Mariama's Story

Mariama, Maputo, Mozambique

Told By Fr Patrick Shanahan

Whilst visiting our partner agency "Meninos de Mozambique", I met a little girl called Mariama.

She was making her living on the pickings of a rubbish dump - as do so many of the poorest children in Maputo, the capital city.

At the age of 8, Mariama was the sole carer for 3 younger siblings - a 5 year old boy, a 3 year old and a baby. She was well known to the adults of the slums but nobody had realised her situation - they simply assumed that somebody, somewhere, was looking after them. She had slipped through the net. She was frightened that if the authorities discovered her they would separate her little family and place them in foster care.

Having lost both her parents, the thought of losing her siblings was unbearable. Just imagine - an 8 year old caring for a baby, with no help. The extraordinary thing for me was not only her predicament, but her resourcefulness and resilience.

We underestimate children, and what they are capable of, when we try to make interventions without consulting them first. Meninos worked with Mariama and her siblings to find ways of keeping the children together. Now, they are safe and well, and still have each other and a carer.

Had I not been working on the streets that day, I would not have found Mariama. She was invisible to the rest of the world. That is what street work is all about, and that is why we insist on supporting street based approaches.