Maddalena Chiarenza never quite knows what state the children will be in when they arrive at her door. She has seen terrible injuries. Black eyes, missing teeth. A broken jaw.
“They suffer such regular violence,” says Chiarenza, whose Brussels-based NGO, SOS Jeune, cares for unaccompanied Moroccan and Algerian children.
A short walk from the NGO’s office near the Eurostar terminal, ragged groups of north African children are a common sight. Some walk through the streets like zombies, after being fed Rivotril, a potent benzodiazepine.
