Child soldiers and capoeira

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the city of Goma, former child soldiers are being rehabilitated using capoeira, the Brazilian martial art. Since the start of the conflict in 1996 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, child soldiers have been recruited to fight. After they are demobilised from armed groups, many suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The demobilised child soldiers are housed in transit centres while they wait to be reunited with their families. While they wait, Social Capoeira is one of the therapies offered to them. It is a form of capoeira where the fighting is non-contact and dialogue, and wellbeing are prioritised. Congolese journalist Ruth Omar explores the impact of this unique approach.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the documentary from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Omar.
0:10.0	And this is Child Soldiers and Capoeira.
0:14.0	I'm in the playground of a school in Doshu in the northwest part of Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of
0:23.4	Congo. The classrooms have been long abandoned and the playground is empty. It no longer has
0:31.1	swings and slides and looks and feels lonely and neglected. But three times a week, disadvantaged children from all over Goma
0:40.7	come here to practice the Brazilian martial art, Capoeira.
0:45.6	And they bring some life to this forgotten place.
0:49.5	Many of the children have been practicing together for years,
0:52.9	and for some of those years, they played
0:55.7	Capoeira with former child soldiers.
0:59.8	A soldier is going home from war, a trained killer, promoted to the rank of sergeant, and he's
1:07.0	just 15.
1:08.7	Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo or the DRC has been battered by several civil wars and fighting between rebel groups.
1:18.8	From the start of the conflict, vulnerable children have been used to fight causes that began before many of them were even born.
1:28.6	In 2006, the BBC's spoke to a 17-year-old child soldier in Goma.
1:34.8	He told us he's killed around eight enemy fighters.
1:41.4	He says they would have killed him if they saw him first.
1:45.8	But when he looks back on all this, he has nightmares.
1:49.2	Almost 20 years later, the conflict in some regions in the DRC has continued
1:54.0	and children are still being pulled into the fighting.
1:57.6	Some join the fighting voluntarily.
2:00.4	Many more are kidnapped and forcibly recruited.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.