BY DEJI AROLOYE

It was about noon. The heat from the afternoon sun baked Oshodi with in tensity, and perspiration ran down the cheeks of the folks plying their trade in the chaotic commercial environment. A young teenager sat on a fence close to the main road. At that particular time, a good number of his peers would be in school. But he was inside the scorching sun, try ing to eke out a living. He eagerly hoped to see a commercial driver that would hire his services for that day. Meet Seun Fola jin, a 17-year-old homeless teenager who has been living underneath the bridge at Oshodi since 2011.

This afternoon, he looked miserable and despondent, his eyes as red as fresh blood. He was casually attired in a black round-neck shirt, and his dark skin was coated with a mix of sweat and dust. When the reporter sought to know where he stayed, he replied without batting an eyelid: “I sleep under the bridge.” Because he needed to work that afternoon, the boy assured the reporter that he would be available to talk the following day.

In Lagos, bus assistants are called conductors. And it is through working as a bus conductor that he gets money for food and clothing.

Indeed, the following day, Seun was found on that same spot. Today, he was garbed in a red T-shirt and a pair of blue denim trousers. And he opened up on how he ran away from his home in Osun State to become a vagabond at 14.

Seun said he was living with his father in Iragbiji, a community in Osun State until four years ago. He said his father was fond of maltreating him, and when a boy suggested that there was better life in Lagos, the then 14-year-old boy immediately made up his mind about leaving home, and his abusive father, for good.

Seun told the reporter: “It was a boy that I met on the street that brought me to Lagos. I could no longer bear the suffering in my father’s house and I ran from home in Iragbiji to Oshogbo. The boy told me that we would come to Lagos to stay with his elder brother, and that we would be making as much as 5000 naira each day. From Osogbo, we boarded a train to Ibadan. We had to sit in the compartment at the back.”

Throughout the journey, the night breeze tormented the youngsters like a monstrous demon in the open space where they sat.

“We got to Ibadan around 4am after having many stopovers on the way. We stayed in the railway station till daylight. The boy told me that we should pick scraps on the ground in order to sell. But we were lucky because we saw a school bag, and found 2, 850 naira inside the bag. We went to buy food at the canteen, and an elderly man paid for our food.”

According to him, they were looking so dirty. He then suggested to his friend that they should take a shower and buy some clothes before embarking on their journey to Lagos. He said: “After buying some clothes out of the money, we had 1600 naira left and we started our journey to Lagos. The driver got to Oshodi at 6 pm, and we alighted from the vehicle and climbed the bridge.”

Little did Seun know that underneath that bridge would be his new home for the next couple of years.

“I have been sleeping under the bridge since 2011. I lost my mother in 2007 and my younger brother died a year after. I went to stay with my grandmother who is a traditionalist at Ikirun. She used to make incisions on my body. That was the reason I ran from her and went to stay with my aunt. Then I was in Primary 6.

“After staying with my aunt for some time, my elder sister made an arrangement with my daddy’s friend and they took me to a white man at Ila-Orangun in Osun State. I was enrolled at Oke Iragbiji Grammar School at Iragbiji. The white man said I was older for JS1 and they took me to JS 3.My daddy came to take me from the white man’s house in 2010.”

He remembered with nostalgia the day he met his friend at Oshogbo around 10 pm. Then, he had run from home for three days. He said: “I went to school and came home late. My father and his new wife beat me mercilessly, and for many days, I was not given any food. Even my elder sister came to plead on my behalf but my father rained curses on her. After I left Iragbiji, the boy that brought me to Lagos gave me 100 naira to buy food at the railway station in Oshogbo. He told me we would come to Lagos to stay with his elder brother.

“It was when we got to Oshodi that I knew he was lying, but I had to survive. While he was begging, I was carrying loads for people and selling pirated CDs for some commission a week after we came. I even wanted to go back but I saved some money with an old man for months and he disappeared. I later made friends and started working as a conductor. I did not go home until six months ago. The condition is not even better back home because my father still does not want to see me.”

Seun said he makes between N500 and N1000 daily as a conductor. But now, the little boy is tired of life under the bridge.

“I work daily to get money and even save some with a man who helps us to keep our money. But our ‘seniors’ molest us the way they like. Sometimes at night, they will dip their hands into our pockets and take our money and you dare not say anything. They use planks to beat us whenever they think we offend them. We don’t sleep on time because task force officials come at night to arrest us. We will wander till 12 am and sleep on the pavement.”

Asked if he knew the kind of future that awaits homeless kids, he asserted that he was quite aware that there was, really, no future for him and his peers under the bridge.

“I want to leave this place (underneath the bridge at Oshodi). This is because I desire to be great in the future. I am sad at the kind of life I live. I want to go back to school and also learn a technical skill. I am not going back to Osun State because there is no future in my parents’ house. But I have faith that one day, I will not be in this place anymore.”


http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=90156

I pray his dreams & aspirations come to pass.

Its a pity that a young man like this doesn't have someone to guide him.

Ok sorry.