Lack of financial support has now compelled a nine-year-old boy, Ametepeh Emmanuel, who lost his father last year, to become the breadwinner for his mother and three other siblings.
Master Ametepeh, a class four pupil of Dansuono M/A Basic School, hunts for snails at night during the rainy season and fetch firewood for sale to take care of the mother and the siblings during the dry season.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Ms Ama Foriwaah, mother of Master Ametepeh, said when the husband was alive, he used to hunt for snails and collect firewood to care for her and the family and Emmanuel eventually became part of his father’s trade.
Ms Foriwaa said after the death of her husband, the family had no means of survival and so had no other option than to allow his first born who used to go with his late father to look for snails and firewood to continue the work of the father after school.
Although Ms Foriwaa has plans to set up a provision store, she currently has no start-up capital.
GNA subsequently escorted Master Ametepeh in the night to his snail hunting expedition about three kilometres away from their house to Kotokrem.
The party left for the hunting at about 2000 hours and returned around 23:39 hours with 42 snails which Master Ametepeh claimed he could sell to a nearby ‘chop bar’ for GH¢5.00.
According to Master Ametepeh, he sometimes encountered snakes and had been stung two times by bees, but could not stop because that was the only way to get money for the upkeep of the entire family.
Ametepeh, who has the ambition of becoming a journalist in future, said he would not relent and would continue to work harder to achieve his dreams.
Ms Mavis Nkrumah, the class teacher of Master Ametepeh, said he used to be among the first 10 pupils in a class of 42 pupils, but has now fallen to the 28th position according to their last examination.
GNA