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    The Children Sent To A DR Congo

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    Valentina Pineda
    The document summarizes an investigation into an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo that allegedly abducted and trafficked children to be adopted in Belgium. Two Belgian journalists uncovered evidence that some of the children adopted in Belgium still had living biological parents in Congo, including Abdula Libenge and Suriya Moyumbe who had sent their children to what they believed was a holiday camp but never returned. DNA tests confirmed the children were not actually orphans and the orphanage director is now facing criminal charges for fraud and human trafficking.

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    The Children Sent To A DR Congo

    Uploaded by

    Valentina Pineda
    25 views4 pages
    The document summarizes an investigation into an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo that allegedly abducted and trafficked children to be adopted in Belgium. Two Belgian journalists uncovered evidence that some of the children adopted in Belgium still had living biological parents in Congo, including Abdula Libenge and Suriya Moyumbe who had sent their children to what they believed was a holiday camp but never returned. DNA tests confirmed the children were not actually orphans and the orphanage director is now facing criminal charges for fraud and human trafficking.

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    The Children Sent to a DR Congo

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    The document summarizes an investigation into an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo that allegedly abducted and trafficked children to be adopted in Belgium. Two Belgian journalists uncovered evidence that some of the children adopted in Belgium still had living biological parents in Congo, including Abdula Libenge and Suriya Moyumbe who had sent their children to what they believed was a holiday camp but never returned. DNA tests confirmed the children were not actually orphans and the orphanage director is now facing criminal charges for fraud and human trafficking.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    25 views4 pages

    The Children Sent To A DR Congo

    Uploaded by

    Valentina Pineda
    The document summarizes an investigation into an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo that allegedly abducted and trafficked children to be adopted in Belgium. Two Belgian journalists uncovered evidence that some of the children adopted in Belgium still had living biological parents in Congo, including Abdula Libenge and Suriya Moyumbe who had sent their children to what they believed was a holiday camp but never returned. DNA tests confirmed the children were not actually orphans and the orphanage director is now facing criminal charges for fraud and human trafficking.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    The children sent to a DR Congo 'holiday

    camp' never to come back


    By Joanna HeywoodBrussels
     14 August 2019

     Share

    Image copyrightBENOIT DE FREINEImage captionAbdula Libenge holds a picture of his missing daughter

    A court in Belgium is investigating an orphanage for alleged abduction and trafficking of children from
    the Democratic Republic of Congo. Children were brought to Belgium and adopted by families who had
    been told they were orphans. Years later, DNA tests have proved that in some cases they were not.

    Hundreds of miles north of DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa, is the village of Gemena. Most people make a living
    from agriculture or fishing; others are carpenters or shopkeepers.

    Abdula Libenge, a 34-year-old tailor, is the father of one of four families in the area who in May 2015 sent a
    child away to Kinshasa on what they thought was a holiday camp.

    Their children never came back. Without access to legal representation or assistance from local authorities, all
    they could do was wait.

    About two years after Mr Libenge's daughter disappeared, he received an unexpected visit that would finally
    shed light on what happened.

    Belgian journalists Kurt Wertelaers and Benoit de Freine had got wind of an inquiry beginning into adoption
    fraud in their country.
    How the two journalists uncovered a scandal
    The Belgian public prosecutor had strong indications that the biological parents of a number of Congolese
    children adopted in Belgium were still alive, and the pair had set out to find them.
    Image captionThe two Belgian journalists: Kurt Wertelaers (L) and Benoit de Freine

    Their search led them from Brussels to Abdula Libenge's workshop in Gemena.

    He took them inside and produced a picture of his daughter.

    "Taken on the day she left for Kinshasa," he told them. "She was so happy. We'll never get the chance to go to
    Kinshasa. We can't afford the plane ticket. But she got the chance, and it made us proud."

    It was one of several photos of the group of three girls and one boy, then aged between two and four.

    One photo shows them with a young man from a youth organisation, their chaperone to the so-called holiday
    camp.

    "All we have left is this picture and a shoe," Mr Libenge continued, producing a tiny, white ballet pump for the
    journalists.
    Image copyrightBENOIT DE FREINEImage captionSuriya Muyombe in the village of Gemena holds a
    picture of her missing daughter

    Outside another home Suriya Moyumbe was waiting in tears, clutching a picture of her daughter, who was a
    toddler when she left and could not yet talk.

    "My husband's family blames me for giving her away for that holiday. I should never have done that. But we
    all thought it was a great opportunity," she told the reporters.

    Wertelaers and De Freine returned to Brussels to present their evidence and the public prosecutor then travelled
    to Gemena to gather DNA.

    Everything added up.


     DNA tests for kids 'stolen by orphanage'
     Concern over Africa adoption rise

    The Tumaini orphanage in Kinshasa has since been shut down.


    Belgian-Congolese lawyer Julienne Mpemba is under house arrest and facing criminal charges for her role as
    head of the orphanage.

    Her lawyer, George Balon Perin, has said she "challenges in the clearest way the charges against her", adding
    that she is not being prosecuted in DR Congo, where the alleged events took place.

    Other people have been indicted both in Belgium and DR Congo, the lawyer has told the BBC.

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