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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Around 20,000 street children wander in Kinshasa Xinhua News Agency, June 01, 2007 english.people.com.cn/200706/01/eng20070601_379840.html [accessed 2 May 2011] According to Mafou,
out of all the street children living in Kinshasa, 74.59 percent are boys
with the rest being girls: orphans, who have lost both parents aged between 0
and 18 years represent 25.8 percent of this children. About 21.78 percent of
these children are beggars, 5.93 percent are street vendors while 30.98
percent are engaged in minor jobs. Mafou said the children can be grouped
under six categories, notably, abandoned children, orphans who have lost one
or both parents, children commonly known as wizards, displaced or non- accompanied
children, young street adults and street children who are off springs of the
young street adults. According to Godding,
many children left their homes in search of food and never returned; many
have equally fallen victim to the suffering of their parents who accuse them
of being evil, branding them wizards and throwing them into the streets. A
good number also fled their homes due to mistreatment from stepmothers and
stepfathers. Children of Dan Balluff, Jul 15, 2008 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4rd1YyD7A [accessed 2 May 2011] Dan Balluff
reports that over five million people have died during the past decade as a
result of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Few people are
aware of the unimaginable scale of human suffering, death, and destruction
that has occurred in this vast country deep in the heart of Africa. In the
aftermath of this brutal war, children have endured the brunt of the
suffering. This 67 minute film documents the plight of thousands of street
children living in Kinshasa and confirms the wide-spread accusations of child
witchcraft, torture and child prostitution. The film also examines the
efforts to reintegrate demobilized child soldiers, displaced refugees, and
orphaned children following the eruption of the massive Nyiragongo
volcano, near the city of Goma in Eastern Congo.
These heroic efforts are finally bringing some measure of hope and stability
to the lives of the Congolese people. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF – The www.unicef.org/infobycountry/drcongo.html [accessed 2 May 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/congo-brazzaville.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children in the DRC have been negatively affected by continuing
armed conflict. The number of orphans
and street children is reported to be on the rise. In November 2003, the UN Special Rapporteur
to the DRC reported that there were large numbers of child refugees and war
orphans engaged in street work, including begging and prostitution. Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61563.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] CHILDREN - According to UNICEF, between 25
thousand and 50 thousand child refugees, war orphans, and children accused of
witchcraft or sorcery lived on the streets throughout the country, although
some of those who were not orphans returned to their families at day's end.
So-called child sorcerers were accused of having mystical powers and their
families often abandoned them, most often because of socio-economic
difficulties. The government was ill-equipped to deal with large numbers of
street children. There was widespread
discrimination and violence by average citizens against these children, who
were widely perceived to be street thugs engaged in petty crime, begging, and
prostitution. There were numerous reports of collusion between police and
street children, including street children who paid police officers for the
right to sleep in abandoned buildings, and children who paid police a
percentage of goods they stole in large markets. In addition there were
reports that different groups and individuals regularly rented groups of
these children to disrupt public order. Violence against street children
continued during the year. Soldiers and police subjected street children to
harassment. Security forces in During the year there were reports
that mobs killed street children. In Mbuji-Mayi, No action had been taken against
those responsible for killing alleged child sorcerers in 2004 or 2003. Human Rights Reports » 2004
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41597.htm [accessed 2 May 2011] CHILDREN - Violence against street children
increased during the year. Soldiers and police subjected street children to
harassment. There were unconfirmed reports that security forces in Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) [DOC] UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 29 September
2006 [accessed 27 February 2011] [73] The Committee notes with satisfaction that the
revised asylum policy in place has enhanced the protection of asylum-seeker
and refugee children who are unaccompanied or separated from their parents.
However, the Committee is concerned that access to education and health is
not fully guaranteed for refugee children. The Committee is also concerned at
reports of increased violence and discrimination against refugee children,
especially from Rwanda, and at the fact that Rwandan children are not
integrated in the regular educational system. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 8 June 2001 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/congo2001.html [accessed 30 January 2011] [70] The Committee is concerned at
the high number and difficult situation of children living in and/or working
on the street. The Committee is concerned at, inter alia,
the lack of access of these children to food and health and education
services and the exposure of these children to several risks, including those
related to substance abuse, violence, sexually transmitted illnesses and
HIV/AIDS. The Committee is concerned in addition at the tendency of the
criminal justice system to treat these children as delinquents. Children in Dan Harris, Special for www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-05-20-childwitch_N.htm [accessed 2 May 2011] THROWN INTO STREETS - Mushiete
works with street children who have been accused of witchcraft. He says
homeless children are frequently raped and beaten, even by police. Drug use
is rampant. Girls often resort to prostitution, leaving their own babies to
sleep on the side of the road at night while they sell themselves. - sccp [access information unavailable] They are armed with machetes and
machine guns and attack residential areas, where they demand valuables and
destroy vehicles before disappearing. Anyone who resists is savagely killed.
Police intervention is generally too late or ineffective. The most affected
areas are Ndjili, Masina
and Kingasani on the eastern outskirts of Kinshasa. Crime in Kinshasa is a
consequence, not the cause of the problem. The cause is unemployment among
youth. A decade of war and political
disturbances have ruined the national economy and made it easy to acquire
arms and ammunition. Legions of street kids legacy of Congolese tragedy Report by The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 26
Apr 2009 [accessed 2 May 2011] THEIR NUMBERS HAVE SPIRALLED OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS – THE VICTIMS OF
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE - Nine year-old Patient sleeps rough in the Katangan capital Patient spends his days scrounging
for food and his nights looking for a safe place to sleep. "I have no
fixed place to sleep," he said. "[To eat] I beg people of good will
for money, and if that doesn't bring enough, I collect food waste in
warehouses. In the evening, we meet with friends, and each one shows what he
has collected, and we prepare something together." Besides begging, the street children sometimes
find paid work shining shoes, washing and guarding cars, delivering packages,
selling cigarettes on the streets and in bars and as money collectors on
taxi-buses. Many turn to alcohol and drugs like valium and hemp which are
readily available due to weak regulations controlling the sale of illicit
substances. Others sniff gasoline. Child sorcery, a sinister curse for Congolese children Fatima Najm, Arab News, archive.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=117315&d=18&m=12&y=2008 [accessed 2 May 2011] “She was torn from her sisters who
were crying and pulling on her hand and begging her parents. Aisha was shocked. She was silent and the congregation
used this as ‘evidence’ that she was accepting her status as a witch,” said
her foster mother Maria Jose Rodriguez. “I was in that congregation and I
left the church afterward and looked for Aisha to
adopt her as quickly as possible. Her mother blamed her for a miscarriage she
had,” Maria said. Aisha was starved and humiliated during
her exorcism. She was told to confess while she was beaten on her knuckles
and the soles of her feet. The problem stretches from Lubumbashi to Kinshasa. Evolved as a tribal tradition, it
is now replaced by religion in the cities, according to Pastor Djicain Monzambe, national
coordinator of PCPDE Congo. Poverty Pushes Children Onto the Streets Miriam Mannak, Inter Press
Service News Agency IPS, www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=44817 [accessed 2 May 2011] With salaries sometimes not being
paid for up to twenty-four months, more and more parents can no longer afford
to take care of their children. As a result, many youngsters end up on the
street. It is unknown how many
children live in the streets of the DRC, as no nationwide research has been
conducted so far. The only available information has been gathered by private
and non-governmental organizations, and focuses on individual cities. For instance, according to a survey by the
Network of Educators for Children and Young People on the Street (REEJER,
after its French name), the capital Kinshasa alone hosts approximately 20,000
children. A similar scenario, although
on a smaller scale, is found in other urban hubs in the DRC. Oeuvres Maman Marguerite (OMM), a Belgian Salesian
NGO, claims that Lubumbashi boasts about 3,000
street children, of whom 750 live on the streets permanently. "These youngsters have lost all
contact with their parents and families," said Eric Meert,
who runs Bakanja Ville - a refuge shelter for
street children, which is run by OMM.
"In addition, we know of some 2,300 youths who roam the street
during the day, aiming to earn some money to support their families. The
majority of this group returns home at the end of the day, although some of
them spend an occasional night on the street." Human Rights Watch Submission to the Committee on the
Rights of the Child For the Periodic Review of the Democratic Human Rights Watch, August 2008 www.hrw.org/legacy/pub/2008/africa/hrw.drc.crc.0808.pdf [accessed 2 May 2011] STREET CHILDREN - Tens of thousands of children
live on the streets in Soldiers, police, and military police
routinely harass street children, forcing them to hand over money or other
property. They also frequently threaten or beat the children and sexually
assault the girls. Some street children are imprisoned for months for minor
crimes such as pick-pocketing. They are often held without trial for
prolonged periods, usually together with adults, some of whom are convicted
criminals. As one children’s rights activist said, “The prisons become
‘reeducation centers’ for the kids. They may have only committed a small
crime, but by the time they leave the prison, they’re professional bandits.” Police have also carried out mass
arrests of street children. In late 2006, authorities arrested hundreds of
street children in Kinshasa and scores of street children in Goma, probably because street children were considered
supporters of opposition presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba. More recently a police unit for child protection
in Goma has helped improve treatment of street
children by the police in that city, offering a model that should be
implemented elsewhere. Children of Dan Balluff, Jul 15, 2008 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4rd1YyD7A [accessed 2 May 2011] Dan Balluff
reports that over five million people have died during the past decade as a
result of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Few people are
aware of the unimaginable scale of human suffering, death, and destruction
that has occurred in this vast country deep in the heart of Africa. In the
aftermath of this brutal war, children have endured the brunt of the
suffering. This 67 minute film documents the plight of thousands of street
children living in Kinshasa and confirms the wide-spread accusations of child
witchcraft, torture and child prostitution. The film also examines the
efforts to reintegrate demobilized child soldiers, displaced refugees, and
orphaned children following the eruption of the massive Nyiragongo
volcano, near the city of Goma in Eastern Congo.
These heroic efforts are finally bringing some measure of hope and stability
to the lives of the Congolese people. DRC plans for its 40,000 AIDS orphans Panapress PANA, www.panapress.com/DRC-plans-for-its-40,000-AiDS-orphans--12-514076-66-lang2-index.html [accessed 2 May 2011] The city of Church-backed project will give hope to Ekklesia, 17 Jan 2008 [accessed 2 May 2011] There are now some 250,000
children living on the streets in the Democratic Republic of Congo (known as The plight of street children in
Congo has grown as a result of parental deaths from HIV-AIDS, children and
families displaced by war, child soldiers who have been ejected from their
homes and who cannot return, children of previous partners who are not
welcome because one parent has remarried, and children accused of witchcraft
- often as a pretext to get rid of them for other reasons. 10,000 street children rejoin families in DR Congo December 21, 2007 This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 2 May 2011] Some 10,000 street children living
in Congo-Kinshasa: Bishop Bulamatari
- I Would Like a More Open-Minded New Way of Looking At These Children E. Young & N. Yacoubian, UN
Organization This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 2 May 2011] WHAT HAS LED TO THE CAMPAIGN BEING
SET UP? - The last
investigation carried out in Kinshasa this year showed that there are 14,000
children on the streets. It is serious for an African city, especially when
people talk of African solidarity. This investigation shows a reality and if
we don't pay attention, we are likely to have a human time bomb which will
make our city intolerable. We are likely to have a generation
which was born on the street and which grows up on the street, with increased
crime and insecurity. This is because the natural environment for the
development of a child is the family, and not the street. Around 20,000 street children wander in Kinshasa Xinhua News Agency, June 01, 2007 english.people.com.cn/200706/01/eng20070601_379840.html [accessed 2 May 2011] According to Mafou,
out of all the street children living in Kinshasa, 74.59 percent are boys
with the rest being girls: orphans, who have lost both parents aged between 0
and 18 years represent 25.8 percent of this children. About 21.78 percent of
these children are beggars, 5.93 percent are street vendors while 30.98
percent are engaged in minor jobs. Mafou said the children can be grouped
under six categories, notably, abandoned children, orphans who have lost one
or both parents, children commonly known as wizards, displaced or non-
accompanied children, young street adults and street children who are off
springs of the young street adults. According to Godding,
many children left their homes in search of food and never returned; many
have equally fallen victim to the suffering of their parents who accuse them
of being evil, branding them wizards and throwing them into the streets. A
good number also fled their homes due to mistreatment from stepmothers and
stepfathers. NISS grad helping street kids in Congo This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] “Street children organize
themselves in amazing manners in order to survive: many of the kids I have
met on the streets have seen more suffering in their seven years than most
could imagine in a lifetime,” says Aldersey. “Yes,
these kids are victims of unfortunate circumstance. But they are also heroes.
They are courageous, capable, and determined, and all they need is people who
have faith in them, people who believe in them, and people who encourage
them.” Ministry helps unite families in poverty-stricken Africa Mission Network www.mnnonline.org/article/9781 [accessed 3 May 2011] The girls, aged 12 and 13, were
among five children in a Christian family. Like many other families in the
area, their father had no job. Food was hard to come by, and tempers were
short. One day, the girls' stepmother accused them of being witches and
blamed the family's misfortunes on them. The girls decided to leave home
but soon found themselves without jobs, money, or shelter. They were like
many other street children living in the Congo's streets--accused of being
witches by their families, so they were abandoned or forcibly evicted by the
very parents who should have loved and supported them. Twelve Dead in The Guardian, 23 March 2007 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/23/congo [accessed 3 May 2011] The fighting started when forces
loyal to Mr Bemba, now a
businessman, defied a government order to disarm under a plan to cut his
security detail to just 12 police officers.
Residents reported incidents of looting across the city by soldiers
from both sides as well as gangs of street children. Rights Groups Protest Eviction of Street Children From
Congo's Capital Franz Wild, Report, Voice of [accessed 3 May 2011] Tshetshe says she was not scared, because
she is used to the rough conditions of living on the street. She says she turned to life on the street
at the urging of peers who told her she should leave home, because life would
be better as a prostitute. She says her clients are homeless men, but she
gets enough money for food. The ranks of street kids first
surged in the early 1990s, when the country, still known as Zaire, faced an
economic downturn that pushed unemployment through the roof. Looting closed
many businesses, and parents could often no longer afford to feed their
children. Many children and young
adults have now spent more than a decade on the streets, and many have formed
into gangs. MONUC supporting street children Nina Yacoubian, UN Organization This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] From June to October 2006, 14
hectares of ground were cultivated, and that made it possible to pay for the
food, schooling, healthcare and clothes of 50 street children often accused
of sorcery. “We did not kill our
parents so that means we are not sorcerers. We are a part of society, but we
are maltreated and exploited by society for their own interests,” said one of
the children. This project proved
that, when given the opportunity under the right conditions, these children
can live like everybody else and be integrated into society, explained the
representative of the center. "Sorcerers" swell ranks of Daniel Flynn, Reuters, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] His father had abandoned him,
leaving the Congolese boy to be raised by his grandmother. But Bofata's uncles blamed the child for casting a spell on
his parents and they started to beat him. Now a cheerful 13-year-old, his
face still darkens as he recalls the years he spent on Kinshasa's vicious
streets after he ran away. "It was hard on the streets.
To eat, we would help women carry their bags for a little money," said Bofata, who now lives in a centre for abandoned children.
"At night, we slept on sand or on the pavement in front of shops." Rights groups want arrested Reuters, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] Even before the elections, the
first free vote in the vast, former Belgian colony in more than 40 years, rights
groups had warned that feuding politicians might try to exploit Protesting street kids held This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] More than 700 street children have
been rounded up in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital More than 100 street dwellers,
mostly children and young people, caused havoc in central Kinshasa on
Tuesday, burning tyres and throwing stones at
police. They were protesting about a
fire that had broken out at a television station, owned by presidential
contender Jean-Pierre Bemba, on Monday. "These young people have been behaving
like bandits for some time now, attacking members of the public. We have had
several complaints," said Sabiti. Homeless Youths Throng ANJAN SUNDARAM, Associated Press AP, Aug. 20, 2006 This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 May 2011] Sixteen-year-old Baruti Ilanga ran away from
home four years ago and now lives in the rusty brown shell of a Children abused in electoral campaign UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=59787 [accessed 3 May 2011] The United Nations children’s
fund, UNICEF, is conducting a census of street children. "The
preliminary results suggest there may be 20,000 in Kinshasa alone,"
Christina Torsein, a UNICEF protection officer,
said on Saturday. Zibigniew Orlikowski,
a Roman Catholic priest who works with the Kinshasa-based NGO Ouevre de reclassement et de
protection des enfants de la rue, tried to warn
candidates against using street children when the campaign began in June.
"Put yourself in the place of the
children," Orlikowski said. "There is a
demonstration in the street and the organisers
offer money. What else can the children do but follow?" Marie Paule's story: Surviving
life on the streets of Kinshasa Joyce Brandful, Report, UN
Children's Fund, [accessed 3 May 2011] The girls were saved from being
burnt alive when a vigilant neighbour alerted
police. That night, however, they were thrown out of the uncle's house – and that's
when their life on the streets began. Election Poses Dangers for Street Children Human Rights Watch HRW, April 4, 2006 www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/04/03/dr-congo-election-poses-dangers-street-children [accessed 3 May 2011] As presidential elections
approach, Factors Pushing Children into the Streets Human Rights Watch HRW Report, "What Future? - Street
Children in the Democratic www.hrw.org/reports/2006/drc0406/6.htm [accessed 3 May 2011] VI. FACTORS PUSHING CHILDREN INTO
THE STREETS - An ever
increasing number of children live and work in the streets of the DRC.
Although exact numbers are unknown, child protection activists estimate that
the number of street children in Kinshasa and other urban areas has doubled
in the last ten years. They have identified multiple and sometimes
inter-related causes to explain the increase. The two successive civil wars,
one that began in 1996, the other in 1998, left more than 3.5 million
Congolese civilians dead and has devastated the country. Some children living
on the streets lost parents in the war––either directly in the conflict or
due to hunger or disease––or were separated from them while fleeing violence,
particularly in the war-ravaged east of the country. Entrenched poverty made
worse due to the fighting has taken an equally heavy toll on Congolese
families. Unable to feed their children, much less pay for their education,
some parents send their children out into the streets to beg or look for
work, or parents abandon their children when, faced with unemployment, they
leave their homes in search of work in other regions or countries. Congo removes 10,000 street children to orphanages aol.countrywatch.com/aol_wire.asp?vCOUNTRY=41&UID=1134632 [Last access date unavailable] The proliferation of reception centers is a strong signal that shows the breakdown of the traditional family ties that made the child a community property put under the protection of the community The Street Children Of www.alertnet.org/thenews/photogallery/509572.htm [Last access date unavailable] During a visit to Arnaud Zeitman in news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1494555.stm [accessed 3 May 2011] "Nobody respects street
children in Situation Of Human Rights In The
DRC - Report Of The Special Rapporteur Roberto Garretón (for UN
Economic and Social Council), 1 February 2001 -- Report on the situation of
human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, submitted by the
Special Rapporteur, Mr. Roberto Garretón,
in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/15 www.afrol.com/Countries/DRC/documents/un_human_rights_2001.htm [accessed 3 May 2011] 104. The cities are swarming with thousands of
street children known as shégué. While this is not a new phenomenon, it has
increased as a result of the war and the loss of parents. There are cases of
murder, such as the well-known case of “little Ndingari”,
who was killed by a police officer in the James Astill in www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/11/congo.jamesastill [accessed 3 May 2011] ORPHANS CREATED BY WAR AND AIDS ARE
BEING ABANDONED BY POVERTY-STRICKEN RELATIVES WHO CALL THEM SORCERERS - Three years ago his mother
succumbed to the virus marauding through Democratic Amnesty International, Index Number: AFR 62/010/2003, Date
Published: 31 March 2003 www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR62/010/2003 [accessed 4 May 2011] The education system is
under-funded and pupil drop-out rates have increased. The number of street
children has also considerably increased in Goma
and Bukavu.
While it is extremely difficult to gather reliable statistics on the
issue, the local human rights organization Héritiers
de la Justice (Heirs of Justice) "there is a perceptible and evident
link and correlation between the war, the high number of school drop-outs and
the increase of street children in RCD-Goma
controlled eastern DRC." Katherine Arie, Report - AlertNet, [accessed 4 May 2011] BREAKDOWN OF GOVERNMENT - Abandoned children -- AIDS
orphans, runaways, victims of abusive or broken homes, children recruited and
then deserted by one of the many armies or regional militias operating in the
country -- have suffered most. The number of abandoned children is
difficult to gauge but it appears to be increasing. The U.N. Children's
Fund UNICEF estimated in 2000 that there were 50,000 abandoned children. Violence Against Girls in Conflict with the Law Human Rights Watch HRW, 20 Feb 2007 www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2007/02/20/global15345.htm [accessed 4 May 2011] POLICE
VIOLENCE, INCLUDING RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT - In the Democratic Republic of
Congo, girls also reported beatings by police. Seventeen-year old Rebecca
reported that in 2005, … A few kids were stealing
from the market, and the police arrested a whole group of street kids in the
area. We were more than twenty kids in one small room at the lockup. We were
whipped with a plastic cord on the buttocks. The kids would cry and scream.
My friends paid the police 400 francs (U.S. $0.80) to make them stop. Committee on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) Initial report of the DRC Committee On The Rights Of The Child, Twenty-Seventh
Session, SUMMARY Record Of The 705th Meeting, 28 May 2001 www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/654ae47921194283c1256a680053e05c?Opendocument [accessed 4 May 2011] 55. Ms. CHUTIKUL expressed concern
about the treatment of street children, who were considered offenders and
were subjected to arbitrary arrest and police harassment. Such children were generally victims of
circumstances, such as dysfunctional family structures, armed conflict or a
lack of schooling. Because they were victims, they should be provided with
social integration and rehabilitation programs, including education and
vocational training. UNICEF and International &
Local NGOs in the Area of Child Protection [access information unavailable] To address the issue of the street
children and traumatized children, special attention will go to the reunion
programs for street children, demobilized and unaccompanied minors with their
families and communities, the reinforcement of basic social structures such
as PHC and formal/non-formal education activities targeting these categories
of children, and the reinforcement of national capacities to treat
psycho-social problems of traumatized children. Suffer the Children - The street children of CJ Maloney, March 1st, 2004 www.winne.com/news/2004/march/suffer_the_children.php [accessed 4 May 2011] The latest horror that the
Congolese people have gotten into is that they are accusing their children of
being witches and either killing them or casting them out into the
streets. This has gotten so prevalent
that according to UNICEF and the UN there are anywhere between 15,000 to
40,000 children, mostly between the ages of 3 and 13, living on the streets
of A special fear for all Congolese
children is the cult “pastor”. The pastor is a lethal combination of medicine
man, high priest, and judge. They will approach families and offer to
“cleanse” child witches for a fee. He also operates in the opposite
direction, fingering a child as a witch, placing the child in immediate
danger. Parents also seek out such men, looking for someone to give them
support for the witchcraft accusations against their child or a cure for it. After all was said and done, the
pastor claimed that “more work” (and hence more money) was needed to cleanse
these witch children. The parents left with the children in tow. Being
impoverished, they might very well decide to part with their children rather
than their money. According to many
reports, Congolese parents use the accusation of witchcraft as a pretext for
ridding themselves of an extra mouth to feed. No doubt this is true. But no
doubt it is also true that many do believe it. Either way, thus grows the
ranks of All material used herein
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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Street Children –
Congo DRC", http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Congo.htm, [accessed
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