The ‘street children’, who are so numerous in Abidjan, are a crucial open wound. The city has expanded so rapidly that in just a few years it has become one of the largest megacities in Africa. Andrea Riccardi began his visit to the Ivory Coast with the street children.
The meeting took place in the Community House of Sant'Egidio: an assembly in which young people and children who are experiencing - or have experienced - the harsh life on the streets shared their dreams and their desire to escape this life with Andrea Riccardi. Among them were some who have been welcomed by Sant'Egidio for several years in the ‘Maison du Rêve’ (a house in the Yopougon district that hosts a small group of these young people) who gratefully recounted how their dreams have already come true: the youngestare back in school, the older ones have started to learn a job that will enable them to earn a living for the older ones.
At the end of the meeting, Andrea Riccardi together with the Community of Treichville visited the homeless people in the neighbourhood. They are mainly women with children, who suffer particularly during this rainy season as they can find shelter only under a few plastic sheets. Sant'Egidio visits them regularly, bringing them food and also trying to offer a solution to their situation by restoring dignity to these families who are among the most vulnerable in Abidjan. This is an important message for a city where the gap between rich and poor is widening: modernity and wealth are increasing, yet they coexist alongside great poverty.
