2006年VOA标准英语-Rights Groups Protest Eviction of Street Childr

By Franz Wild
Kinshasa
26 November 2006

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Die, 18, who has been in the streets for the past five years, exhales smoke from a marijuana joint, 6 Aug 2006

Human rights groups are protesting what they say is the eviction³ of street youths from Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. Hundreds of children and young adults have been rounded up recently, and the adults sent to the province of Katanga a  thousand kilometers away. Franz Wild recently visited Kinshasa, and files this report for VOA.

Dozens of homeless children chat and play in the cramped⁴ yard of Sainte Famille Oseper, one of Kinshasa's many shelters for street children.

The home is comprised of three musty rooms, where 160 children and youths sleep when they are not on the street. Outside, portions of beans and fufu, a starch⁵ paste, are lined up for them on a table.

Since November 11, the rooms are crammed⁶. Those who stay on the streets risk being rounded up by the police, in the government's latest attempt to rid Kinshasa of an estimated 13,000 street children, it calls a threat to security.

Kotshi Tshetshe, 13, says she was among a group of about 350 who were recently detained.

Tshetshe says she was sleeping in a container, when the police arrested her in the middle of the night, accusing her of stealing $80. She says she spent two days in jail before she was released.

Tshetshe says she was not scared, because she is used to the rough conditions of living on the street.

She says she turned to life on the street at the urging of peers who told her she should leave home, because life would be better as a prostitute. She says her clients are homeless men, but she gets enough money for food.

The ranks of street kids first surged in the early 1990s, when the country, still known as Zaire, faced an economic downturn that pushed unemployment through the roof. Looting closed many businesses, and parents could often no longer afford to feed their children.

Many children and young adults have now spent more than a decade on the streets, and many have formed into gangs.

When Laurent Kabila toppled long-time President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, he introduced a national service to address the issue. The idea was to bring the homeless children back within the structure of the state, by giving them agricultural and disciplinary training on isolated⁷ farms. Though sporadic⁸, the scheme continued when Kabila's son, Joseph, took power, following his father's assassination⁹ in 2001.

Senior coordinator¹⁰ for the national service, Professor Paul Ngongo, described the program as a great success.

He says, 6,600 test cases received a comprehensive education on a remote farm. He says the youths became useful to the nation.

Ngongo says those under 18 were always released, as were those who were unwilling¹¹ to go.

But, he says, the street kids are drugged up and have no faith in the state. He says, authorities rely on police to round up the kids before they become a danger to the public. But, after that, he insists, it is up to them to decide whether they will take part.

Child social worker Philomene Pambu agrees that Kinshasa's thousands of street children are a problem, both because they are not growing up with an education and a home environment, and because they are a threat to other citizens.

But she says the government has got the wrong approach.

Pambu asks, "will they arrest all 13,000 children?" She continues, "what will they do with them and where will they put them?"

Pambu says many have been sent to a remote camp in the distant southern province of Katanaga without their consent, and they are not guaranteed decent living conditions there.

"Nobody knows what the national service has planned for the young men, in terms of food and shelter," she says. She is also unsure whether they will be paid for their work, or even fed properly.

Pambu says she believes the street kids are being removed because newly elected President Joseph Kabila thinks his main rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, was buying their support and they were leading protests against him. The national service denies there is any connection. Bemba's aides say those demonstrating for him are his supporters.

1 exhales   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的第三人称单数 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He shivers, exhales, gets the ball and races back to his friends. 他浑身一颤，舒了口气，捡起球，跑回到他的朋友们那里。 来自互联网
• A smoker exhales in a pub in Richmond, London. 一名吸菸者在伦敦瑞旗蒙一家酒吧吞云吐雾。 来自互联网

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

4 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

5 starch   

n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
• I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。

6 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

7 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

8 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

9 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

10 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

11 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。