Centres for Street Children
War Child supports five centres for children who would otherwise be forced to live on the streets of Kinshasha. Some children have been orphaned during the course of the war. According to Human Rights Watch 1 million more have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In DRC it is widely believed that HIV/AIDS is transmitted through witchcraft. And so children orphaned by HIV/AIDS are very often accused or witchcraft, are pushed out by their families and end up on streets. There are at least 25,000 street children in Kinshasa alone.
Our centres provide food, shelter and training for these children and work with the local community and authorities to help create a greater understanding of the situation they face.
Before we started our partnerships with the centres it was difficult for them to raise money for their work. As a result the facilities available for children were very poor. Children slept on blankets on the floor and used pit toilets. At one of the centres a two year old child nearly drowned after falling in to a pit latrine. Power for cooking was rarely available. We are now funding the provision of furniture, mattresses, mosquito nets and proper cooking equipment. New toilet blocks have been constructed at two of the centres and electricity will soon be provided.
Ensuring a safe, clean and healthy environment is just the first step, however. To guarantee future opportunities for the children we work with we need to better understand their situation and their needs. Ultimately we want all the children we work with to be able to reintegrate with their local community, especially their families but we can only support this by listening to their concerns. By asking children themselves what they need and speaking to the adults who may be a barrier to reintegration we have built better relationships between the two groups.
Our latest research involved 400 children and community members. The sessions brought children and adults together to discuss the challenges of reintegration. Not only did this give the children a rare opportunity to speak up for themselves, but it allowed community and authority figures to hear their experiences first hand.
We are now training centre staff in reintegration and social work techniques so that the children they work with are given the best possible opportunity for life beyond the centres. The creation of Community Committees made up of local community leaders, centre staff and children from the centres will ensure that relationships continue to improve and that children will be provided with greater protection.
Our own learning has allowed us to put pressure on the UK and DRC government to ensure the protection of street children in the future.