CAR musician Idylle Mamba takes her 'smile' to displaced children

Children from Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been treated to a concert by Idylle Mamba, one of the country’s prominent musicians.

Mamba who has been engaged in the peace process in her country explained that the concert, themed ‘Smile’, was to bring smiles to the faces of the children through music.

“I came to bring smiles to the Central African children” she said. “I told myself that after all that has happened, many children have lost their smiles, many families have lost their smiles. So I came up with this concept called Smile, trying to simply share moments with these children.”

The concert at the “Espace Linga Téré” in the capital Bangui was well patronized by children and some adults.

Over 600,000 people were displaced by the religious violence which rocked the Central African Republic after Muslim rebels chased the then president Francois Bozize out of power.

Many of the displaced people are children who have dropped out of school and lack access to health care and proper food.