Gerard, a bright-eyed eight-year-old with closely-cropped hair, tucks into his meal, showing no signs of thinking about how very close to death he once came. The jovial little lad is one of Ivory Coast's "cursed" children. The child's big break came through a tiny charity -- a home called the Saint Genevieve Welcome and Transit Centre, located in the northern town of Katiola, the only one of its kind in the country.
