Casa Esperança in Catembe is the headquarters of the project I took part in in Maputo. A shelter that hosts children up to the age of 17, children who for various reasons find themselves living on the streets and who are directed to centers like this one while waiting to find some relatives who can take care of them, this obviously in the best of cases. In many cases, however, it is the families themselves who direct their children to the capital to find a job with the hope of economic redemption. Others still prefer to escape from complicated domestic situations.

The family theme, in Mozambique, is characterized by a very strong fragmentation that creates unstable conditions: when one of the spouses dies, the other easily finds a new spouse who does not accept the children from the previous relationship. At this point the child, if he has other relatives, can be left with them, or with another acquaintance, but it is not certain that we have the economic means to take care of him. After arriving at the Center, returning to the family is rather difficult due to the great difficulties in tracking down the family or a close relative, when one exists, aggravated by the fact that in most cases there are not the conditions and balances necessary to re-establish cohabitation with the child. The independence to which the children are, from the very beginning, called to respond, pushes them to look elsewhere for the means to survive. Often the search makes their paths cross with adult figures whose thoughts do not match those of a parent, at least as we are used to understanding the parental figure. In the streets of Maputo, the child employment drama is very strong: children, from 10/11 years old, sell anything in the street, from snacks to traffic lights, to cigarettes at the entrance to the gardens.

After my arrival here in the Catembe Center, it didn’t take long to understand that those who in my eyes were children, here are considered only smaller adults. Their strong independence and the experiences they have behind them lead them to be masters in the art of “making do” in any situation. I have seen fires lit to cook in a few minutes even in the rain, getting up in the middle of the night to clean the spaces outside the house, because the normal hours of the day are not enough to do everything. I think they would be able to survive in many situations, what they experienced before coming here, today makes them surround them with an armor that makes them strong with the world in which they are called to live.

Since it is a shelter, for many the Center represents a temporary transit, while waiting for the institution to find the family, they can stay here for a few months, for others this center has always been their home, from the moment they were abandoned at birth or in the very first years of life. In this last group, the relationships of solidarity are quite strong, they try to help each other, such as watching over a friend’s plate if he is at school at lunchtime. Generally, the group dynamics are based on physical strength, especially among the boys, you have to show that you are strong and able to contribute to physical work. Sometimes I have the impression that they don’t consider themselves children either, perhaps because they grew up in a society where there is no time to be small, there is no space to be defenseless. Many of the rights, such as the right to education or play, that we take for granted in the West, are here willingly ignored or, at best, put on the back burner.

It is sometimes difficult to believe that the management of these facilities is a priority for the State. The institution has difficulty in finding the financial means to support the activities of these facilities, and often the few funds available, passing through many hands, do not reach the children and young people of the Center, who would need better nutrition and more attention and care to have more time to grow. The privilege of being children does not exist, and even the staff of the Center does not have the knowledge and means to give the guests of the facility more time to experience childhood and accompany them in their studies and self-discovery: they themselves also grew up in a reality that has always moved very fast and in which there was no time to be defenseless. Starting to give continuity to the work within the Center and collaborating ever more closely with the public institutions is the only way to break this vicious circle.

The lack of running water, energy and sufficient food are the order of the day. The typical dish includes “xima”, a preparation of corn flour and water, very similar to a white polenta, and some parts, such as only the head of “carapau”, a very common fish in the area. The organization of the kitchen, which includes the preparation of the food and the cleaning of the dishes, is entirely entrusted to the children, supported by the presence of a “maman” present seven days a week. Here it is easy for a 10-year-old to already be an expert in typical cuisine, to know how to handle cuts, quantities and cooking. Even the organizational aspect of the house is entrusted to the children and young people: making the beds, cleaning the rooms, the bathrooms, collecting the water needed for cooking and washing the clothes by hand.

When we arrived, the very first reaction to our attentions towards them was a bit of distrust, which fortunately, time has dissolved, but which is indicative of how up to now the attentions were for them something anomalous, even threatening. The attention that they normally receive from the rest of the staff have mostly authoritarian connotations, and in general the physical approaches are never linked to displays of affection. The management of so many children and young people and the lack of specific training, leads the staff to manage in a very rigid way all aspects and moments within the Center.

Life in Catembe has greatly reduced my perception of the problems and obstacles. Although the stories of these kids are often extremely dramatic, with a consequent early growth, this does not affect their strong resilience, their great ability to survive adversity. Their way of being is a precious lesson for me that allowed me to think about how the possibility of choosing one’s own path is anything but a given. The path to solving this situation passes first and foremost through education and knowledge of one’s rights. Much of this problem arises from the lack of knowledge of the alternatives, our approach to children, for example, has met not only the mistrust of the children but also and above all of the staff who, having grown up in the same conditions, struggle to understand the meaning of our less authoritarian and more emotional approach.

What do we bring to this reality? Ourselves, our mentality resulting from a different educational model, the awareness of the rights that these children have but do not know they have, this is the seed we hope to plant.

Angela Di Paolo