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ETNOGRAFIA E RICERCA QUALITATIVA - 1/2013
Maarten Hendriks, Paul Ponsaers,
Sylvain Shomba Kinyamba
Street children in Kinshasa
Striking a balance
between perpetrator and victim
through agency
1. 1. Introduction
The inhabitants of Kinshasa (Kinois) in general and the street children (bashege)
in particular, exist in a kind of half-dead (or half-living) state (De Boeck, 2004, p.
133). The social, political, economic and cultural circumstances that character-
ise the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) manifest themselves in daily life
in the form of permanent and structural exclusion, discrimination, humiliation
and poverty (Scheper-Hughes, Bourgois, 2004, p. 1). All this is not to say that
the Kinois and the bashege remain entirely passive in this regard, or that they
make no attempt to assert control over their lives. In this article, we will argue
that they transform themselves into active agents who exercise agency – that
is, exert deliberate control over their lives (De Boeck, Plissart, 2005; Geenen,
2006; Geenen, 2009). We therefore opt for the term human agency instead of
coping or coping strategies in this text.
Frequent references to Lazarus and Folkman (1984) can be found in the
literature with respect to coping. These authors describe coping strategies as
«a person’s constantly changing cognitive and behaviour efforts to manage a
stressful situation by responding either in a positive (i.e. active) or negative (i.e.
avoidant) way». Kombarakaran (2004) also employs this concept in his study
of street children in Bombay. From this perspective, street children are viewed
first and foremost as victims who develop all manner of techniques in order
to survive. In our view, the concept of coping also carries a far too normative
connotation. Authors employ this notion with respect to so-called positive and
negative – or well-adjusted and maladjusted – modes of coping. Kombarakaran
(2004), for example, sees drug use on the part of street children as a maladjusted
coping strategy.
Though authors, through their use of the concept of coping, do acknowledge
the fact that street children exert control over their own lives to some degree,
agency goes much further. Agency is much more active than coping. In this
article, we will demonstrate that not only do bashege1 in Kinshasa manage to
x
1 The number of bashege dwelling the streets in Kinshasa is uncertain. Estimations vary
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 82 –
survive, but that they actively give shape to their lives. Conscious control is
also exerted over the structural violence under which they suffer. This is not to
deny that the bashege in Kinshasa are victimised in many ways, but instead to
underscore the fact that they are simultaneously victims and remarkably active
agents.
2. 2. Methodological reflections
For the purpose of writing this article, Maarten Hendriks performed ethno-
graphic fieldwork in Kinshasa for six months, from the beginning of October
2010 until the end of March 2012. Maarten had already carried out fieldwork
within the context of his studies a year earlier in Kinshasa, which served to
further immerse him in the target group. In the field, his work was monitored by
Sylvain Shomba Kinyamba of UNIKIN (University of Kinshasa). Paul Ponsaers
of Ghent University (Belgium) assisted him in processing his field notes.
For us the main value of the ethnographic method is, as Willis (1977, 3)
states, its «sensitivity to meanings and values as well as an ability to repres-
ent and interpret symbolic articulations, practices and forms of cultural pro-
duction». We tried to come to what Weber (1978) defined as the «verstehende
Methode», or the profound understanding of actions and motivations of those
studied (Ferrel et al., 2008, p. 177).
During the period of fieldwork Maarten carried out countless conversations
with bashege in the Pont-Gabi, Matonge and Gombe neighbourhoods, areas of
Kinshasa in which many bashege live. The main place of research however
was what the bashege refer to as Yamaka, situated across the famous «stade
Martyr»: an impressive football stadium built by ex-president Mobutu. Yamaka
is an abandoned market and the largest territory occupied by street children
in Pont-Gabi. From a strategic research perspective, the advantage of Yamaka
was that there were always numerous bashege present with who Maarten could
talk to. Many groups of bashege came to sleep, rest, eat, smoke weed and drink
hard liquor in Yamaka.
To approach groups of bashege, Maarten was assisted by the former shege:
Kape. He brought Maarten into contact with some shege gang leaders, who
made it possible for Maarten to be around their gangs. Kape also served as
an interpreter for conversations held in Lingala. At the end of each period of
observation Maarten and Kape wrote down the events of the day in the form of
field notes. After a while, when Maarten felt that he gained enough trust from the
bashege, some of the conversations were recorded, transcribed and translated.
The presence of a «white» researcher amongst street children in Kinshasa
came with some difficulties. The most important difficulty was the interaction
between the researcher and the environment – police, passersby and residents.
x
according to the used definition of the concept of «street child». Some sources estimate their
total amount to be 20,000 (Mulamba, 2008), while others speak of tens of thousands bashege
in the capital of DRC (Tate, 2006). In 2005, UNICEF en REEJER – Réseau des Educateurs des
Enfants et Jeunes de la Rue – in collaboration with the ministry of social affairs of the city
Kinshasa estimated their number at 13,877 (Pambu, 2009).
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 83 –
The Kinois were often astonished to see a «white» person amongst a group
of young «thugs». Sometimes they called the police. They proclaimed that in
order to do research in Kinshasa at the «dangerous» bashege an authorisation
from the city hall is needed. Obtaining such papers is rather laborious and
expensive. A lot of so-called «motivation» (bribe money) for the civil servants
in question is needed to get the job done. Nevertheless, this problem had to be
solved. The mere presence of the researcher also raised various ethical issues,
not least the fact that it exposed the bashege to the authorities even more so than
usual. Maarten succeeded in circumventing this problem by getting a «ordre de
mission» from the NGO ORPER2, which stated that the research was performed
in the framework of the NGO.
Another major difficulty in the field was to break through the «street smart-
ness» of the bashege. Street children are masters in adapting their behaviour
and answers depending on who they are talking to (Scheper-Hughes, Hoffman,
1998). Certainly, when speaking with «white» researchers and NGO people they
tend to hide behind their western image as a victim (Geenen, 2006). Breaking
through this «street smart» defence of the bashege needed an important invest-
ment of time and was a constant working point.
3. 3. The significance of the informal economy in Kinshasa
Gondola (1999, p. 30) states that an African city such as Kinshasa, with its eco-
nomic and social chaos, impedes the growth of adolescents into adulthood. He
supports this thesis by arguing that, on the one hand, adolescents are finding it
increasingly difficult to get married – or to marry at all – due to financial reas-
ons, and that they are otherwise professionally disadvantaged. Despite being
overrepresented among the population, young people – and the Kinois in gen-
eral – living in African cities are afforded almost no, or very little, access to the
«formal» job market, despite the fact that they are forced to assume economic
and social responsibilities at a very early age. In contrast to children/adolescents
in the West, they rarely enjoy the luxury of passively taking refuge behind their
parents, as they actively participate in both the social and economic arenas.
The aforementioned paradox, whereby young people are professionally
marginalised on the one hand and yet are recruited directly into the economic
system at a very early age on the other, must be understood within the context of
the post-colonial situation in which African cities such as Kinshasa find them-
selves. Post-colonial subjects, both young and old, contend with an extremely
difficult environment that offers them practically no opportunities and which
often prevents them from constructing a fulfilling life, with the search for money
constituting a daily problem. Children and adolescents are thus viewed as cap-
ital because of the contribution they provide to the family and as security for
old age (De Boeck, Honwana, 2005).
Street children, or bashege, find themselves in the same post-colonial boat,
one difference being that they are forced to fend for themselves to a much
x
2 Oeuvre de Reclassement et de Protection des Enfants de la Rue.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 84 –
greater degree than are live-at-home children, or babelesi3. Although the family
is replaced by alternative organisational structures on the street, such as gangs
and networks of friends, an oft-heard expression among the bashege is «moto
na moto na ndenge na ye»4, or «every man for himself». This became evident
one morning when carrying out fieldwork with the Tigo gang, which has its base
on the bank of the Kalamu River. Ngembo was busy collecting the contributions
from the other members of the gang so that he could stock up on the ingredients
needed to prepare cat. He had already paid in 700 Congolese francs5 (CDF)
himself. Others donated CDF500, and still others a little more than CDF700.
«It is essential», said Ngembo, «that everyone contributes». If you have less to
contribute on one day then you give a little more the next. Unlike food, other
things are shared freely depending on who has money to buy them, such as
tsweke6, agene7, marijuana and cigarettes8.
Street children are proud of their independence. When speaking of the life
of a babelesi, the word niama is quick to come up, which translates literally
as animal. Modogo, who has been living on the street for more than 20 years,
puts it this way:
«Tobengaka babelesi baniama» – «We refer to young people who live at home
as cattle. They are controlled by their parents9; they understand nothing about
life. Everything is taken care of for them. But we are autonomous. We under-
stand life. We must go out in search of money every day. We are free».
This independence from familial control also implies a financial independ-
ence. Even though the babelesi are frequently involved in the economy from a
very early age as well, the bashege are solely responsible for supporting them-
selves day in and day out. As a result, street children grow to become verit-
able masters at searching for money: they know what the street has to offer
them better than anyone else. A significant portion of the economic activities in
which street children are engaged form part of the «informal economy» (Bilakila,
2004), though Kristien Geenen (2006) questions whether there is any formal
economy to speak of in Kinshasa in the first place. Some of these activities are
moreover not only informal, but also illegal, such as theft, extortion, prostitu-
tion, and dealing marijuana.
x
3 Babelesi is slang that street children use to refer to youngsters that live at home.
4 For instance: Merline, 12/01/2012; Modogo, 23/01/2012.
5 During the period of fieldwork the exchange rate fluctuated around 900 Congolese francs
for 1 American dollar.
6 Tsweke is very inexpensive hard liquor that is sold on the street and imported from
India.
7 Agene is so-called Congolese whiskey.
8 Field note, 12/10/11.
9 Just like animals on the farm.
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 85 –
4. 4. The informal activities of the bashege
A strict distinction between legal and illegal activities is impossible in the real-
ity of Kinshasa. Bashege engage in a large variety of economic activities. The
chargeurs, who loudly announce the destination of a share taxi or taxi to pas-
sengers of public transportation, are one example (Bilakila, 2004, p. 43). If there
are multiple share taxis heading in the same direction and not enough customers
to fill them, the chargeur does his best to lure people to «his» share taxi. He does
this at the behest of the driver, who pays him about CDF 100 for this service. As
chargeur, he can also work with passengers who have no desire to fight their
way to a seat by assuring them a place to sit in the midst of all the commotion,
which also earns him some small change each time (Bilakila, 2004, p. 43).
Street girls generally work as prostitutes or bordeuses (Geenen, 2006, 2009;
Tate, 2006; Kahola, Rubbers, 2008; Hendriks, Ponsaers, 2011). Even though
both local and international NGOs have been waging a battle against child pros-
titution for years, and even though prostitution is forbidden by law in the DRC,
it is a perfectly acceptable activity on the street. Geenen (2006, p. 15) states that
«love and sexuality are at any rate subject to personal interpretation» in Kin-
shasa. Money likewise plays a key role in everyday «normal’ relationships, with
women throwing their charms and body into the fight in exchange for money
and sucrées (soft drinks), with the result that it is especially difficult for a man
with no money to experience any love at all.
Lacoste, a 17 year-old street girl, complained of a bashege who had fallen in
love with her. This meant that she would have to stop working as a prostitute
from that point onwards because he would be caring for her and her child. On
that day, he gave her CDF 3,000. At nightfall, he spread out a pagne (a typical
type of garment for women in Kinshasa) on the ground in Yamaka where they
could spend the night together. But this did not satisfy Lacoste, who felt that
the CDF 3,000 he had given her was far too little to justify her remaining his
girlfriend. She told him that she could easily earn CDF 11,000 if she were to
walk the streets at night. She left him and the love was over. Champion Rouge,
who had listened to her story, said that CDF 3,000 was a lot for a girl like her
«who had already been used up by numerous men». To this, Lacoste replied
«Ngai moko nayebi valeur ya bord na ngai, na prix na nga» – «Only I know
what my vagina is worth and what its price will be» 10 .
In short, even though CDF 3,000 is more than enough to feed her and her
baby, not to mention provide her with other everyday necessities, Lacoste would
rather work the streets as a prostitute. She views her vagina as merchandise,
and she alone determines its price. Or, as De Boeck and Plissart state (2005,
p. 166): «the body is a shop, it is money, it is like merchandise». Furthermore,
CDF 11,000 for one night’s work is certainly not bad (De Boeck, 2011, p. 69).
For the sake of comparison, the tutors who work for the local NGO O.R.P.E.R.
x
10 Field note, Lacoste, 19/01/2012.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 86 –
(Œuvre de Reclassement et de Protection des Enfants de la Rue) earn roughly
CDF 4,500 each day.
Love relationships nevertheless flourish among the bashege. In one of their
songs –- sung in the typical Coupé Décalé style – the Poison Gouvernement gang
sings about street girls as petites ya caméléon11 – they change boyfriends like
a chameleon changes colour.
«We are never sure if they are with other men at the same time», complains
DJ Grenade. «On the Festival of the Woman – 8 March – she can ask you to buy
her a pagne and then turn around and go to another man for shoes. Better to
have one woman than no woman at all12,» he concludes.
When a man figures out that his mwasi (girl) has another boyfriend, a
conflict is likely to ensue. Direns of Poison Gouvernement responds by saying
that one should not allow this to happen because the man has already «invested»
too much money in her1 3. With this «investment» in women, Direns confirms
the widely held view of the Subsaharian African male-female relationship, in
which love is to some extent purchased by the man and maintained through
gifts (Trapido, 2010, p. 139).
The Peuple Arabe gang likewise claims that, when gangs of bashege fight
among themselves, it always revolves around basi ou mbongo – women or
money14. Women often form the «most significant source of income» for a gang
(Geenen, 2006). There is a great deal of money to be made from prostitution
nowadays. Celeo, a street boy, also claims that other bashege pose as a pimp
for their girlfriends and try to get them to engage in prostitution: «kende koluka
mbongo, oyela ngai» – «go get some money and bring it back to me»15. Gifts flow
in the opposite direction (Trapido, 2010), though they are given in exchange
for a relationship and protection (Geenen, 2006). The prevailing view of the
male-female relationship is hereby turned on its head.
Another (illegal) activity engaged in by street girls, and likewise by street
boys, is the operation of so-called ngandas (meeting places). In a nganda one
can drink beer and/or eat goat or chicken. This term has a different connotation
when applied to bashege areas. Instead of eating chicken and/or drinking beer,
they come together to smoke marijuana or drink tsweke and agene. Unauthor-
ised illegal gambling also takes place, such as card games and jeu de six, a
sort of «Ludo» in which wagers are placed. The bashege make up a significant
portion of these ngandas, though non-street children also spend time there on a
regular basis. These establishments are also hugely popular with police officers
and soldiers. This makes for ambiguous situations in which police and street
children socialise together in the ngandas even though these same officers are
the ones who regularly pursue them.
x
11 Song Poison Final, Poison Gouvernement, 2012.
12 Field note, DJ Grenade, 01/03/2012.
13 Field note, Direns, 01/03/2012.
14 Field note, Peuple Arab, 05/10/2011.
15 Field note, Celeo, 29/02/2012.
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 87 –
Merline, a 22 year-old street girl, runs one of these ngandas. It is barely
visible from the Avenue Kasavubu and the Boulevard Sendwe, in part because
her nganda consists of no more than a few wooden chairs and benches. Cigar-
ettes are sold for CDF 50 ($0.06) a piece, a single glass of Tsweke for CDF 100
($0.11), and a joint can be purchased for CDF 200. By selling marijuana and
hard liquor, Merline earns enough to support herself and her 2 year-old child.
As opposed to most other street girls, she does not engage in prostitution. She
says this is because she is simply unable to do so:
«I do this [sell marijuana, cigarettes and hard liquor] to earn some money each
day to buy food for myself and my child, and for our well-being. It’s not like I’m
sitting here with nothing to do. I am unable to go out at night and engage in
prostitution; because of a bad blow to my leg, I am unable to do much walking
to go out looking [for money]».
One day, when Merline went out to purchase her whisky and marijuana, she
was involved in a motorcycle accident. She was unable to pay for her medical
care at Saint Joseph Hospital, so she sent a religious sister to her family to let
them know about her condition. After a few days, one of her family members
brought her $30. This was barely enough to cover the initial care she had
received, so she was released from the hospital. To this day, her leg has still
not received the required treatment16. This led to the formation of a curvature
in her right leg, which causes her to limp when walking.
Merline’s situation is both significant and telling in that, despite her almost
impossible living conditions, she never gives up. «Eza te que navandaka kaka
boye»17 or «it’s not like I’m sitting here with nothing to do». She seeks out
solutions to her problems and, in spite of the difficulties she faces, is evolving
into an active agent capable of providing for herself and her child.
5. 5. The illegal activities of the bashege
A previous reference was made to theft, which comprises a portion of the (illeg-
al) economic activities of the bashege. The Tigo gang in the Matonge district
demonstrated how they slice the trouser pockets of a distracted victim with a
razor, which, according to them, is the perfect way to snatch mobile phones18.
Hugor, a 13 year-old street boy, described his fingers as «fetishes that never
miss»19, and Shada bragged: «Nayibaka, naza diable, motema mabe, moi je suis
pas un pasteur» – «I steal, I am a devil, I have a bad heart, I am no priest»20.
Kape, the man who assisted with the fieldwork, said that when street chil-
dren steal, they do so surreptitiously, for the most part: «they play with the
intelligence of people». One way is to use an informal economic activity as a
x
16 Interview, Merline, 18/02/2012.
17 Interview, Merline, 18/02/2012.
18 Field note, Tigo, 11/10/2011.
19 Field note, Hugor, 13/01/2012.
20 Field note, Shada, 09/11/2012.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 88 –
cover, or at the very least to keep a watchful eye out for opportunities that might
arise in the course of carrying out other informal activities. Gathering up beans
that have spilled onto the ground at the market is just a «movema» («gesture»)
that Shada uses to mislead people. By his own account, he had managed to
steal CDF 200,000 ($222) that day from a mother at the market21. Hugor, who
works as a porteur at the Zigida market, also makes clever use of the synergy
that is afforded by combining an informal activity with theft. The merchandise,
portions of it and/or the money of his customers all disappear from time to time.
When Merline (see above) labels him a «big thief», he defends himself this way:
«Moto asalaka na bank ayibaka, ebongo ngai nasalaka na bureau te, soki nayibi
eza mabe?» - «The person working in the bank steals. Just because I don’t work
in an office, does that make stealing bad?»22. Finally Modogo, who has been
working the streets since the 1980s, also confessed to being just as alert while
shining shoes in the streets surrounding the Grand Marché: «If I see something
sitting out in the open, it disappears immediately»23.
Though the bashege mainly operate surreptitiously, a number of them do
so brazenly. During one of my evening observations, five members of the Peuple
Arabe gang shoved a passer-by against a parked jeep in a side street off the
Boulevard 30 Juin, upon which they emptied his pockets in no time. After a few
seconds, they let him go24 .
Others organise themselves into kuluna gangs: gangs of young people who
hold up others in a group, threatening them with machetes, clubs and glass
bottles (Hendriks et al., 2011)25 . According to Shomba (2011, p. 13), a kuluna
gang is organised into four pillars: the leader, la ceinture du chef, the members
and their girlfriends. The leader - usually the physically strongest of the group - is
responsible for the continued survival of the gang and maintains a monopoly on
the decision-making. La ceinture du chef (literally, the leader’s belt, or his inner
circle) consists of the members of the gang closest to the leader who assist him
in his sovereign rule. The members carry out orders and protect the girlfriends
of the gang. Kuluna gangs are complex, informal and clandestine organisations
(Hendriks et al., 2011).
General Gato, the leader of the Armée Noir, explained that his gang is
composed of five ceintures or belts. When the gang battles other gangs in order
to capture territory (Geenen, 2009), the members of the first ceinture serve as
scouts. They survey the surroundings and, once ordered to do so, provoke their
adversary. If they feel they are in danger of losing the fight, one of the scouts
runs back to the other gang members who have remained behind to request re-
inforcements, while the remainder of the first belt stays put. The second ceinture
then goes into action. If this fails to turn the tide of battle, one of the members
hurries back to fetch the third belt. This formula repeats itself until the final and
x
21 Field note, Shada, 09/11/2012.
22 Field note, Hugor, 13/01/2012.
23 Field note, Modogo, 23/01/2012.
24 Field note, 19/10/2011.
25 Field note, Kape, 17/10/2011.
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 89 –
strongest ceinture arrives on the scene. Specific gang members are also assigned
specific roles, such as «chargeur des opérations» and distributor of machetes.
According to Lieutenant Jean-Paul, chief constable of one of the district
police stations in Yamaka26, the majority of kuluna activity occurs at times
when there are very few people present: in isolated locations, after nightfall
and during or immediately after it rains27. It is important to not intermingle the
phenomenon of the bashege with that of the kuluna as they are two different
phenomena. While it is true that some groups of bashege organise themselves
in a kuluna gang, the latter consist more out of youngsters that live at home.
This argument is also heard when speaking to bashege. Often the bashege speak
contemptuously of the kuluna. To them, kuluna are babelesi, and are therefore
baniama, or docile cattle that are fed and protected by their family. Before going
into action, kuluna often intoxicate themselves with alcohol and marijuana2 8.
This practice is also used by the bashege. Patrick, a member of the Peuple Arab
gang, said this strengthens the spirit – kokoti l’esprit. By first using whisky and
marijuana, they are capable of anything, and fear nothing29.
6. 6. Cooperatives [coops]:
the foundation of the informal economy in Kinshasa
Much of the economic activity which takes places in Kinshasa is referred
to as «coops»30. The etymology of the word «coop» stems from the French
word coopération, or cooperation in English. In actuality, a coop involves ar-
rangements/agreements/deals made between two or more parties. «Kinois» are
forced to «cooperate» with others on a daily basis due to the precarious state that
their deprivation put them in. «Nakey kobeta coop» means «I’m going to close
a deal» or «do business». This agreement could entail almost anything from
which one might wish to benefit. It is, in essence, an agreed-upon exchange.
The «coop» may refer to a service which is paid for in cash, but might also be
paid for with goods or with a service rendered in kind. This type of exchange
can thus take various forms.
One example would be that of a woman wishing to receive a small service for
a minor fee, such as getting her fingernails polished. Because it is too expensive
for her to purchase a bottle of nail polish, the woman in question will have
her nails polished on the street by a shege. Armed with bottles of nail polish
and jingling them together with one hand, the bashege scour the streets for
customers. Other bashege guard cars in the city’s financial centre, Gombe, or in
popular entertainment areas. In almost any parking zone which is not otherwise
guarded by private security companies31 or official police, bashege assume this
x
26 There are two district police stations which are adjacent to Yamaka: one on the Avenue
Kasavubu, and one on the Boulevard Sendwe.
27 Field note, Commandant Lieutenant Jean Paul, 28/02/2012.
28 Observation, 3/11/2011, 4/11/2011.
29 Field note, Patrick, 17/10/2011.
30 Street children also refer to this as «chida».
31 In Kinshasa, primarily G4S.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 90 –
role. They usually earn between CDF 200-500 ($0.22-0.55) for every car they
guard. «Porteurs» are bashege who are paid by coops to carry the goods and
purchases for their customers. One place they do this is at the beach, where
boats from Brazzaville arrive and depart and where many «porteurs» work.
Others work at one of the many markets scattered about the city, where they
carry the goods purchased by customers to the share taxi or car. The market
offers numerous such opportunities for coops (Geenen, 2006). The market is a
«libulu ya mbongo» or treasure trove (De Boeck, 2004, p. 176). There, bashege
can collect charcoal, beans and plastic bags until they have enough to sell them,
they can run errands for market vendors, etc. (see also Geenen, 2006).
Kinois are thus quite ambivalent about street children. Prevailing popular
discourse in Kinshasa deems street children first and foremost to be criminals,
even though practically all Kinois make daily use of the services provided by
street children: helping them take public transportation, shining their shoes,
lugging goods and merchandise for them and guarding their car during an
evening out in the town. Bashege are quite handy and fulfil an essential role in
the daily comings and goings of public life in the city.
But it can also entail a situation in which a problem needs to be solved
or someone wishes to obtain something specific, such as securing official docu-
ments from government officials. This type of coop will make use of intermedi-
aries. These are people who are in a position to influence a specific agency or
person and who thus make it fairly simple and/or inexpensive to solve the prob-
lem or to acquire the desired item. This coop will then grant the intermediary
a commission or «motivation» (Bilakila, 2004).
7. 7. Coops as a component of the gang culture
Coops also form part of the gang culture in Kinshasa. Together with his gang,
General Gato supervised – in his words – the lorries arriving at the Zigida market
to deliver their goods. This is to say that he forced the drivers to pay for a place
to park and, along with his friends, coerced them into paying a fee for unloading
their lorries. Over time he received threats from other gangs, particularly from
the so-called Armée Rouge, which attempted to take over his territory. In order
to safeguard his business, he decided to establish the Armée Noir, this name
being a direct reference to the other gang. His gang was soon joined by other
bashege. They made deals with the butchers who boned pork at the market, and
in so doing the Armée Noir was able to acquire machetes. What ensued was a
bloody battle against the Armée Rouge, with the territory at stake. Even though
the conflict has not yet been fully resolved, a kind of truce has been reached for
the time being. In order to achieve this truce, the Armée Rouge had to give the
Armée Noir no less than 47 crates of beer as a coop32 .
The Armée Noir was hereby able to transform itself into an organised
kuluna gang. It is important to re-emphasise the fact that kuluna and bashege
are two separate phenomena. Selestin, who works as a night watchman at a
x
32 Field note Gato, 6/3/2012.
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 91 –
monastery, put it this way: «The bashege are the pigs in the farmhouse, and the
kuluna are the wild boars in the forest. But they are both pigs»33. Catalogue,
one of the members of the Peuple Arab street children gang, characterised the
difference between them and the kuluna this way:
We do not fear the kuluna. This is because we do kiyankee34 for them. They
are babelesi - children who live at home. They sleep at home. We spend 24
hours a day on the street. They are bandits; they will threaten anyone - even
an ordinary man - in order to rob him of his money and telephone. They use
stones, machetes and glass bottles. We, on the other hand, only harass bosses
and rich men35.
In short, in the eyes of bashege, kuluna are babelesi who organise them-
selves into gangs for the purpose of robbing people. In the words of Modogo:
«they extort by force»36. Unlike the bashege, they almost always operate in
groups.
General Gato, leader of the Armée Noir, stressed that whatever a gang
member steals in the course of a fight or an operation is later shared with the rest
of the group. This gang member then enjoys protection as coop for sharing his
loot. If a gang member is picked up for robbery, whether by force or not, the entire
gang will pitch in to purchase his freedom. If the gang member has concealed the
stolen goods and the police are looking for him, he will in certain cases be handed
over by the gang, or no effort at all will be made to get him out of trouble37.
8. 8. Coops between bashege and the public authorities
Quite a few coops exist between the public authorities and street children. The
Poison Gouvernement gang members who are actively recruited by the governor
of Kinshasa to serve as public workers of a sort are one example. For $20 per
week, they keep the Boulevard du 30 Juin clean, which is one of the showpieces
of Kabila’s cinq chantiers [a series of improvements to five aspects of the Congo
(schools, roads, etc.)]. This boulevard was recently resurfaced, pedestrian paths
and zebra crossings were added, and traffic lights were installed. But the work
is actually informal; a formal employment contract is totally non-existent.
There exists a different type of coop at the political level. In the run-up
to elections in late 2011, both the Kabila camp, as well as that of the opposi-
tion, tapped the resources of the bashege for their respective campaigns. Many
bashege were given money by up-and-coming candidates to pass out flyers or to
participate in demonstrations for them38. During this time, many bashege could
x
33 Field note, Selestin, 20/10/2011.
34 Prepared to do anything, capable of defending themselves against any threat whatso-
ever, outside the norm (Kape, 7/02/2012).
35 Field note, Catalogue, 19/10/2011.
36 Field note, Modogo, 23/01/2012.
37 Field note, Gato, 6/03/2012.
38 Observation, 02.11.11.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 92 –
be spotted walking around with flags, t-shirts of candidates and other campaign
materials, as evidenced by one member of the Bazowa gang waiving a – albeit
bloodied – flag of the ruling PPRD39 (Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et
la Démocratie/People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy). Candidates
also made regular visits to the workplace of Ley, the intermediary between the
bashege and the rest of the Kinois in Yamaka, in order to request the support
of the bashege in return for compensation40. The use of street children for polit-
ical purposes appears to be prevalent during campaigns. For a small gratuity,
street children make for an easy-to-mobilise group (Tate, 2006; Kahola, Rub-
bers, 2008; Geenen, 2009). For street children, becoming actively immersed in
political turmoil is a coop just like any other (Geenen, 2009, p. 353). No job
is without risk, as proven by the testimonials of many bashege who in recent
years have been injured or have even lost their lives at political demonstrations
(Tate, 2006, p. 34).
Bilakila (2004, pp. 33-34) emphasises that the object of a coop need not
necessarily be money, goods or services; for one or more of the parties, the co-
operation might revolve around intangible things, such as safety and freedom. If
someone’s boyfriend or girlfriend has been thrown in jail, contributions are of-
ten made in order to pay the amende – usually about CDF 15,00041 – and perhaps
also to buy food for the prisoner. Ley, for instance, grinned while recounting an
episode in which he was jailed for a few days during the 2006 election contest
between Bemba and Kabila. Thanks to his numerous street connections, he had
never eaten so lavishly42.
The Poison Gouvernement gang at the central station spoke of having access
to a common fund, which is used to buy gang members out of jail and to furnish
medicine and care when someone falls ill or is the victim of an accident43. The
latter – making contributions for medicine and care – tends to be the exception
to the rule, however. By contributing to the fine of fellow bashege, a kind of
social security is created. Should the donor get into trouble with the police at
some point, he knows that the same will be done for him.
An obvious coop that exists between the police and street children involves
the purchasing of one’s own freedom, or that of others, from jail. This amende
to be paid also has nothing to do with a formal judicial process. A suspect
is normally referred to the prosecutor after 48 hours, who in turn refers the
prisoner to the Makala prison after another 48 hours, where he/she will also
appear before a judge44 . In the case of minors, the judge must by law attempt
to reunite him/her with his/her family or house him/her in a suitable private
or public institution. In reality, however, minors too often end up in prison as
well (Tate, 2006).
x
39 Observation, 03/11/2011.
40 Field note, 02.11.11.
41 Field note, 15/11/2012.
42 During this time, he was held responsible for unrest that had been stirred up by the
bashege of Pont-Gabi (field note, 9/01/2012).
43 Interview with the Poison Gouvernement gang, 24/01/2012.
44 Field note, Lt. Jean-Paul, 20/01/2012, 28/01/2012; Sakara, 16/11/2011.
STREET CHILDREN IN KINSHASA
– 93 –
Hence in many cases the option of getting out of this is via the payment of an
informal fine to the police. In other words, this is a coop between the police and
the detainee in which the latter is practically forced into cooperating if he/she
wishes to stay out of jail (Bilakila, 2004, p. 34).
Oftentimes the coop plays itself out early on, such that a street child never
ends up spending any time in jail. Police officers often designate this as a «private
investigation», as was the case during the fieldwork when a mother lodged a
complaint against Mandula for stealing her necklace. Mandula is a street child
who can often be found in Yamaka and at the Zigida market. A police officer
later appeared at Merline’s nganda to ask where he might find Mandula. If he
did not want to be arrested, then Mandula would have to hand over a portion
of his loot to the officer45.
The public authorities mainly use repressive measures when dealing with
the bashege, but at other times they enter into cooperatives with them. Police
officers often share in the profits of the illegal (and other) activities of street chil-
dren. Kahola and Rubbers (2008) therefore rightly characterise the relationship
between street children and the public authorities as being «between collabor-
ation and confrontation».
9. 9. Conclusion
It should be clear from the above that street children, by way of coops, do
in fact transform themselves into active economic - but also social, political
and cultural - agents. The following quote from a Human Rights Watch re-
port on street children in the DRC is therefore rather simplistic: «For many
street children, their ability to survive depends on their finding work to earn
enough for food» (Tate, 2006). Although it is undoubtedly true that one is better
off mastering some type of – informal or illegal – «work» in order to survive
life on the streets and thus earn «enough for food», the economic activities in
which the bashege engage should not be reduced to mere survival or coping
strategies.
Geenen (2006) argues that street children are able to acquire enough money
for a concert or football match in Stade Martyr, the biggest football stadium in
Kinshasa, built during the time of Mobutu. So in contrast to what one might ex-
pect, bashege do earn enough - relatively speaking. Street children often engage
in multiple coops per day. Direns, a member of the Poison Gouvernement gang
at the central station, has three jobs:
I, the work that I do, I work at outdoor cafés, at other times as a porteur, at
other times I guard cars, so I alone already have three chidas [coops/jobs] in
order to support myself.
It is important to emphasise in this regard that street children are not
the only players in the informal and illegal market in Kinshasa. In general, the
x
45 Field note, Merline, 13/01/2012.
MAARTEN HENDRIKS, PAUL PONSAERS, SYLVAIN SHOMBA KINYAMBA
– 94 –
babelesi and the Kinois are also quick to take part in the parallel economy,
the size of which has for decades exceeded that of the formal economy many
times over (see MacGaffey, 1991; Geenen, 2006). Unemployment, low wages and
inefficiency in the formal economy have forced the Kinois to search for creative
solutions within the parallel economy (MacGaffey, 1987; Trefon, 2004).
In this context, caution is advised against maintaining an all too romantic
notion of the self-reliance of the Kinois. Shapland and Ponsaers (2009) recall that
the informal economy «flourishes where the opportunities already exist». Street
children, and Kinois in general, simply find themselves in the same post-colonial
boat, and to this day are forced to heed the call of former President Mobutu:
«débrouillez-vous» – «Fend for yourself». The difference between street children
and live-at-home children in Kinshasa can be summed up by the fact that the
latter often attend school and must hand over any extra income, or at least a
portion of it, to their parent(s) or guardian(s) (Geenen, 2006). They are also able
to rely on their family, which is responsible for their everyday well-being – even
though the multifaceted crisis which typifies Kinshasa sometimes precludes this
(Trefon, 2004). The bashege, on the other hand, who spend the majority of
their time on the street, have every opportunity to maximise their economic
potential without being interrupted by things such as going to school – unless
they are enrolled in courses (literacy, cooking, technical trade, aesthetics) at
one of the many open centres in Kinshasa, or have been admitted to a closed
centre where going to school is compulsory. Additionally, the bashege are usually
self-employed, even though the youngest among them must frequently hand
over their money to a yaya or older child, and the girls often have a pimp whom
they must pay (Tate, 2006; Geenen, 2006).
De Boeck and Honwana (2005, p. 3) maintain that young people must be
viewed as both makers and breakers of society: «Young people constantly shake
and shape society but are also shaped and shaken by it». Street children are also
«made» and «broken» by society, but at the same time they also «make» and
«break» it, i.e. they give shape to their own life, and even to society. Though it is
wrong to view them as violent criminals per se, our fieldwork more specifically
suggests that the bashege cannot simply be classified as victims of a violent
system, for they constitute an integral part of this system. They are continually
abused, beaten down and raped by society, but at the same time do the same
to others. They are adept at striking a balance between perpetrator and victim,
or simultaneously act as both. In other words, the traditional criminological
dichotomy, in which the perpetrator is located at one end of the continuum and
the victim at the other, does not apply here (Hendriks et al., 2011, p. 11).
x
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