"Children-mothers" abused and accepted in Togo

LOME', Togo - It is a hot and windy day on the northern outskirts of the Togolese capital, Lomé. Cecile's small hand tries to grab the clothes hanging in the sun that continue to flutter from all sides. His mother, Afua, took her in his arms, but struggled to keep her still.

After a few attempts, both are ready to be photographed. Afua and Cecile (the names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved, ed) have little more than ten years of difference. The mother recently turned twelve, while her daughter is four months old. Both are examples of a serious plague that has worn down Togolese society for some time, despite various legal and humanitarian efforts. Afua has been raped. The person in charge is a neighbor of his, a taxi driver, who often served the young woman's family. After meeting her on the street one evening, the man convinced her to get in the car. It took a few minutes to lock her in the back seat and abuse her. "You don't have to say anything else or evil spirits will retaliate against your family," he told her before leaving her in front of the house. Indeed, Afua did not speak for several weeks. But the pains of pregnancy became stronger and stronger. When the doctor visited her, he almost didn't believe it. The girl told about her neighbor only after the visit. The father let the attacker know he would call the police. But the man escaped without being seen again. "It was really difficult to communicate such news - explains Sylvain Sourma, social worker at the Kekeli center, a Catholic association that operates in different parts of Africa -. How can you tell parents that their child is pregnant? " For over ten years, the Kekeli center of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity of Vedruna - a congregation based in Barcelona - has followed hundreds of child victims of trafficking, trafficking and sexual abuse.
 
Thanks also to the help of local and international partners, the operators of the center promote activities aimed at improving the conditions of the victims. Among the various aspects related to the care of abused children, there are psychological, legal, educational and nutritional aspects. However, the help of the center represents only a drop in the sea. Such violence with the consequent injustices, in fact, daily affect the life of an unknown number of children in Togo. "The situation of these young mothers is very hard and complicated," says Sister Gabrielle, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and coordinator of the center since 2013. «We try to help the young woman, sometimes together with her family, to accept her situation and understand her. However, we are talking about minors - continues the religious - who do not have the tools to manage a pregnancy and a newborn. From a physical and psychological point of view, this condition creates a block of personal development that is difficult to overcome ". The abuses can be perpetrated by strangers or by members of the same family. On the road or at home. 'Avvenire' met six minors followed by the Kekeli center in various parts of the country.

Elise, for example, was repeatedly raped by one of her peers when she was 16 years old. Today he is 18 and his daughter Marie is two years old. Together with Sylvain we meet her at home with her parents, bringing her food and some basic necessities. The family is very poor. For this Elise had been entrusted to a guardian, a common practice in Togo when parents do not have the means to support their children. But the girl was abused. From dawn onwards, the guardian required her to help her at home, stealing time and energy that Elise had to spend at school instead.

The rape occurred when the woman's son started entering the room where Elise slept during the night. Attempts to barricade inside have been of no use. "When the guardian noticed that her son had made Elise pregnant - explains Sylvain in front of the victim's file - he decided to expel her and stop all contact with the family of origin". The girl's father, a mechanic in his fifties, has red eyes. He admits he couldn't get justice for his daughter. From a legal point of view, although knowing the aggressor, there are rare times when a case of sexual violence against children is pursued until the end. In addition to various complications, threats from the accused often manage to intimidate the attacked person and his family. When I ask Elise for permission to photograph her with her daughter, the young mother takes the child and runs to her room. After a few minutes, little Marie comes out dressed as a princess, all in pink. Both pose smiling. Fanny, 15, went through the center with her two-month-old daughter. They now live in the southern town of Vogan. It is here, near the market of the town, that an elderly man raped her.