Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - Congo has numerous former child-soldiers in need of help to find their place in society. In Bunyuka in the east of Democratic Congo where the problem is especially felt, a local Catholic parish started a successful programme to reinsert these former combatants in society and help them find an occupation. A local news agency DIA spoke with the parish priest Fr Jérôme Saytabu who said, “these are boys who were taken from their families and put in military camps where they suffered all kinds of humiliation. They return seriously traumatised and we are trying to help them”.
The parish has already reinserted about a hundred boys forced to fight for the local Mai Mai militia. Now it is the turn of a group of fifty more forced to fight with a Ugandan guerrilla group called Nalu which operates along the Uganda/Congo border. Last year during an offensive these boys managed to escape their captors and return to their villages where they were completely ignored by the local authorities.
Thanks to the parish the boys took a course in a basic education which enabled them to go on to technical training for a job. This work of helping the boys to study and find their place in society is no easy task for the volunteers who offer their services. In fact some of the former military cooperate enthusiastically but others need to be persuaded with the help the parents to see the importance of education and agree to go back to school. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/7/2007 righe 24 parole 268)
