Exchange Program to Help Children See Eye to Eye
Oscar Benjamin had a vision when he was seven years old to help children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), a country located in Central Africa. It is a country marred by violence and beginning in 1998, some five million people were killed in the Second Congo War, according to online estimates.
"Children live in slums here because their parents or guardians have little to no money for education, clothing, shoes, housing, medicine and food. They are surrounded by so many hardships, frustrations, and a lack of basic care because their loved ones have died, were lost in the war or have contracted AIDS," Oscar said.
In 2006, Benjamin's childhood vision became a reality when he formed Eye to Eye Child Care (EECC), a community based, child welfare organization that helps children in Uvira and Fizi in the DR Congo get off the streets, out of the slums, and into school.
EECC operates as a children's home and their mission is to provide care, and counseling to affected children.
"We offer food, and basic education. We are also working with the government and mounting campaigns against physical and sexual abuse against children and to stop forced labor," he said.
The children's stories are heartbreaking but normal for Benjamin. "One thousand children live on the streets in these two towns alone (Uvira and Fizi). They make a living doing odd jobs and they are promised money for school and then forced into labor or sex and taken out of the country to Burundi, and Rwanda," he added.
"Take David Ngalula, for example. He was homeless by the age of 10 when the MAI - MAI (armed forces led by warlords and resistance fighters) engaged in brutal civil war. By age 11, militia soldiers gave David drugs, and a gun and he was sent into battle.
"After three years of fighting — both killing and being shot at — he was rescued from military service, and sent to us at the EECC," Benjamin said. "He has really struggled to regain his humanity."
Nine-year-old Amisa Ngoy was found in the parking lot. She had been out on the streets since she was six. Amisa's father was killed during the war, and her mother could not afford to look after her. Amisa said that she was not afraid on the streets, as older street children helped take care of her. But many girls as young as Amisa will have sex with men in order to earn enough money to eat.
Sixteen-year-old Simon Fiston was found in the truck park. He had been out on the street for four months. Simon's parents were killed during the war. He was sent to live with his uncle, but left when he was forced to go to work and not sent to school. He became drug addicted.
Simon says he made money carrying things for people, but spent most of it on gambling and the local palm wine called NINDAWA YETU. Although he is glad to be off the street and in school, Simon says he is unable to face going back to his uncle or other members of his family. He says he would like to be put in a foster EECC home.
EECC is working with the DRCongo government to bring children back into the educational system, so children are not exposed to dangers on the streets. Most importantly, it is mounting campaigns against physical, labor and sexual abuse of children because they will not have people to take care of them; some make them promises that 'I will pay school fees for you especially to the girls. I will do this and do that' but in the end they will have sex with them.
So they collect these children at the end of the day, they move them out of the country to Burundi, Rwanda, and go with them somewhere else, to use them as child labor and other things. Other risks for children on the street are drugs and alcohol, which they use in hopes of providing some relief from the hardship in their lives.
Through the EECC, Benjamin works diligently to promote a child's talents, a child's right to play and to provide them with some hope. And he is hoping RESPECT International's Global Letter Exchange Program will help him achieve that.
More than 30 children from the EECC will be participating in the letter exchange, a program that connects youths under 18 to international youth by snail mail letter exchange. "This gives the children the feeling that an opportunity lies ahead of them. It gives them something to look forward to," he said.
Finding something to look forward to can be hard in this region and the situation in DR Congo hasn't changed much since Benjamin was a child. "I am surrounded by children who have reached a point of vulnerability where they can't handle life anymore. Children like myself who had dreams, ambitions and goals but who are surrounded by so many hardships, frustrations, and a lack of basic care because their loved ones have died, are lost in war or have contracted AIDS," Benjamin said.
Through RESPECT International's writing exchange program, Benjamin said it might give the children of the EECC "a feeling of being valued somewhere in someone else's life."