Sierra Leone - Kids from a forgotten childhood and a bus that will help them look to the future

(ANS – Freetown) – A few months ago, an urban bus from Badajoz (Extremadura) was sent to Freetown (Sierra Leone) to cooperate in one of the projects for the minors at risk of exclusion living on the streets of the city. The first objective is to save prostitutes who are minors. This is one of the stories of "a forgotten childhood girl".

"I have been a prostitute for five years, and for the past two orphaned. The Ebola virus killed my mother and many of my relatives, "said Fatimata, a 12-year-old girl. She speaks in a low voice and is surrounded by wandering friends. All of them are street girls, none older than 19 years old. They live in Grafton, on the outskirts of Freetown, half an hour from the city. "We do it because we have no other way of living. We are poor and, if we do not go out to the streets, we do not eat," she says.

Fatimata and her 6 friends (Miatta - 13, Aisha - 14, Mabinty - 16, Afama - 16 and Isatu Comte - 17, Bangura - 19) answer some questions: where they work, how much they are paid.

– Who are the ones who come to you? - Most of our clients are black, not foreigners. Middle class.

– How much money do you earn? - About 30,000 lions (a little less than five euros) per night. We do not like what we do, but, as we said, we have to eat and live.

– Do you use protection? - Usually not. Men do not want us to.

They say that they have received all kinds of threats and beatings." Some of the men who come are very gross, and others do not want to pay us," they recount. All "have left school a while ago, forced to work in the street. We'd like to come back, but ... " says Aisha.

"Starting next week, the bus will be parked in this place. Come, eat, and talk to us. You can bring your friends, "Fr. Crisafulli tells them. "Maybe they can go back to school and study. Will there be any problems when they do not go out on the street at night and come instead to the bus? - The girls look at each other. "No".

According to statistics, there are currently about 750 minors in prostitution in Freetown.

They are the young girls of forgotten childhoods, girls who, perhaps with the bus, can look once again to the future with some illusion.

Source: El Periodico Extremadura

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