A shelter for young girls in Kinshasa
In Democratic Republic of Congo, there are very few associations providing support to street young girls, eventhough there number is growing, in particular in Kinshasa, where it is estimated that 7 000 of young girls leave in the street (1).
Weakened by deprivation, illness, accidents and indifference, they are too often victims of sexual exploitation and forced prostitution. From these aggressions, thousands of children are born each year, starting their life with the street and its dangers as their sole environment. In 2011, the Network of Educators of Children and Street Youth (REEJER), the main Congolese network for the protection and promotion of the rights of street children, counted 3,000 births in the street, twice as many as in 2009.
This observation reinforces the trend observed for several years: the phenomenon of young girls leaving in the street is expanding. We even witness, helplessly, the third generation of children born in the street.
This rise in street births is also accompanied by another worrying phenomenon: trafficking in human beings, particularly newborns, whose mothers agree to part with a handful of dollars.
Reaching out and protecting these children and their young mothers is a huge challenge for organizations working to promote and protect the rights of children in Kinshasa.
It is in this context that the association Solidarité Batoto started to develop a programme of support for young girls and their children leaving in the street. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the association has built a shelter, the House Karibu (Welcome in Swahili language), which opened its doors in 2017.
Today, the House Karibu welcomes up to 15 girls, aged 10 to 15, pregnant or accompanied by their young child. Transitional accommodation is available for pregnant street girls and those who have just given birth. A day care area offers a personalized support (psychological, medical, social and educational).
The Karibu House sets up free and quality services, thanks, in particular, to the network of partners it has developed with health insurance companies and hospitals, which take care of mothers and their children during and after having given birth ; training centers that train young girls in a trade, craftsmen and companies that allow them to have their first professional experience.
Its mission is to give these families the opportunity to consider a better future, a job for these young mothers, who will be able to support their families, a hope for these children to live their childhood, to feel cherished and protected.
Beneficiary testimony
"At the Karibu Center, we do not miss anything, we are also trained for a job. We are not forced to do anything, we are always asked what we want to do in life. Thus, we are guided towards our choices: in my case, I first started to learn cutting and sewing, I now intend to move towards paramedical studies to later study nursing. "
Noëlla, welcomed at the Karibu Center in June 2018.
- “Street is luck?" Survey on exploitation and sexual violence of street girls in Kinshasa, Doctors of the World 2011