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Text:	RIGHTS-MOZAMBIQUE: Scars of Abuse Lina Mucanse MAPUTO, Apr 10 (IPS) - Visibly traumatised, Antonio Manuel, 10, goes to Mahele primary school, a remote part of Maputo province, where the Mozambican capital, Maputo, is situated. Manuel, a shy boy, uses both his hands to hold a pencil as he writes in the exercise book. His fingers - on both hands - are joined together after his stepmother placed his hands on top of a hot stove. Manuel was only four when the accident happened. "I do not know why auntie (as he calls his stepmother) did this to me," he says, holding up his fingers. Neighbours say it was a form of punishment: the boy had stolen food that was kept for his bother. It was to teach him a lesson, not to steal again. No legal action has been taken against his stepmother. Julia Andre, nine, works for a family in Massingir, Mozambique's southern province of Gaza. Her mother has given her to a family as payment for R250 (around 32 U.S. Dollars) that she owes them. Andre performs all kinds of chores her new 'masters' ask her to do. Her father moved to neighbouring South Africa, after abandoning the family. Elsewhere, Rui Fernando, who does not know his age, but appears to be around 12, lives at his aunt's house. He has never been to school, unlike his cousins who are almost the same age as he. Fernando's daily tasks consist of herding cattle and goats of the family. In exchange, he gets shelter and meals. ''My greatest dream is to go to school and learn. If I could go to school, I would like to be a truck driver," he says. In cities, the number of street children continues to climb daily. Most of the children have abandoned the comfort of their homes in exchange for a relatively free, but dangerous life on the street. Melita, 13, chats with her peers in one of the main streets in Maputo, smoking the most common brand of tobacco, Palmar. She is "married" to a 15-year-old boy, who, like her, lives rough on the street. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates the number of street children in Mozambique at more than 5,000. Almost 70 percent of Mozambique's population live in absolute poverty and the number of street children is growing. ''I live in the street since I was nine. My father and stepmother used to abuse me and give me food only after everybody had eaten. My mother knows about my condition but there is nothing she can do because she is married to another man, who is not my father'', says Melita. Isac Cossa, 14, from Manica province, central Mozambique, now lives in Maputo. "I'm used to street life. I have been in it for a long time. I fled from Manica as a result of mistreatment by my relatives," he says. Some of the children say they are glad to be on the street: they only fear police raids, which are frequent. '' But if you give them money, they release you without any harm," says Cossa. Rede da Crianca, a Maputo-based non-governmental organisation, has launched a project to assist street children, most of who are traumatised, after years of abuse. "We provide material and psychological assistance and help the reintegration of the children in their own families whenever possible,'' says a source at the organisation. "We also locate families willing to adopt the children and take up their education." Rede Crianca is a network of humanitarian and religious groups that help disadvantaged children. Mozambique, with a population of 18 million, is prone to drought and floods. About 141,000 children, aged between five months and five years, and 71,000 pregnant women in 22 districts affected by drought, are being supplied with Soya as a food supplement, to reduce levels of malnutrition. UNICEF's Viviane Van Steirteghem says the programme, which costs 1.5 million U.S. Dollars, will last for six months. ''While hunger is nothing new in Mozambique and people have found ways to respond to it, things have been made more difficult by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, that is claiming the lives of food producers at household level,'' she says. (FIN/2003)

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