BBC Africa Eye Exposes Tanzania’s Disabled Children Trafficked To Kenya And Forced To Beg In The Streets

A hidden trafficking network that abducts crippled children from Tanzania’s impoverished rural areas and forces them to beg on Nairobi’s streets has been discovered by a BBC Africa Eye investigation.
A team of undercover investigators led by reporter Njeri Mwangi spent almost a year infiltrating the network in order to reveal how the traffickers prey on Tanzanian families’ dreams of a better life for both them and their crippled children.

After being transported into Kenya, the kids are made to beg while being cut off from their family. The children are subjected to physical and mental abuse by their kidnappers and do not receive a penny of the money they earn from beggining.

The plight of one young child is highlighted by the BBC Africa Eye investigation. At the age of just 14, Fara was taken away from his parents, trafficked to Kenya, and made to beg on the streets of Nairobi. He has spent over half his life being held captive due to his inability to escape his traffickers.

Fara told BBC Africa Eye’s reporter; “They (the traffickers) deleted my mum’s number… I would love to go home… I stayed here in Kenya because there was no one to take me home.”
Children with disabilities from low-income homes constitute a potential source of cash for traffickers. According to Fara’s family, Zengo Nestori, the person who trafficked him, made the family promises of a new home and a portion of the money Fara would be making. But Fara and his family have never gotten any compensation, just like countless other trafficking victims.

Using three residences in Nairobi and a neighbouring town, BBC Africa Eye was able to demonstrate how another trafficker, KamwaMwasangu, managed a network of eight trafficked beggars.

Nobody is aware of the entire scope of the child begging problem or the number of children who have been coerced into it. There has never been a reliable survey, but experts believe there are hundreds, if not thousands, of victims, each of whom represents a life of exploitation and a broken family.

BBC Africa Eye informed the police of the network’s existence out of concern for the immediate safety of their victims. Fara and other crippled beggars were released following an investigation by the authorities into various properties. The majority were either placed in care or sent back to Tanzania.

Zengo Nestori and Kamwa Mwasangu, who were detained during the raids, were given the claims by BBC Africa Eye. They chose not to comment but refute the accusations. As their cases proceed, they continue to be detained.

Credit: ‘Forced to Beg: Tanzania’s Trafficked Children by BBC Africa Eye