The North Kivu region of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to the "deux trois bibatama" coltan mine. The ore, which is used in the production of mobile telephones, is in great demand, but extracting it is hard work.

Conditions are tough, yet children regularly go mining in search not only of the valuable mineral, but of their keep. One of them is a 12-year-old orphan called John, whose father was killed in the war.

"Now I live with my uncle. He allows me to work in the mine to earn a bit of money," John told Deutsche Welle. "If I didn't work here, I'd have no money for food and other things."

Those other things include clothes and school fees. Because his uncle's home is not far from the mine, John goes to work there every day after school. It is not the way he wants to live, and he has asked child rights' organizations to pay his fees so he can give up his job.

Children in the shoes of the parents

The deux trois bibatama mine is no place for children, yet they come

John's story is repeated time and again. Extreme poverty forces many children to take on the adult roles and earn money for themselves and their families.

Fifteen-year-old Richard's father is paralyzed, so if he wants to eat, the onus is on him to find the means to buy food. He tries to get work in the mine every day, but often returns home without a job.

"I don't know anyone who owns a mine here, but sometimes people give me work because they feel sorry for me," he said. "If I don't earn enough to pay my school fees, I have to write to the school principal and explain when I will bring the money. And if I don't pay, I will be thrown out."

Preventing child labor

Children in the North Kivu region often have no choice but to work

Although officially child labor is prohibited in the DRC, it is widespread. Many children have no other option.

The mine supervisor, Bazinga Kabano, is aware of what goes on, but says it is hard to do anything about it.

"Children slip in here without us noticing," he said. "They break the law because they don't have enough money for their school fees."

He wants children to stop coming, and says parents should make it clear to their offspring that they are not allowed there.

Alexy Ndahimana, chairman of a citizen's committee which deals with child rights, says his group also tries to prevent child labor in the region.

"We visit different organizations and look at ways of working together to liberate children from this slavery," he says, adding that one route is to build new schools.

Government under fire

The government of North Kivu has come under attack for not doing enough to help stop the cycle of child exploitation, but the deputy governor of the region, Felere Lutahichirwa, says the authorities are doing what they can.

The local government says it is doing what it can to prevent child labor

"We encourage children to go to school," he told Deutsche Welle. "We do it in order to help equip them for their future and so that they don't have to work as children. That is the government's aim."

But there's still a long way to go in order to achieve that aim.

A few days ago the UN's stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, announced the discovery of new mines in the north of the country. If the current situation is anything to go by, it is only a matter of time before they will be filled with children, toiling to earn their daily bread.

Names of the child laborers have been changed.

Author: John Kanyunyu / tkw

Editor: Kyle James