By Al-Husseini Mohammed

Translated by Aisha El-Awady

Beware: If you get into a Tuk Tuk driven by a child, you may not leave in one piece, for you will have lost control over what happens to you and you will have gotten into a big toy in the hands of a naughty child.

Since the appearance of the first Tuk Tuk’s nearly five years ago, the problems associated with them have become never ending. The main problem has been the appearance of child drivers, no more than 15 years of age, whose irrational driving endangers the lives of their passengers.

These child drivers deal with the Tuk Tuk as if it is a big toy, rather than a means of transportation which has rules and regulations that must be followed. You will oftentimes see them racing each other down the street, as if in a game, which leads to conflict and ends in a huge fight. Many of these children have a clear tendency towards violence.

The latest incident with these child drivers was an accident that took place in Kharfa village in Al-Assiut governorate, where one of these Tuk Tuk’s spun off the road straight into a ditch killing both the child driver and a young man riding with him.

Why Children?
The Tuk Tuk owners tend to employ child drivers, where the owner decides on a fixed amount (usually L.E 30-40) that the child must bring back after each shift and if there is any extra money the child gets to keep it.

It’s just another form of exploitation of these underprivileged children. Even if it is better than begging, working in workshops or selling tissues at traffic stops, it is not without adverse effects on the children's conduct and emotional wellbeing. Many of these children have, for instance, picked up certain behavioral problems such as violence and bullying as well as certain bad habits such as smoking and taking drugs. Psychologists explain this behavior as being reflective of the behaviors of the adults in this business, since when a child enters into a certain profession he will mimic everything he sees.

Mohammad Gamal, a 13 year old boy, is one of these child drivers. He stood there in his torn clothes and dirty face waiting for a passenger to come along. I got in the Tuk Tuk and began talking to him, trying to get to know more about him and his dreams. He told me that he left school at his own will when he was in third grade because he didn’t enjoy it. He has been driving this Tuk Tuk for nearly a year now so he can support himself, as well as help his family with their expenses since his father works in cement plastering and he has 8 sisters. Jamal smokes “everything” and hopes to become a mechanic.

The declining economic situation and poverty are the real reasons behind the problem of child labor. The Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies (CEFRS) in collaboration with UNICEF issued a report saying that 7,000,000 Egyptian children, in other words 26% of the 28, 200,000 children in Egypt, are deprived of their rights and live in extreme poverty.

Dr. Laila Kamel, a Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, says that these novel professions do not only hire boys anymore, and that you can now find girls working as drivers, as well as on micro-buses calling out the bus’s destination and collecting money from the passengers.

“The reason behind child labor is the breakdown of the family due to divorce, separation of the parents or one of the parents leaving,” she said.

“This is in addition to poverty and the poor economic situation, as well as a lack of public awareness about the importance of education, which leads to the trade-off between child work and school.”

She went on to say that these children do not necessarily end up as delinquents and that some of them end up as skilled craftsmen. “It all depends on the atmosphere in which the child works and the amount of care he receives,” says Kamel.

She explained that during the 18th century, craftsmen would sponsor such children and treat them as sons for up to seven years, after which the child would himself be a skilled craftsman or worker.

“But today children work under poor social conditions, making them prone to harmful behaviors such as smoking and violence. They are also at risk of being exploited and being given more work than they can handle for measly pay, since there are no laws to protect such workers,” she said.

“This early financial independence, in addition to family negligence, can lead to their delinquency.” Kamel continued by saying that the National Council on Childhood and Motherhood began an initiative “care and support of the child worker”, which provides services for the care and development of working children such as providing them with a well balanced meal once a week, enrolling them in literacy classes, developing their skills and working on improving their work conditions.

“This is in addition to raising awareness among the families and the community as a whole on the negative effects of child labor,” she said.

As for the role of the community towards the issue of child labor, Kamel says, “We must have compassion for these children and not to overburden them. We must also make them aware of the dangers of illiteracy and the importance of an education and prevent them from participating in the harmful behaviors they have learned.”