Abidjan: Throughout French-speaking Africa, street children are an all-too-common phenomenon. Although different names are used to describe these children, they all refer to the same precarious reality. In 2021, the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) reported there were over 120 million street children worldwide, including 30 million in Africa. In 2025, this figure is estimated to reach 35 million in Africa. Although this phenomenon should concern African governments, many seem to be ignoring this reality in their development policies.
According to Global Voices, there are many reasons why children end up on the streets. Humanium, an international NGO based in Switzerland working for a world where children’s rights are protected, defended, and enforced, stated: In some communities, there is also socio-cultural discrimination where children are wrongly accused of witchcraft and thrown out of their homes.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Shégué has the same meaning. Shégué is a Lingala word, one of the national languages in the DRC, used to describe street children. Typically, their families abandon or reject them because they are unable to meet their basic needs, or in fear of witchcraft.
For the shégués, any means of survival will do. Many of them are involved in acts of extreme violence, joining armed gangs who steal from, violate, torment, and kill citizens in Kinshasa, the capital of the country. Today, these youth gangs, known as Kulunas, are part of a social crime phenomenon.
In Côte d’Ivoire, child gangs are called microbes. Instead of getting an education and enjoying their childhood, these children must support their families before adulthood. Using extreme violence, they are often involved in armed robberies and killings, especially in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire.
A documentary called Abidjan’s Microbes: How did Côte d’Ivoire Abandon Its Youth?, paints a striking picture: The French-language magazine Jeune Afrique also reported that these youths played a significant role in the 2021 political crisis that shook Côte d’Ivoire, resulting in former President Laurent Gbagbo’s arrest (2000-2010).
The microbe phenomenon in Côte d’Ivoire caught the attention of Alex Ogou, a French-Ivorian director, who made a television series called Invisibles to highlight the struggles of street children.