By Nyima Sillah
Research conducted by Single Mothers Scheme (SMS) has revealed that 75 per cent of the street children in The Gambia are fatherless.
Three hundred and ninety-eight [398] single mothers in Banjul were Saturday trained on skills like Sewing, Recycling, Beauty Therapy, Cleaning Services, Nduga services, Laundry services to help them earn a good living with their children.
The training was organized by Single Mothers Scheme which research showed that 75 per cent of the street children are fatherless.
Speaking at the training, SMS program coordinator Fama Cham said: “our plans are to help single mothers for them to stand on their own and to be able to take care of their children, because as an organization we think is high time to end the struggle women are going through in their various communities.”
Fatoumatta Jammeh- Jeng, chief executive officer and founder of the organization recalled that they started with some single mothers in communities like London Corner and they realize that the rate of single mothers in the country is very high.
“Our target is to reach out to all the seven regions in the country to every single mother and want all mothers to know about SMS because we are going to impact their lives. We did a research and later learned that 75% of the children on the street are from single mothers’ home which is so touching,” she said.
She however said: “the solution not by approaching the children or remove them from the streets or by giving them money no, but we want to help these parents by coming up with something better for them to be able to take care of their children’s.”
