On Annual Day for Street Children, Salesians Review Service to Street Children in Africa

The initiative, they add, “is leading children to discover their hidden talents, increasing their self-esteem and teaching them to establish themselves in society. Educators provide support and teach children to stretch the canvas, prepare the necessary material and paint.” 

The members of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also called Salesian Siters, who manage the institution have been in the country’s Dantokpa market since 2001, engaged in reintegrating the youth, known as “vidomegon”, into society and their families of origin, SDB officials says.

They note that in 2017, Salesians launched a new center, Maison de l’Esperance, which seeks to accommodate street girls and attend to their basic needs.

The main objective of the initiative, they say, “is to provide young girls with a place where they can sleep in total safety, but also to raise awareness and provide support activities.”

“In addition to receiving comfortable mattresses to sleep on, the girls have access to a psychologist and an assistant who will help them to overcome the traumas they have suffered,” Salesian officials say.

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The young girls, they say, “also have access to skills training, and many go on to become bakers, cooks and pastry makers.”

In the landlocked Great Rift Valley East African nation of Rwanda, SDB officials highlight the plights the street children faced, saying, “Salesian programs are working with an aim of helping at-risk youth who are often living on the streets.”

“Street children face a life that is marked by uncertainty and a lack of education, food, protection and health care access. These children have no understanding of their rights and often fall prey to those who wish to do them harm,” SDB members say in the April 12 report.

They note that in Rwanda, street children face many challenges including access to education and that they have to undergo a lot in search of food.

“Street children have few prospects in life because they are not in school gaining an education and are on the streets begging or taking odd jobs to have enough food to eat. Most suffer from malnutrition and other diseases such as dysentery, malaria and scabies,” Salesian officials say.

“In Rwanda, we carry out our mission among poor children and young people. In Rango, in the district of Huye, we help more than 120 street children, but at the national level there are many more,” Br. Hubert Twagirayezu who serves as Bursar of the Salesian region of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi has been quoted as saying.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.