The presentation of the book in Portuguese took place in Maputo: "Não basta nascer" Invisible children, child trafficking and civil registration in Africa.
The book recounts what the Community of Sant'Egidio has been doing in Africa to register children in the civil register through the Bravo! Programme, a commitment born of the conviction "that it is unacceptable to come into the world deprived of fundamental rights, to grow up as second or third class citizens in one's own country and end up becoming prey to the new slave traders", as Andrea Ricccardi points out in the introduction.
The programme in Mozambique started in 2010 on the outskirts of the country, in a rural district in the north - Mecuburi in the Nampula region - and is now present in all 23 districts of Nampula and five regions of the country.
The book presentation was attended by the Minister of Justice Helena Kida, the Rector of the University Eduardo Mondlane Prof. Guilherme, and the national head of the Bravo programme Americo Sardinha.
It was an opportunity for many practitioners, whom we have met over all these years, for Bravo activists and many friends to understand how much the work of everyone can change the lives of so many children and bring them out of invisibility.
The Minister emphasised the importance of the Programme for Mozambique and thanked for the Community's faithful presence over the years
The Rector of the University, Eduardo Mondlane, proposed that "Não basta nascer" should be adopted as course handbook for law students. He said, he has learnt a lot by reading the book.
In the coming weeks, the book will also be presented in other regions where the "Bravo!" programme is active.