Children Accused of Sorcery

A letter from Gwenda Fletcher serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

October 2016

Dear Friends,

We all know that life isn’t fair, and we also know that some people seem to have more than their share of hard knocks. When she was 10 years old Mujinga Abiba was happily living with her father, pregnant mother and three younger siblings in the Congolese city of Kikwit. The family struggled somewhat financially, but they were getting by. Then Abiba’s father got sick and died. Shortly after that, her mother gave birth. The birth was complicated and while the baby was born healthy, Abiba’s mother never really recovered and died six months later. Relatives of the mother stepped forward to take in the three middle children, but Abiba and baby Bilonda were left to fend for themselves.

Some of the kids at the Ditekemena Inauguration Ceremony in 2014. Abiba is holding Bilonda.

I’ve never learned how she managed it, but Abiba, who by now had turned 11 years old, was able to get herself and baby Bilonda 188 miles from Kikwit to Kananga, where her paternal grandparents lived. The grandparents, though elderly and in poor health, took in the girls. Then, a year later, death struck again when Grandma had a stroke and died. Grandpa not only felt unable to care for the girls, but now he was also afraid of them. In Congo when someone dies the question people ask isn’t, “Why?” but, “Who?” Deaths are almost always believed to have been caused by someone and with the earlier deaths of her parents and now grandmother, Abiba was believed to be the cause. Sad to say, this is not an unusual situation in Congo. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, “Each week in the Democratic Republic of Congo hundreds of children are accused of sorcery and endure abuse at the hands of their accusers…”

A group of the kids shortly after entry into the program

So Abiba, by then 12 years old, and Bilonda, 18 months old, were on their own on the streets of Kananga. They hung out at a large market where Abiba could sometimes earn a few pennies carrying water—a basin on her head and baby Bilonda on her back. In 2014, after several months of hand-to-mouth survival, Abiba and Bilonda were among the 23 Kananga-area street children who were invited to live at the newly opened Ditekemena (“Hope”) Centre. The Ditekemena Center is a ministry of the Congolese Presbyterian Church (CPC) that was started with a grant from the Presbyterian Women’s Thank Offering and now is supported through gifts from PC(USA) churches and individuals. The main focus of the program is to reunite children living on the streets with their families of origin. As you might expect, accomplishing this goal takes some time. Those experienced in this field estimate that it typically takes about two years of work with families before reinsertion can take place. During that process these once abandoned, ill-treated children live at the Ditekemena Centre, where they learn about God’s love and experience it firsthand through the concern, attention and care shown them by the Centre staff.

Children end up on Congo’s streets for a variety of reasons—parents may be unable, due to poverty or illness, to support and feed all of their children, a widowed/divorced parent remarries but the spouse doesn’t want stepchildren, parents may leave a child in temporary housing arrangements when they go to another area to look for work but the temporary arrangements fail and the child runs away or is thrown out. But by far the biggest reason is accusations of sorcery. UNICEF estimates that 70 percent of Congo’s street children are there because of accusations of sorcery.

Reconciling children with families from which they have been abandoned is a challenge, but, praise God, 10 of the 23 original children in the Ditekemena program have already been successfully reunited with family members. A key aspect of the Ditekemena reinsertion program is the engagement of local CPC congregations as financial, spiritual and emotional support networks for the reintegrated families.

Abiba, now 15 years old and in 7th grade

Efforts to restore the remaining 13 original children are continuing. For some kids the family has been identified and reconciliation efforts are under way. For others no family members have yet been found. For still others family members have been found but are as yet unwilling to consider reunification. Unfortunately, Abiba and Bilonda fall into the latter category. If family members are not willing or able to accept their children, the next step is to try to find suitable foster families. The family that fosters Abiba and Bilonda will have to overcome a strong cultural fear associated with those who have been accused of causing the deaths of family members. But we know that with God all things are possible and we trust that God has plans for Abiba, Bilonda and all of the children at the Ditekemena Centre.

Abiba and Bilonda have thrived in their two and a half years at the Centre. The Centre has its own primary school, which offers an accelerated primary school curriculum to help children who have gaps in their formal schooling to academically “catch-up” with their age peers. In the past two years Abiba whizzed through 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. In June of this year she successfully passed the primary school leaving exam and is currently attending a regular secondary school. Four-year-old Bilonda, who is a dazzling little charmer, is attending preschool.

4-year-old Bilonda is now attending preschool

Abiba and Bilonda have personal experience with the fact that life isn’t fair and that some people have more than their share of hard knocks. However, they also have personal experience with the reality of God’s love expressed through Congolese Christians and American Christians partnering together to make a difference in the lives of marginalized children in Congo.

I am so grateful for the prayers and financial support that enable John and me to serve God in Congo and to have the incomparable joy of knowing and loving the kids at the Ditekemena Centre. Thank you for your part in helping to make that possible.

Blessings,

John and Gwenda

Please read this important message from Tony De La Rosa, Interim Executive Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:1b-2, NRSV)

Dear Friend of the Presbyterian Mission Agency:

Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support of John and Gwenda Fletcher this year, and any previous year. We hear from our mission co-workers how much your prayerful financial support has meant to them. Please know that you are a vital part of ministries throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Even as I thank you, I want to let you know that this is a critical time for our congregations and all people of faith to commit themselves to support mission co-workers like John and Gwenda. Our global church partners greatly value their service, and you well know how important this ministry is in building connections between the body of Christ in the U.S. and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We have historically relied on endowment interest and the general offering from congregations to sustain the vital work of all of our mission workers. Those sources of funding have greatly diminished. It is only through the gifts of individuals and congregations that we are able to keep John and Gwenda doing the life-giving work God called them to do. A year ago, in May 2015, we had to recall some mission workers due to a lack of funding. World Mission communicated the challenge to you, and you responded decisively and generously. Through your response, we heard the Spirit remind us, “Fear not!”

Today, I’m asking you to consider an additional gift for this year, and to increase the gift you may consider for 2017. Sending and support costs include not only salary but also health insurance and retirement contributions, orientation, language training, housing, travel to the country of service, children’s education, emergency evacuation costs, and visa/passport costs.

My heartfelt thanks for your prayers and support of our Presbyterian mission co-workers. In the coming season, we will celebrate God’s sending of the Christ child, the source of the good news we share. May you experience anew the hope, peace, joy, and love that are ours because “perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18).

Thank you for saying “yes” to love.

With you in Christ,
Tony De La Rosa
Interim Executive Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)