Jamaica: Minors Dominate Windscreen Wiping

Minors dominate windscreen wiping: It is almost the norm for motorists in certain areas to anticipate wipers splashing their windscreen with soap without permission in an effort to clean.

And at the end of the task, request money from them who either crack the window just enough to drop money in their hands or keep their heads straight in an effort to ignore them.

Some motorists say many of these wipers can be very disrespectful and entitled.

As the wipers were being observed, the CVM team’s attention was caught on the adjacent road. What could be seen were minors who have dominated the trade.

On their stretch of the street, they can be seen cleaning windshields of vehicles sometimes twice their height.

One of the minors says he has been cleaning since he was in primary school. He says this hustle has made him afford things his parents can not.

He adds that his mother who works throughout the day, is not aware of this practice.

Another says his single mother knows windscreen wiping is his job after he completes his online classes.

He says though it is not his wish to be on the streets, he is the sole provider for his family which consists of two younger sisters and their disabled mother.

The boy says he was already placed in a Children’s Home and though he knows it is illegal to be on the streets, it is safer for him.

He says though motorists can be disrespectful, being bullied in a state home and not providing for his family leaves him in great despair.

Child advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison, says many of them have been taken to homes, however, because they have been exposed to independence, being confined in a home is very hard for them. 

She says the Office of the Children’s Advocate and the Child Development Agency does many workshops to help stop this problem and alleviate some of the financial struggles within the homes.

CVM Live‘s Paige Dixon: