Centre looks to help most dangerous, but wretched, children return home

IN THE rocky backstreets of Goma lies a small compound where some of the most dangerous but wretched children in the Congo play and sleep.

Inside its 3.5 metre-high walls covered by barbed wire is further evidence that the ongoing conflict is one of the most savage yet forgotten wars in the world.

Youngsters lucky enough to escape or be rescued from armed groups often end up at the transit centre.

Their troubled eyes follow strangers arriving inside its sooty walls. Behind their innocent frames lie unimaginable pasts.

“Most here have experiences of killing and stealing, but not rape,” explained CAJED’s director Fidel Rutabagisha.

In ragged clothes, youngsters play football in the yard while others enjoy a game of Frisbee using food plates. Hand drawn murals on the walls encourage children to give up arms.

Curious faces turn to the huge metal compound gate that occasionally opens. Another boy coming from the jungle? Aid workers coming to take someone home?

The Concert d’Actions pour Jeunes et Enfants Defavorises, or CAJED, centre in the city helps children essentially recover from the trauma of combat experiences, providing therapy, education and unification with families.

When I visited , it was housing 189 former child soldiers (including two girls), all aged between 10 and 17. There were only 150 beds with younger ones sharing spaces at night.

All the children had been with armed groups including Tutsi and Hutu rebels, local militia as well as government forces.

Some were staying in the centre against their will, wanting to return to fight. Others found it difficult to forget the horrific acts they had seen or committed.

“When they remember what they go through, it affects their behaviour. Some have bad dreams,” explained the CAJED director.

During counselling sessions, boys share their experiences about fighting. The reasoning behind their involvement in armed groups is not always obvious.

“They integrate into the armed group because of poverty, because they were hated by their parents or because they can get revenge on another family. But most of the time they are forced,” explained one therapist.

Most children are brought there by the UN peacekeeping force MONUC, after escaping and turning up at their military bases.

Set up in 2005 and mainly funded by UNICEF, CAJED has reintegrated 1,700 children back into homes, after brief stays at its centre.

Children try carpentry and other training at the centre. But facilities are basic. It nonetheless is a life changing, possibly even a life-saving place for most.

Fidel Rutabagisha added: “The most important thing we do when they reach here is let them know it is like a family.”

This project was funded by the Simon Cumbers' Media Challenge Fund, supported by Irish Aid.