Meet four-year-old Don Sciaf, who was named in honour of the Scots charity which helped transform his parents’ lives.
His dad Philippe and mum Olivia faced tragedy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the country was rocked by war and health disasters including Ebola.
The couple, who live in South Kivu province, were split up just a week after they got married.
Philippe, 39, said: “The war came to our village and we had to flee and were split up. We had to run from the rebel groups and lost everything.
“I was forced to work in a rebel mine.”
The Record recently joined SCIAF to visit projects financed by the charity in the central African nation and we’ve told of the illegal mining of “murder mineral” coltan to fund rebel militias.
Philippe managed to escape and spent days walking back to his village. He and his wife now have two sons, Sciaf and Christophe.
Olivia said: “When Philippe came back, I was happy – but he had changed. He seemed different, not as patient.”
Philippe admitted: “I didn’t respect my wife or listen to her. Through SCIAF, I benefited from training in gender rights, disaster risk reduction and other things and I now work as a data collector.
“When our baby was born, we called him Sciaf as he is like a gift from SCIAF.
“I have a dream to build a good house and a farm and Don Sciaf can become lead farmer.
“We want to say thanks to people in Scotland for supporting Congolese people.”
