In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Pakadjuma neighborhood in Kinshasa’s Limete commune is sadly known for its poor conditions, high prevalence of prostitution, criminality, rape and other forms of violence. Beneath this harsh reality, the area is home to young girls and women looking for better livelihood conditions and opportunities; for many of them, the sex trade becomes the only option left to survive in a rough environment without any hope of improvement. As a result, these women and girls face unwanted pregnancies, as they are inevitably compelled to use their bodies to ensure their future. 

A center in the midst of needs

Amidst social inequalities, high illiteracy rates and a substantial number of teenage mothers, the local organization “Cadre de Récupération et d’Encadrement pour l’Epanouissement Intégral des Jeunes” (Creeij in acronym), whose main mission is to empower young people through training, capacity-building and apprenticeships for unemployed and out-of-school girls, launched its activities in the Pakadjuma neighborhood in 2017. Indeed, to address these needs, Creeij set up a training center in this community called “Center la Grace to provide vocational training and literacy courses, but above all to promote bodily autonomy and the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls in this neighborhood by providing them with reliable information on sexual health and family planning.

Despite the progress achieved so far, however, the center still faced several issues, among them rape and unwanted pregnancies leading to unsafe abortions. As Falonne Mayoke, director of the Centre la Grâce and Creeij’s program manager, explains, “it’s one thing to provide women and girl mothers with literacy and vocational training, but their challenges remain the same after the training: finding the money to feed their families, pay the rent and so on. The consequences are rape or unwanted pregnancy”. That’s why, to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and reduce the number of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions, since 2019 Ipas RDC has been supporting Creeij to improve the community’s knowledge of the Maputo Protocol and its provisions for sexual and reproductive health information and services, including safe abortion.

Raising awareness for better outreach

Description générée automatiquementCreeij goes beyond identifying the need for sexual and reproductive health care and works with peer educators whose main mission is to help these women and girls manage their reproduction by providing them with information on sexual health and clearly explaining the provisions of the Maputo Protocol which authorizes safe abortion under certain conditions. These community change agents act as a bridge between the community and the Pakadjuma health facility, which provides sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion. As a result, the Centre la Grace registers the needs of young girls, and the peer educators in Creeij will accompany these young women to the health clinic supported by Ipas RDC.

These peer educators play an essential role, as the story of Maisha, a 22-year-old sex worker since the age of 12, clearly shows. After the loss of both her mother and father, Maisha began working as a sex worker to support herself and pay for her studies. “A few months ago, I became pregnant, and my friends advised me to have an unsafe abortion,” Maisha tells us. “Unfortunately the abortion went wrong and I started bleeding for days. At the time I was already a member of the Center but was too ashamed to tell them what was going on after what I had done. One day, I was at home, and I heard the peer educators on the street talking about where to have a safe abortion and how high-quality abortion care could save lives. As they were talking, they mentioned that “Centre la Grace” could refer to any abortion cases. I went there and luckily; they brought me to the clinic. Today I am alive.”

Today, Maisha is a healthier woman who is now taking a sewing course, has ceased sex work, and is hoping to buy a sewing machine very soon after her training, so that she can turn it into a profession.