Part II – Parenting By the WORLD

I was deeply touched by a documentary called “the Children of Congo”.

Life in Congo is bad. Only desperation could force families to cast children into the streets, and, as a nation, Congo is one of the most desperate places in the world. With 80 percent of the population earning less than $1 a day, Congo has one of the poorest populations on the continent. It also has one of the youngest. The average life expectancy is 41. Even though 1 out of 5 children dies before reaching the age of five, nearly half of Congo's population is under the age of 14.

So now, what do these children in the streets do to survive? They joined the armed groups! They get free food and military training. Imagine that!

A child as young as 7years old with a rifle in his hand. When being asked of what does he think of being is such position, he replied “I feel proud and safe. I get the proper training to protect myself and I get food to eat. It’s either me killing people or being killed by the world.” What a mature answer! I bet, we, the ones being properly raised by our parents, could only come up with such answer when we have reached a certain level of maturity, adulthood. We, who have good parents, would never know the true meaning of desperate.

Unlike the children of the street and children of Congo, they got mature due to their surroundings. They never get the chance to think like a child. They can only think of ways to survive, in which accelerate the maturity level.

At least 11,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are still with armed groups or remain unaccounted for despite a demobilization campaign. Concluding the fact that there are 11,000 children being as mature about life, because they have been raised by the cruel world.

So now, compare us to the Children of Congo, have we reached that maturity level yet?