NABAJE

“Nabaje” is a lingala expression often used by Kinshasa’s street children meaning “enough”. When they’re offended, or something goes wrong this is what they say: nabaje. Unfortunately this term recurs among those children who have had to bear quite a lot in their lives. Most of them have been abandoned by families after being accused of sorcery, or have been refused by their parents’ new partners; rarely they decide to leave their home of their own accord. When they do it is because there is nothing to eat. On the street they manage to find something. According to a recent census in Kinshasa there are more than 13,000 street-children, but a realistic evaluation would be nearer 20,000. They live in the street begging or doing little jobs to survive. There are hundreds of organizations working to confront this problem. Among these, UNICEF, in collaboration with local NGOs, such as REEJER, is making a great effort to awaken public opinion to the problem and help these children return to a normal life. The project was carried out in partnership with UNICEF Italia.


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