The children's house

Other children are abandoned. Their teenage parents are not able to raise them. Young prostitutes are left to their fate when they fall pregnant. Women who lose their husbands travel to South Africa in search of work, and end up dying there. A large number of people come from other regions of Mozambique in search of a better standard of life.

The centre takes in children from one and a half years old - the most critical age. Their deprivations show themselves in various ways: swollen stomachs and cheeks, changes in hair and eye colour, etc.

Children arrive in the morning and spend the day at the centre, where they are given three meals: breakfast, lunch and tea. They return home in the evening. The food is made up of cornflour with nuts or oil, tea or milk (although this is very expensive and we are short of money), rice, beans, cabbage, fish, eggs…

We are working alongside a team mainly made up of poor women from the parish. Volunteers visit families and motivate them to take the initiative, give them advice on opening small trades, enabling them to subsidise their children's needs. Children leave the Children's House at the age of 6, when they are due to start school.

But what happens then? This is what we ask ourselves. Some families carry on asking for help from the centre. But with other families, the children run away and live on the street, hunting through dustbins, begging for money, stealing from shops or public transport. Others work hard adult jobs, while others are sexually abused and trafficked…

On rare occasions, some people sponsor one or two children. This is a great help for us and for the children's families, who are very grateful for this gesture of solidarity. We are always delighted to see children grow up! Little by little, their eyes start to shine again. Their smiles are like the first rays of the morning sun.

Sister Elsa Florindo, on her mission in Mozambique