The Street Children of Kinshasa

Leja Bulela, Inc is a non-political non-profit organization created in 1993 in Detroit, Michigan by members of the Congolese Diaspora living throughout the United States, along with committed friends. Visit their website to learn more about their projects and advocacy for the fulfillment of human and economic rights in the Congo.
They have graciously extended an invitation to me to take part to the conference which starts July 3rd in Dallas, TX.
The documentary will be featured on the opening evening, followed by a Q&A session. I am looking forward to it as this is mostly a congolese crowd. I pray that I will be able to inspire the youth present to become even more active into the rebuilding of our torn nation. I will post follow-up comments after the conference.

The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in its 17th edition is lead by its Executive Director Ayuko Babu, an International legal, cultural and political consultant specializing in African Affairs, who has worked for a variety of business and entertainment leaders including Stevie Wonder. Established in 1992, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression.

The Festival ran from the 6th to 16th of February and was hosted by Blair Underwood. It was held at the Culver theaters in the heart of Culver City under the sponsor of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

This year saw about 150 films from all over the world: The Caribbean, Europe , Africa, South America, North America and even Australia.
I missed the opening night with all the celebrities parade. Jerusalema, a film by South African Ralph Ziman was the first to be shown on the screens. The centerpiece of the festival was also a South African film, “SKIN” by Anthony Fabian and Starring Sophie Okonedo. Relative Stranger by Charles Burnett, featuring Eriq LaSalle, Michael Beach and Cicely Tyson was the closing night attraction.

Most films were screened twice or three times during the whole festival and opened to the general pubic. The theatres were open from noon to 10: 00 PM daily. The theater sold most ticket in the evening showings, the street children of Kinshasa which has been included in the Short Takes category will be screened on the following days: February 12th at 6:15 PM, the 14th at 1:00 PM and on the 15th at 6:15PM.

I arrived in LA on the 11th of February and went straight to work. Meeting with the Festival staff, completing my registration process, watching other films and introducing myself to other film Makers, getting prepared as I could, with no media consultants or publicists…

My days were pretty much the same for the week that I spent in LA. Meetings, lunch with other directors, exchanging ideas, etc… we even had a brunch with the Director guild of America during which Tim Story, a Hollywood-film Director came to talk to all the directors present at the festival. I never expected that my documentary would reach a Festival such as the Prestigious PAFF

Actually the film was screened along another film, 4 Our Sons, by Vanz Chapman and Eric McKay. I think that the Festival organizers paired them since both films examine the crisis affecting children. 4 Our Sons featured young black man from different walks of life speaking on growing up in often hostile inner city environment and how they were able to build their own versions of the American dream. It was indeed a very interesting line up because at the end of both films, myself and the two other directors answered to questions from the audience and we took turns in giving answer sometimes to the same questions.
Both films deal with issues of opportunity for a better education for young children, but in two different context.

This is a film that was never planned nor scripted. It was merely a response to an horrendous situation that I witnessed while on a family visit to Kinshasa. I decided then that I would not keep silent and that I had the responsibility to tell the world about the crisis affecting children. What is happening to these children is an extreme injustice.

As you may have noticed the DRC story is not getting any media attention. As a Congolese, I feel that I have to be creative to bring this story to the limelight somehow. And I just found that the film format is bets tool for that purpose. The film format will open doors and put the story on different platforms to impact people. The bigger the platform, the more people are impacted. Awareness is the key.

For me this is just the beginning of a vast awareness campaign about the DRC issues.
As Dr. Maria Schmeeckle at Global Children outreach put it, if we don’t know about orphans and street children, we won’t be motivated to reach out to them. This experience has convinced me to start planning for a next documentary film on some of the DRC issues. Earlier this week, I received a report from a US-Based NGO working in the DRC. This report gives a grim outlook at the current numbers of orphans in the DRC, and it is just unbelievable. I need to make a second documentary, period. This time it is going to be a better planned, funded, etc… just need to do my homework in getting the proper partnerships and sponsorships.

The festival went very well. It was an opportunity to create more awareness about the DRC issues and also an opportunity to network with other film Makers. Although my film was not in the competition, it’s selection for the festival makes me believes that film is without doubt one of the best medium to keep the DRC issues in the limelight. The response to the film was just awesome and humbling and I surely got a lot of questions from the audience during the Q&A following each screening. For a directorial debut with no previous background or experience in filmmaking, the comments from the audience and the Festival staff were just amazing to me. To them, the story of the children of Kinshasa was powerfully well told. Outside the theater, folks came to me with wanting to learn more, and suggesting that I send this film to entities such National Geographic, etc…
Other than the fact the trip was costly and that Los Angeles weather did not seem to cooperate, this was a successful trip. The voice of the DRC children was heard at the festival.

When I worked on this documentary, I never expected that it would reach a Festival such as the Pretisgious PAFF. Now here we are at the dawn of this event that will take place starting this week-end. Looking at the film roster, I see titles such as Miracle at St Anna by Spike Lee, The End of Poverty by Philippe Diaz, Blood River, etc…I will be there to give a voice to our voiceless children. As I will walk the Red Carpet my heart and my reason to be there is for the world to see the plight of the forgotten children of the DRC. If actors such as George Clooney have created awareness for the Darfur situation, I hope that this festival gives us a such opportunity.
I am getting prepared as I can, with no media consultants or publicists… sending emails, copying posters, making DVDs, preparing press kits and studying all the material that I am getting… now I realize that I need to pick a tux or a nice suit…
already I had to change my flight schedule (with a surchage fee of course) and reajust my hotel reservation because I need to be there earlier than I anticipated… for the Red Carpet event.
The financial needs are also growing by the day and budgetwise I have not seen the daylight yet… but God will provide for the trip and all associated expenses
More to come….

With around 150 films from all over the world, the screening is pretty intense with most films being screened twice or three times im local theaters. Just looking at the titles of the films, the producers and well-known directors, it’s amazing to see the “Street Children of Kinshasa” included in the lineup. The Film which has been included in the Short Takes category will be screened on the following days: Feburary 12th at 6:15 PM, the 14th at 1:00 PM and on the 15th at 6:15PM.

Happy new year to all my friends and supporters out there.
At the start of this year I am glad to announce that “The Street Children of Kinshasa” documentary had been accepted and retained for screening at the 2009 Pan African Arts and Film Festival. The 17th edition of the PAFF runs in February in Culver City, CA at the Culver Plaza Theaters Complex- accross from Sony Pictures. It will be hosted by Hollywood actor Blair Underwood.
This is exciting news of course and I surely will post news of the event on this blog.
My hope is that the exposure will create awareness this children crisis that has been long overlooked.
Please send your comments on this issue.

Summmer 2008 was kind of quiet for the film screening opportunities. With Congoweeks just few weeks ahead, things are picking up again. The Global Initiatives in Chicago will feature the street children of Kinshasa documentary for the events that will be held there. Number of other Universities are also requesting the film for the event, since it is actually one of the most comprehensive films about the DRC and the only one so far by a congolese filmmaker.

Congolese youth accross the Unites States are organizing a week for awareness on the DRC this October.
I am so glad that this is happening. At a time when the major media networks are silent about the plight of children in the DRC, …At a time when most of the congolese diaspora seem to stay mum by not advocating on behalf of the DRC, young congolese and american students are answering to the advocacy call for the DRC.
I am gladly joining them in this effort and you shall read more about this in the days ahead.
Visit the following site for more details about what Congoweek intends to accomplish.
In summary, “the purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. It will take place from Sunday October 19th to Saturday October 25th. The key organizers are students from North Carolina A&T , UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, University of Maryland, Howard University, Bowie University, and Cornell University”.

This 28th of June, the Congolese community of the Raleigh area hold a celebration of the DRC independence. From 1960 to 2008 that is 48 years !! wow… And we are still not near where we should have been…
We are just going to use this opportunity to share about the plight faced by the congolese children in general, and remind folks that it is a burden and a responsibility for each family, church, business and Non-profit organization to act on behalf on the children in the Congo. There are various ways on doing that. We just need to act more than we talk and become pragmatic about it.

I just got word the other day from one orphanage that I collaborate with in Kinshasa: three kids have been adopted by European Families and are already in Europe at this time!! This is a marvelous outcome for these children because they have found parents to love them and give them hope for a better future. I am so glad for these three. God bless them and bless those families who opened their hearts and finances to come to the rescue of those former orphaned street children.
When I heard it I was jumping around shouting of joy…. Just imagine how these kids lives will dramatically change… how they will now be able to dream about what they want to do in life…. I hope these families will be able to read me from this post one day. But I say thank you, thank you, thank you for your tender hearts and courage. Take good care of these precious children and help them reach their potential. It may seem as a daunting task to raise children with such emotional and psychological scars, but the Lord will give you the necessary strength and help you overcome the challenges ahead.

Be blessed and encouraged

These are thoughts from Lydia Caldwell as found on her blog.
On Sunday February 3, I attended the kick-off to Human Rights Week with the showing of Gilbert Mulamba’s documentary “The Street Children of Kinshasa.” The event opened with an introduction from UD Professor Marilyn Fischer. She spoke a little bit about our rights as human beings and how they relate to what she referred to as “human rights characteristics:” health care, employment and education. She called those in attendance to keep in mind these rights as we examine the lives and injustice of the young Congolese children forced to live on the streets of Kinshasa.

Immediately following this short introduction Mulamba’s documentary was shown. It was truly an emotional and powerful piece of work. Mulamba is a Congolese native who came to the United States about seventeen years ago on an education visa. He currently remains in the United States working in the field of bioinformatics for a company that does research on AIDS and cloning. The footage shown in his documentary was captured by Mulamba himself during a trip back to the Congo. Having been away from the country for a short period of time he saw the extreme injustice in a new light and wanted to expose the plight of these young African children.

The documentary was divided into two parts. The first part of the film gave a short history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and focused largely on the country’s abundant natural resources and troublesome economics. The film attributed a lot of the country’s problems to King Leopold II of Belgium who acquired the Congo territory in 1885, and made it his own personal property, referring to it as the Congo Free State. Leopold treated the native African population horribly. The only thing he was concerned about was making money off the vast natural resources, particularly rubber. When the natives did not reach the daily rubber quota set by Leopold, he had their hands cut off; many people died from this exploitation especially when disease set in. The area was taken over by the Belgian government around 1910 and independence was received in 1960. The country has been plagued by extreme political corruption and years of civil war. There is very little if any government control, and the native population is stricken by tremendous poverty. There was great effort to show the natural environment of the Congo and its rich supply of natural minerals, yet the country is still so deeply stricken with poverty; it doesn’t seem as if the two should go hand in hand; somewhere there is an abuse of power.

The second part of the video, and the main focus of the presentation, was on the street children of Kinshasa, a result of the extreme poverty in the country. Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The streets of the city are filled with tens of thousands of homeless children from age 3-18 fighting to survive on their own. The video cited three main reasons for all of these abandoned children. The first reason given was that the children were orphaned, both parents having been killed in the civil wars or by disease, such as the increasing AIDS epidemic. Some of these children have lost entire families and have nowhere else to turn. The second reason a lot of these children have been abandoned by their families is because they have been accused of sorcery. These children are often abused and neglected before being thrown out of their homes. The last reason cited in the film for the increasing number of children on the streets of Kinshasa is extreme poverty. Some children remark that their families were so poor they were not able to provide enough food. Their dire home conditions have left them to seek a better life on their own.

The children have a negative reputation and are viewed as the thieves and scoundrels of society, engaged in begging, crime and prostitution; they are referred to by civilians as “shegues” and are victims of their environment. The children are subject to routine physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by law enforcement personnel and ordinary civilians. Their extreme vulnerability is taken advantage of and they are often forced into child labor or radical military work.

After the documentary, Gilbert Mulamba answered questions. He seemed very upset for his country and did not vocalize much hope for the cause. When asked about what non-profit groups and organizations were helping out with the situation, he said that there was not a lot of relief going into the area and that a lot of large non-profit organizations were not sending aid to the Congo. The movie did show one Jesuit institution outside the city of Kinshasa, that has formed a relief center particularly for the education and well-being of these children. It is a life-saving institution for those that can take up residence there and get off the streets, but the center can only help so many children.

What is happening to these children is an extreme injustice; they are not supplied with the means to fulfill their basic human rights. These are the people preached about in the gospel. These children are the face of God and we are being called to help the least of God’s people. We must not wait until Judgment Day to find out that by sitting back and ignoring the plight of our brothers and sisters, we were denying God food, shelter, and aid. Something needs to be done. Gilbert Mulamba should have a reason to hope for his country.

As part of the Spring 2008 Seminars series, co-sponsored by the Student Global Health Committee and the SOM International Health ForumFilm, there will be a Screening and Panel Discussion on the “Street Kids of Kinshasa”.
Panel discussion with Gilbert Mulamba, film producer, Frieda Behets, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Lara Vaz, recent PhD graduate from Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
Date: April 22, 2008, 3pm
Blue Cross Blue Shield Auditorium
UNC School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina