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CHILDREN
Kinshasa has 15,000 «shégués» (street children), both girls and boys,
of
between 5 and 19 years old. — A revealing statistic of a social drama in
the making
On 15 August, at around 11 in the morning, the whole city of Kinshasa was in turmoil. In the central market, stallholders and shoppers ran in panic in all directions. The cause was the killing by a policeman of a street boy aged 19 years, which aroused the anger of all the street children in the central market and its surroundings.
It all began on 14 August 2001, when a street child who had just stolen from a shop not far from the Memling hotel, had his leg broken by a bullet from the gun of a soldier who had witnessed the theft. After shooting at the thief, the soldier disappeared in his car. In the incident on 15 August, a street child who was being chased for having stolen money from a market stallholder, tried to resist arrest and even threw hot water over a policeman.
Angered by this, and with his pride hurt, the policeman then pulled out his gun and fired on the boy, killing him with two bullets.
At the sight of one of their own killed, the street children acted, attacking the police with stones and iron bars, and wrecking the police station in the central market.
This incident panicked stallholders and customers who fled when the children began to throw bottles and stones in all directions. The governor of Kinshasa, Christophe Musungu, immediately sent two truckloads of military police (MP)s armed to the teeth. The MPs arrested all the street children they could find, and locked them in police cells. More than 500 street children were arrested, but two days later they were released since the authorities had no way of feeding them. Many of the street children fled the centre of town and took refuge in the public markets of the city; some of them were able to go back to their families. The government decided to reopen the children’s rehabilitation centres dating from colonial times.
A social drama in the making
This event revealed the extent of the latent social drama simmering in Congolese society. There are currently 15,000 street children in Kinshasa, whose age varies from 5 to 19 years old, both boys and girls. Some girls give birth to children who will be brought up under the same conditions on the streets.
The street children are more numerous in the commercial centre, at the central market and in the public markets; they often move around in groups and are very close knit. Unfortunately they are becoming more and more aggressive, especially towards the end of the day, snatching bags and stealing money from passers-by and threatening with knives anyone who tries to denounce them. Their familiarity with some people in the upper classes is astonishing, however.
This seems to indicate that these problem children are sometimes used to settle accounts. They would then be manipulated by some people to commit crimes. A famous musician praised them one day in a television interview.
A few days before the incident on 15 August, some street children were wearing white scarves around their heads as a sign of mourning, since their benefactor, Father Franck Stulens (of the Divine Word Missionaries) who provided them with rehabilitation, had just died in Belgium. Father Franck Stulens built shelters for the street children and gave them the opportunity to learn a trade.
Several other communities, such as «Ekolo ya Bondeko» (The Mutual Help and Brotherhood Community), followed in Father Franck’s footsteps in the work of reintegrating street children into society. Unfortunately, all this activity is just a drop in the ocean.
Reluctant magicians
According to the result of a small survey carried out at some shelters for these problem children, most of the street children come from families with problems often arising from divorce or the death of a parent (especially that of the mother).
The child is then adopted by a stepmother, or goes to live with an aunt, an uncle, a grandmother, etc. In either case, the child no longer receives the love of its mother. It is then at the mercy of adults who do not have its best interests at heart.
Among the main causes of such misfortune, is the preaching of some sect leaders who accuse the children of actually being magicians. The replies are contradictory and varied. Some witnesses see the children as innocent victims, while others insist on their role as magicians.
But while there may be real child magicians, isn’t this a trick by some parents and teachers who are trying to get rid of their offspring? Nowadays, in Kinshasa, it’s enough for a child to behave in a particular way — often the result of false evidence or abusive behaviour by irresponsible adults — for it to be treated as a «magician». There are very many examples of this in Kinshasa, where children suffer this form of martyrdom before being sent back to the streets. The spectacular increase in their numbers is also the result of this phenomenon of child magicians.
One case among many shows the suffering the children endure following accusations by leaders of sects. A well-known young man, after being ill-treated and unloved by his stepmother for behaviour considered «devilish», was found in the street, where he had been thrown by his father.
Happily rescued by a charity called Help For Disadvantaged Children, this «magician» was able to develop his talent as a footballer, joined a major team and was then transferred to an European team. People were clearly astonished by this «miracle», and asked a lot of questions, especially how this young «magician» was suddenly able to become «normal» without undergoing a process of release from possession or exorcism!
Happily for our footballer, he never experienced any rejection or revenge, as often happens, and he gave to his parents the love he had never received from them.
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PeaceLink 2001 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement