The family and social integration of Street children is among the pastoral interventions of the commission of Family Pastoral Care in favor of families and persons in difficult situations. This component includes assistance to come out from irregular situations caused by their weaknesses, wrong choices, negligence, or errors of judgment. The objective is to help them regaining their dignity within the Church and the society. This category includes families facing various forms of domestic violence, cohabiting couples without civil and/or religious marriages, concubinage, children without known parents, sex workers, street children, divorced individuals, single mothers (and single fathers), etc. They often need moral, psychological, spiritual, material and sometimes legal aid.

WHO ARE REALLY THE STREET CHILDREN?

1. A child without residence, living on streets, in « ingangi » (grooves, canvas, abandoned or incomplete houses, etc.);
2. A child born from sex workers. 40% of street children in our pastoral care are from prostitutes or former prostitutes;
3. A child abandoned by his/her parents (There are those who do not know where they come from);
4. A child with scars of history and/or scars of domestic violence;
5. A child from divorced parents or parents who never cohabited. The child is abandoned when his/her parents get new partners.

THE CONCERN OF THE CHURCH

The Catholic Church has a very committed and compassionate position towards street children, whom it considers a pastoral and humanitarian priority. Pope John Paul II, followed by Pope Francis, both emphasized the need to welcome, protect, and support these young people, who are often left to fend for themselves in contexts of poverty, violence, or abandonment. Pope Francis has been particularly direct: “Every abandoned child or one forced to live on the street is a cry that rises to God.” He condemned the indifference of modern societies to this reality, calling it a collective shame.

In the past, the Diocese of Cyangugu focused on this issue, mainly through CARITAS. A few years ago, the congregation of Rogationist priests in our diocese had established a program to bring children off the streets, seeking resources and also building a short-term shelter to rehabilitate their minds before returning them to school and to their families. Their activities were impacted by changes in the national policy for caring for street children.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Cyangugu has noted the increasing challenges faced by street children and, after discussions with the leadership of the RUSIZI District, relaunched a program to care for them specifically in September 2022. The main goal was to reintegrate them into school and to reconnect them with their families. At that time, this initiative was being monitored by the Diocesan Education Commission, in collaboration with the Congregation of Pallottine Sisters who came to work in Cyangugu, primarily to focus on family care. Recently, the initiative was reinstated as a general family outreach program.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Cathedral Parish of Cyangugu, the Parishes of Mashyuza, Mushaka, and Nkanka quickly sought to find where those children were located. Many of them were listened to, talked to, and comforted, and those who agreed were taken back to school. For those without guardians, we found caring foster parents known as ‘Guardian Angels’, and we are training them together with the district. In the coming days, we will continue in the remaining district that is in our Diocese, the Nyamasheke district.

WHY DO WE HAVE MANY STREET CHILDREN?

In the RUSIZI District alone, there are more than 2000, but they constantly migrate to other districts while others settle there. The research conducted by MIGEPROF (2020) as well as that conducted by the Episcopal Conference of Catholic Bishops in Rwanda (2022) shows that the issue of children’s upbringing is based on the challenges the family is facing at this time. These include the following:

1. Parents and children trauma;

2. Bodily and mind injuries and disabilities;

3. Domestic abuse and killings, suicides of parents or siblings;

4. Dysfunctional family regarding relationships, affirming beliefs, and managing resources;

5. An alarming increase in divorce rates among couples since 2016;

6. Poverty in families or failure to share available resources;

7. A drastic increase in promiscuity among both young and old;

8. An increase in prostitution and socio-media who promote it;

9. Many children who are missing the opportunity to be raised by their families just like those growing up on the streets.

10. Negative peer influence;

11. Low level of education of parents;

12. Unemployment, etc.

HOW DO STREET CHILDREN SURVIVE?

1. They stay outside without shelter from the cold or the rain.
2. They rush to restaurants to eat leftovers, eating food they find in garbage bins and dumps;
3. They consume various drugs, sometimes to sleep or to forget that they are living poorly;
4. They are very marginalized in the society, abandoned by their families, ostracized by their communities;
5. They form kinds of families among them for mutual protection;
6. They are hunted by security forces to prevent violence, but they perceive it as violence against them;
7. They are often imprisoned for crimes they are accused of;
8. Overall, they exhibit violent behaviors that disrupt public order, such as theft, assaulting people, carrying weapons, being aggressive, engaging in sexual acts while still minors, and more.

THE IMPACT OF THE PROBLEMS THESE CHILDREN FACE

Apart from the consequences they pose to the general welfare of the public and the development of the country, which is losing its future prospects, the specific consequences, including the following:

1. Trauma that causes some people to have no one to fear;
2. Suffering without being mentioned or taken to health facilities;
3. Losing the essence of humanity;
4. Losing hope for a better future;
5. Losing sanity and addictions due to drugs;
6. Being sexually abused and being raped;
7. Giving birth at a young age;
8. Non assisted abortion and their effects to a young body;
9. Contracting various diseases including those caused by dirt, AIDS, damage to reproductive organs, and other diseases;

STATISTICS ON STREET CHILDREN IN SUPPORT

1. This year, 2025, the Diocese has the profiles of 621 children we are taking off the streets: 153 are girls and 468 are boys. Among them, 427 study at G.S. St. Paul Muko, and 194 study at other schools located in the Rusizi district. The schools that received these children are 22, and most all of them are Catholic schools. Almost all of them are under 18 years old. 300 children are in primary school, while 321 are in secondary school.
2. We support them in 6 sites: Muganza, Nkanka, Kamembe, Mushaka, Mururu, and Bugarama.
3. Currently, there are 12 children under the care of guardian angels because we have not yet found their families. There are 3 infants located in the sectors of Rwimbogo and Muganza.
4. Apart from these street children, we have about 200 children on the path to living in street due to severe difficulties in their families. Many of them study at GS St. BRUNO.
5. We have 15 children who go to school but still stay in what they call ‘ingangi’ in the city of Kamembe.
6. We still support 6 young girls who grew up on the street and gave birth in the street.

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN WHO LIVE ON THE STREET

1. We seek families to care for them temporally (guardian angel)
2. We advocate for them in government and church institutions;
3. We reintegrate them into school in collaboration with the Representation of Catholic education and the local government;
4. We visit their families aiming to convey their responsibilities and reconcile them with their children;
5. We connect children with their families, and many are reconciling with their parents;
6. We monitor their education alongside the school administration;
7. We listen to them (individually or in a group) at school, we listen to their parents, and we provide them counseling services.
8. We organize Christmas and celebrate it with street children
9. We provide school fees, uniforms, and other essential supplies in collaboration with other diocesan commissions including Caritas and the Commission for Education;
10. The school administration is consulted for waiving the lunch fees for them and appointing a teacher to oversee their progress.

SOME OUTCOMES OF OUR ACTIVITIES

1. Some of them are studying well, over 50 come in the top 5;
2. About 190 former street children are finishing their reintegration;
3. Many are reconciling with their parents and they are healing from the scars of the past;
4. At school, you find them bright like other children because they have some meals find sleep and family affection;
5. Certain embrace or renew the life of Christian faith;

6. They showcase many talents: singing, playing instruments, dancing, composing poems, various games, and more. At GS St Paul MUKO, they have a strong orchestra that is rented out during the holidays for events.

CHALLENGES THAT FACE THIS PASTORAL CARE

Many of these children have done nothing wrong before finding themselves on the street. However, there are families and institutions that do not see them as children like any others, and that they need support more than other children do. They exclude them, calling them names that cause shame and anger, which hinders the process of healing wounds and reintegrating them into normal life. Specifically: we face the following challenges:

1. Few volunteers support providers for traumatized children;
2. When we visit them street children, many expect us to provide them with the items they need before offering guidance;
3. Addressing the basic issues that street children face requires resources that we do not yet have;
4. Some claim to be street children waiting for assistance due to family poverty or general homelessness;
5. Some children are taken off the streets and returned to their families but do not stay long because the reasons that drove them away are still present (hunger, parental prostitution, etc.);
6. Some « guardian angels » have not been sufficiently trained and end up making these children do hard labor or mistreating them, which often leads them back to the streets;
7. There are children we take to school, but it is clear that they first need treatment (trauma, physical ailments, drug addiction, sexual abuse, and more);
8. We lack means to organize support for them out of school;

STRATEGIES AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

1. To monitor children who are suffering heavily compared to others, without neglecting the general issue of all children;
2. To connect information with Family commission bodies in the parish for the purpose to specifically support families with children who are in or have been on the streets;
3. To find appropriate places (halls, counseling rooms, etc.) for accompaniment to children being removed from the streets;
4. To train teachers who follow up with these children at school;
5. To have a place (families, a place of the Diocese or the Parish) where we can host, for a moment, a child willing to leave the streets but who has not yet found an accepting family;
6. To organize weekends, prayer retreats, patronages, and other activities aimed at helping street children regain confidence and the desire to live;
7. To continue reaching out to « guardian angels », local church authorities, and state agencies regarding these children;
8. Seeking essential capacities for:
9. Supporting compassionate parents who agree to take in street children but are very poor;
10. Needs of children who are willing to learn but come from families confirmed to be very impoverished;
11. Paying for the education of talented children until they complete secondary education in general education or vocational training;
12. Salary and daily operational budget (permanent social workers and psychologists, transport, etc.).