War has been an unwelcome friend for children in the Central African Republic but, thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, many are building brighter futures.
After decades of fighting between militias, a third of the country’s children are out of school and 1.1 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Stephanie was just 12 when she had to flee from militia in the Central African Republic.
She witnessed the terrifying sight of men chasing a local tribal leader and shooting him dead in the street in front of her.
The psychological impact of that experience left her shaken.
They shot him. They shot him in front of the house. I had never seen anything like that before. I saw him killed with my own eyes.Stephanie, 12
Many young people in Bangui, where she lives, have seen similar things.
In her words, the war has left many youths with “war in their mind and spirit”.
But thanks to War Child’s VoiceMore educational group supported by the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, Stephanie and her peers can now dream of the future.
VoiceMore has offered Stephanie the chance of an education, as well as help to address the mental scars left by what she and the other children there have been through.
Stephanie speaks regularly of her grades she is achieving at school, her plans to become a successful business executive and her dream to open more schools for children with experiences like hers.
VoiceMore’s project leader in the Central African Republic, Eric Mamboue, said “many children when they arrive here will not even speak,” he says of his charges. “You see them standing alone."
"But they must not focus on what they lived through, but their hopes for a brighter future so they can become the engineers, the doctors, that are needed. Let’s now open their eyes to all that is possible for them to achieve.”
Thank you, Players, for helping children and young people affected by conflict to get their voices heard.
