Centres for Street Children

War Child supports five centres for street children in DRC. Some of the children we work with are orphans; an estimated 1 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS alone. If losing your parents is not hard enough, in DRC you then run the risk of being accused of witchcraft. It is widely believed in the country that HIV/AIDS is caused by witchcraft and children accused of it are pushed out by their families and end up living on the streets, there are around 25,000 street children in Kinshasa alone. Other children have been forced to leave their homes because of the war or have left their home because of abuse. Once they are on the streets they are targets for abuse, get beaten up and end up doing work just to survive. They often take alcohol or drugs to cope and are feared and disliked by the local community.

Our street centres give these children food, shelter and a chance to get an education. 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. Since we began our work there furniture, mattresses, mosquito nets and proper cooking equipment has been provided as well as new, safe toilet blocks.