people met in a reception center always remember their passage on the street and take the opportunity to send a message to society in general.

"My parents did not have the means and there was no control at home. I also wanted to have the same things that my friends had. One day, I preferred to take the tangent and that's how I found myself in the street. Life is difficult there. It happened that my dad found me in the street but I never wanted to return to normal life. Over time, some people who came to talk with me persuaded me to reintegrate socially. That's how I integrated this center, which takes care of me. I went back to school. The street, I will simply say that this is not a good place for people even less for children, "advises the young Junior.