“She was only two years old, and I was five. My father lost his job and began to think that his children were holding him back and impoverishing him.” The son speaks to the camera, and his sister Ruth is still unable to hold back her tears, many years later. “He called us witches and beat us,” says this Congolese girl. “One day, my father told us that if we returned home he would kill us.”
The son and Ruth Makani, now young adults, are the protagonists of the documentary Kubotama Lisoso (Born again(in Lingala) by Madrid-born director Álvaro Hernández Blanco, which premieres Thursday afternoon at the Cines del Palacio de la Prensa in Madrid.
“Ruth and Fils were able to move forward despite all the obstacles. It was mainly because they had an opportunity and above all because they were able to study,” explains Hernández Blanco in an interview with this newspaper, who has already directed other documentaries, all of social interest, such as Here we continueabout the last speakers of the indigenous Kwal language, in Mexico or Caicos Cayar Islandsabout the phenomenon of immigration in one of the cities of Senegal nominated for the Goya presidency in 2025.
Ruth and her son were able to move forward despite all the obstacles. Basically, it is because they had the opportunity and above all because they were able to study
Alvaro Hernandez Blanco, film director
These Congolese brothers represent thousands of children accused of witchcraft in the country by their relatives and often left to their fate on the streets. Nighttime enuresis, insomnia, flatulence, or some other disability may be enough to accuse a boy or girl of being a witch. Children are also blamed for poverty or family misfortunes, and are often abandoned.
In 2007, the NGO Save the Children estimated that there were about 70,000 Congolese boys and girls accused of witchcraft. According to UNICEF figures, in 2019 alone in the capital, Kinshasa, there were more than 13,000 children persecuted for this reason. This United Nations agency believes that certain beliefs, poverty and the increase in the number of orphans due to conflict are fueling this tragedy.
“The war, without a doubt, has something to do with this drama. Children who have lost their parents are moved from here to there, and sometimes they end up with distant relatives who do not love them, do not expect them, do not have the money to support them and accuse them of witches,” the director explains.
He adds: “The story of the son and Ruth is also something like this. They moved from here to there until they reached a good place and were able to rebuild themselves.”
The power of cinema
This good place was the Mama Koko Orphanage in Kinshasa, the largest in the country, where several hundred abandoned children were housed, some of them accused of witchcraft, a large proportion of whom were also disabled.
“Big disabilities. I didn’t want to focus on that so I wouldn’t get unnecessary illnesses, but no matter where I looked, there was a boy or girl with a disability,” Hernandez-Blanco recalls.
The director adds: “In that orphanage, children like Fels and Ruth are convinced that they are not witches or bringers of bad luck. Rebuilding these children is a very beautiful and difficult task, especially since there is a lot of love, but a lack of resources.”
Hernandez Blanco explains that weeks after filming at Mama Coco, a cholera epidemic broke out there and many children died. “Maybe the children who appear in the documentary,” he explains. “That was very difficult.”
We have used the power of cinema, which moves and moves, to raise awareness about a situation, while at the same time the documentary provides a solution, supported by a foundation that has a successful scholarship project to help children.
Alvaro Hernandez Blanco, film director
The documentary, filmed in April in Kinshasa, was produced by Spain’s Friends of Moncol Foundation, which has more than a dozen projects in the African country and has helped about 150,000 people, especially women and children, since its creation in 2017.
“We used the power of cinema, which moves and moves, to raise awareness about a situation, and at the same time the documentary offers a solution, supported by a foundation that has a successful scholarship project to help children who are in orphanages,” summarizes Hernandez Blanco.
He adds: “The heroes of the short film embody this success. The most beautiful thing about this documentary, which is not an institutional video at all, is hearing the voices of Fils and Ruth. They tell their story. It was not easy, especially in her case, which still carries some very strong traumas and complexes.”
With the premiere of the documentary, the Friends of Munkole Foundation launched a scholarship program to enroll 50 children from two orphanages in Kinshasa, in the first phase. “We are convinced that education is fundamental to the development of any country and to ensuring equal opportunities for all children,” said the president of the foundation, Enrique Barrio.
According to UNICEF, 7.6 million Congolese children between the ages of 5 and 17 do not go to school. “What we can change will depend on education,” Ruth, now a nursing student in Kinshasa, says to the camera. “If your family doesn’t raise you well, you won’t be able to succeed if you don’t find people to help you.”