Testimony of the street child B.B., beneficiary of the program in DRC

My name is B.B., I am 17 years old and I have lost both my father and mother. I am in the street not because of the death of my parents, I was living with them when I left home. In my neighborhood, I had friends who stole and kept bringing me money and stolen goods. This influenced me and I was tempted to follow them. I started stealing with them and as time went by, I developed a taste for it and eventually left my family home.

Later, while I was living in the streets, I knew that my father had passed away. After my father’s funeral, my mother and brothers were kicked out of the house by my father’s family. My mother couldn’t take the shock and she died too. Since then, I have not heard from my brothers.

To survive, I continued to steal around the VICTOIRE neighborhood. One day, a friend of mine named Junior asked me to go with him to see our friends who were also living on the streets in the commune of Bandal.  We went with them to the LIKEMO Center to take a bath and have a meal. When we arrived at the Centre, I was greeted by Mrs. Chantal. She started talking with me and invited me to come back to the Centre every day, to be looked after with the other children instead of risking my life in the streets.

One day, I woke up with excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. I cried a lot because of the pain. My friends laughed at me and said I was drunk because at the time I was taking all kinds of alcoholic beverages, drugs and hemp. I waited for my friend Junior to come back so he could take me back to the Center.  On arrival, I was consulted by Mrs. Anita and the doctor of the CENACLE mobile clinic. They told me that my case was serious. They kept me because I needed to be operated urgently. The next day, I was taken to the health center and told that I had a hernia, and that the only way to me was to operate.

After my recovery, I vowed to start training as a mechanic, and this was granted to me by the CATSR.

Thanks to the support I received, I am still alive and well.  I freed myself from drug addiction and I am eating my fill. I believe that when I graduate, I will be a great mechanic.

Thank you CATSR and thank you to Dynamo International.