THE MULTISERVICE CENTER OF GSI ITALIA FOR THE STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA

In these days the transfer from the old to the new structure set up by GSI Italia for street girls in the Congolese capital has been completed. The building was delivered by the Isco company at the end of December and it will welcome children and young women in acute difficulties, abused, pregnant, sick or injured, ensuring their help, care and temporary hospitalization. There are more than 10 thousand girls and children living alone on the street in Kinshasa, a megalopolis with more than 20 million inhabitants.

Object of interest from the World Bank, the project was visited in 2017 by its representative in Congo, Mrs. Tovo and, in these same days, by the representative of the World Health Organization visiting the African country, Mrs. De Brito Procopio.

The structure is located in the district of Tshangu, on the road that connects the city center to the airport, a stretch of houses inhabited by a poor population, with a high index of prostitution also due to a massive presence of barracks and military. It is the area of ​​the city in which a large part of the girls lives, who very often derive from prostitution a way to support themselves.

About 40 beds placed at their disposal by the center, with offices and reception staff, with two supportive psychologists and two lawyers for the cases worthy of complaints and legal assistance in court. Basic literacy courses are promoted by the project for children who didn’t attend school and night-time assistance is ensured on the roads by the ambulance sent by GSI Italia in 2018 and by a second that we hope to send by next summer with a container put at our disposal by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

With the start of the activities in the new multiservice center, the three-year relief operation of the Organization for an extremely vulnerable Congolese target population is coming to an end. The target population is represented  by girls who live in the street, get sick and give birth to children, destined to be daughters and victims of the street, like their mothers.

At the end of 2019, when the center’s activities will be fully operational, our association will leave the building, ambulances and service equipment to the local counterparts, the two Congolese associations AESD and OSEPER, thus completing its structural intervention but continuing for two years the economic support through the Distance Support.

The continuous replacement of beneficiaries in the center does not allow the distance support of a single child so that beds will be adopted by the Italian available private benefactors, with a management cost estimated at about 20 euros per month per bed, including care and assistance services offered by the center.

At the moment about half of the available beds have been “adopted”, there are still 20 to be adopted and we hope to complete the adoptions by June 2019. Participating is easy, just send your declaration of interest with an e-mail addressed to info@gsitalia.org or by clicking on https://www.gsitalia.org/en/support-us/distance-support/

All this was made possible by funding for over eight hundred thousand euros: from CEI, the Italian Episcopal Conference, from the Waldensian Church and the many small and big benefactors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and associations, from Valdossola to Catania, who provided ambulances, containers and distance adoptions.

Thanks to all from the many unknown children who benefit hope from our joint commitment and, perhaps, a better future for themselves and their sons and daughters.