Junior Kabemba, DRC "My dream is to become president"

"I'm eleven years old and the second son between two girls. My mother, Clementine Tshibeya, is alone, although she was married to my father, Andre Kabemba. He went away more than five years ago, trying to make his fortune finding precious stones in Tshikapa [diamond-rich territory of Kasai Occidental Province, 400km southwest from Kinshasa]. I can hardly remember him.

I was at Level 3 of Saint Pierre Primary School in Kinshasa when I went to the street. I left my mother to be a "shegue" [a name given to street children by the famous Congolese musician Papa Wemba]. That was in 2002. I could not stay with my family because it was too hard. We did not have enough food and nobody cared for me because my father had left us and my mother is out all day, selling some goods in the market. She only comes home after eight in the evening, often without something to eat for us, even after three days.

My dream is to keep studying and to become the president of our country if possible. But I can't because my mother was not able to pay school fees. I'm worried about my mother and my two sisters. They are still very poor, like when I left them.

First, some girls - older than I - allowed me to spend the nights in their place. I don't know what they do during the day, but I saw them every evening before they disappeared and then came back in the morning. Now I get together with other children late at night near the shopping arcade called Galerie Beau Tour. We sleep close to each other to avoid cold and getting dirty.

I stopped getting help from NGOs taking care of street kids, because one of them, called Pekabo, disappointed me. I left the centre because we children had to sleep on the floor and sometimes outside while the caretaker got a bed in the room. There, I had no money, but I could take a bath and learn something like in school. Now I can take a bath outside in the priest's compound.

On the street I can get money, sometimes about US $10 per day, by begging. Like this I can buy some food in the restaurant. It's not as easy as it looks, because some days I don't get anything so I cannot eat anything. Sometimes I keep some money. After four months, I will bring it to my mother to give food to my other brothers.

I'm asking God to make a miracle and help me to fulfil my dream to become the president, even if I have no chance to study."