Safe havens protect children from abuse and exploitation in Benin

PARAKOU, Benin, 24 May 2010 – Sophie, 13, was promised into an arranged marriage by her older brother. When she refused, he physically abused her. “He beat me up and told me he was going to kill me,” Sophie said. She escaped and hid on the outskirts of the village. A policeman found her three days later, tired and scared.

Sophie was taken to St. Joseph’s Home in Parakou – a safe haven for child victims of trafficking and forced early marriage who have nowhere else to go. The home, here in Benin’s second largest city, is designed to accommodate 30 children but usually has more.

“Most of the time, we have 40 children. Sometimes it can be as many as 70,” explains Sister Ines Germaine Gomis, who helped set up the refuge in 2006.

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