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Child-witches of Kinshasa

View of Kinshasa downtown, where thousand of children accused of witchcraft lives in streets, getting by thanks to petty theft, little jobs or prostitution © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Maman Judith is charging a fee of US10$ to reveal the presence of child witches in your family. Every Thursday, tens of families are queuing up, tickets in hands, to listen to her revelations © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A women in a traditional Congolese spiritual community, in a state of trance, is revealing the presence of child witches in the assembly © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A child witch is exorcised in a traditional Congolese spirital community in Kinshasa. The faith in witchcraft is profoundly rooted in the Congolese culture © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A 12 years old prostitute cries in a medical center in Kinshasa after she was stoned by an other child prostitute. Child prostitutes earn about 2000 Congolese francs (US$ 2,2) for a sexual intercourse © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A child witch is exorcised in a church in Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Child gang prowling around the streets of Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A pastor exorcises child witches in a church in Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

The little "Michael" practices his imitation of Michael Jackson danse, a show he does every night to make a living © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Élysée is 12 years old and lives in a center for street children. She was left in her aunt's care after her mother died. She was then tortured with a flatiron by her aunt after a church identified her as a witch and decided to flee © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Child witches are exorcised in a church in Kinshasa. Thousands new fundamentalist Christian sects in Kinshasa make money out of identifying 'witches'. For a fee they investigate the children and confirm they are possessed. For a further fee they take the child and exorcise them, often keeping them without food for days, beating and torturing them to chase out the devil. Many - if not most - children accused of witchcraft are rejected by their families © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A street child lies in a medical center in Kinshasa, after he was hit by a car that escaped without providing him with any assistance. The child was brought to a medical center by a passer-by © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A man is exorcised in a church in Kinshasa after a child witch supposedly cursed him © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Bénie is 13 years old and was accused of witchcraft. The child witches seem to interiorize in a fantastical way the accusations made against them. So, Bénie testifies: "I was inducted by the older brother of my father at the age of 6. The witches made of me a Siren at the age of 9 because I sacrificed an old man. The second person I killed was a minister of the Kibanguiste Mpeva Longo ("Holly Spirit") church. Having been inducted, I became the wife of Lucifer and we had two children. To enter the Second World, I use the code 666. This code was given to us during the initiation during exercise of spiritualism. I bewitched using my eyes; when I look at a person, I neutralize his/her thoughts, he/she cannot think anymore so I have the opportunity to kill him/her easily. When we kill somebody, we only need his/her blood. We throw his/her body away" © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A 12 years old prostitute cries in a medical center in Kinshasa after she was stoned by an other child prostitute. Child prostitutes earn about 2000 Congolese francs (US$ 2,2) for a sexual intercourse © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Junior is 18 years old. His father attempted to kill him when he was 3 years old after he was accused of witchcraft. He was then abandonned by his family and now lives in the street of Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A child living in the street of Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Child witches are exorcised in a church in Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A child witch is exorcised in a church in Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

A child inhales glue in the street of Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Children sleep in an open center for street children in Kinshasa. An "open center" is a place where street children can have access to water and spend a night and find a roof when it rains. However, children are free to come and go, and the center do not provide food, medical care or education © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

Child witches are exorcised in a church in Kinshasa © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu
View of Kinshasa downtown, where thousand of children accused of witchcraft lives in streets, getting by thanks to petty theft, little jobs or prostitution © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu
We have already presented Gwenn Dubourthoumieu’s Mobutu palaces. Here is one of her latest series on the children of Kinshasa. It received special mention from the jury of the Prix Roger Pic 2011, and was awarded the Investigative Reporting Prize at the European Festival of Journalism / Scoop Grand Lille 2011.
Between 20 000 and 50 000 children live in the streets of Kinshasa. Organized in gangs, they get by, sometimes thanks to theft or prostitution. According to Médecins du Monde, more than a third of them were chased away from their home in the pretext that they were child-witches and responsible of all the troubles of the family (death, unemployment, disease, etc.). The immense majority of the people living in Kinshasa are persuaded by the truthfulness of this curse. More than one hundred new "child-witches" are so discovered every month and thrown out in the streets.
The faith in witchcraft is profoundly rooted in the Congolese culture, but the phenomenon, which consists in abandoning children by accusing them of witchcraft, took a notorious scale only since the end of 1990s.
In this immense overpopulated shanty town that is Kinshasa, where 95 % of the population get by below the poverty line, the children are unproductive mouths to feed.
Caroline Six
Mention spéciale du Jury, Prix Scam Roger Pic 2011
Prix de l'enquête, festival européen du journalisme / Scoop Grand Lille 2011
Links
http://web.me.com/gwenn.dubourthoumieu/Gwenn_Dubourthoumieu_-_Photographe/ACCUEIL.html
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