An eye opening and emotional experience. Part 3 of 3.

DRC Blog | 4th February 2009

Day 2

After a good night’s sleep and no insect bites, I feel ready for another day in Congo. Our first outing on day 2 is to Delveaux – a crowded and hectic market with a large population of street children. The drive through the city is an attack on the senses. There are people everywhere; walking, running, sitting, jammed into trucks, cars and vans. Burning paper and plastic bags, car fumes and mountains of rubbish make the smell of the city overwhelming.

The aim of our visit is to meet and talk to children who still live and work on the streets. I thought this would mean meeting 2 or 3 children but as I walk into a small, hot and stuffy hut where our meeting is to take place we’re greeted by 35 boys. After getting over the shock we settle in and try to make ourselves heard over the din of the market outside.
These boys range from about the age 10 all the way up to their late 20’s. Many of them are cleanly dressed, one even has a radio with ear phones which he listens to throughout the meet but they all live and sleep here in the market; if they’re lucky, on flattened out boxes, if they’re on, the hard and dirty floor.

We ask them many questions and try, through our interpreter to hear what they have to say, and they have a lot to say. We hear many distressing accounts of police brutality against them, something we hear a lot of throughout our whole visit. They are often arrested, rounded up and beaten by the police; when we ask if they have any good stories about the police we are met by derisive laughter from all sides. We ask them if there are any girls in the market or in their group; they say girls are spies for the police and they don’t let them near their hangouts. They also tell us that they want jobs and security, they want normal lives and a chance to earn a real living –they want to learn to be mechanics and electricians. What will stay with me for a long time is that these boys said the hardest thing for them was the hunger – “it hurts when we can’t eat and we can’t eat if we have no money” one of them says.

The time we spent here was eye opening and shocking. There are obviously rules to street life that these boys follow and there are very obvious strains and hierarchies between this group; on more than one occasion they shout at each other trying to have their say. As one of only 2 women in our party this meeting was an un-nerving one for me but one which truly showed me what street kids in Congo live through.

The second market visit of the day is to Kianza – an even bigger and more frenzied place than Delveaux. Hundreds of stalls line the street, piled with exotic fruit, veg and caterpillars! Our group draws a lot of attention – many of the stall holders shout friendly hellos and children follow us staring, mouths open, laughing at my embarrassing attempts at French greetings. We’re here to meet more children, but there are only 4 to be found. We’re told that, the previous night saw one of the routine round ups of street children by Kinshasa’s police. The 4 boys we do meet are subdued and frightened; they don’t know where their friends are or what has become of them.

They are much less talkative than many of the other children we have met – but who can blame them? What we do learn is, like many street children, these boys have lost either both or one of their parents and now fend for themselves. They say they have to steal food and clothes – they don’t want to but what else can they do. Samuel, who at 14 is the youngest of the four, says he tries to do small jobs around the market to earn some money but Jacob says he can only beg for food or money. They say that some of the woman in the market take pity on them and occasionally give them food but others shout at them and don’t want them around. It’s heartbreaking to see and hear about their lives – it’s a sharp contrast to the boisterous gang at Delveaux.

Our last meeting of the day is at Reejer. The coordinating centre for all the street children centres in Kinshasa. Here we’re told that the population of street children in the city has doubled recently – the cause, a complex mix of poverty, instability and the breakdown of traditional family units. There are, we’re told, plans for new laws protecting street children but until these can be enforced they aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. I find this so hard to understand – how can laws not be enforced? But we’re not talking about a European city; here, as I am quickly becoming aware, things are different.

We’re also told that because we had planned to be meet a police representative (who doesn’t actually turn up) there are no children her for us to meet – they were too afraid to come. However, after our meeting we find 4 boys, waiting for us, who risked the police presence to meet us, hoping they might be giving some food. These boys are aged 7,8, 11 and 12. Alden, who is 8, has two shoes on; they are not a pair and for some reason this really gets to me. Gerard, who is 7, tells us it was his birthday last week but I doubt he had any presents, a cake or even a hug. We spend a lot of time just sitting and chatting to these boys, playing pat-a-cake and taking photos – they laugh a lot when they see themselves in these. They are so sweet and offer us the biggest smiles we’ve seen yet. Leaving these boys, knowing they have no-where to sleep and no guarantee of when they will next eat is terrible – there is no other way to describe it.

My short time in Kinshasa has really opened my eyes to the terrible reality of street life for so many children and given the work War Child does real meaning. I’ve seen it and can say with real certainty that what we do makes a difference to the lives of so many children and the support of our donors and partners makes a difference; I just wish it could make a difference to all the street children of Kinshasa. I liked my job before I left for Congo but this trip has made me love it, it’s really under my skin now and I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to meet so many resilient, strong willed and amazing children. It’s an experience I’m not sure I’ll get over any time soon, nor would I want to.

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