More about the children of Kinshasa The following informations come from assorted sources on the internet. Five years of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken more lives than any other since World War II and is the deadliest documented conflict in African history. The war left deep scars in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the arrival of the religious sects and the exodus caused by the war the phenomenon of witchcraft has become widespread. So much so as to have created an army of thousands of street kids who have to fight for survival every day. Evil spirits are blamed for many misfortunes. Children have become easy scapegoats for unemployment, illness and hardship. There are approximately 30,000 children living alone in Kinshasa's streets and it is thought that up to 60 per cent of these are abandoned 'witch children'. One in five children dies before the fifth birthday and 31 per cent of children have never attended school. This growing number of children orphaned by war is accused by surviving family members of practicing sorcery. Blamed for their families' misfortunes, accused children are severely abused. The accused are subject to vicious attacks by their family. Children have been burnt, scalded, starved and given traumatic exorcisms. If the children do not run away from home to escape the abuse they may be thrown out anyway. Children affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Once in the street, 'witch' children organize themselves into a hierarchical system traveling in non-permanent groups. Their activities are nocturnal. For survival, girls as young as five or seven are often prostituted out by older members of the group. The streets of Kinshasa offer little protection for abandoned children. Many have to beg, steal or do petty jobs to support themselves, they are exposed to drug use and some become involved in drug networks. Street children can fall prey to sexual exploitation by 'protectors' who offer support and safety but sexually abuse the children or put them to work in the sex industry. The children have no access to health facilities, school and very little access to places where they can receive any kind of social assistance. A spiritual smokescreen masks the reality that these children are just not wanted because they represent an unmanageable economic burden. Indeed, as economic burdens, the easiest route for a family is often to accuse the child of bringing suffering to them.