Working Kids in Bolivia

Bolivia could definitely stand to be voted Adventure Capital of the World. If you're looking for Amazon jungles or Andean peaks, this is the place for you -- just remember to bring your strongest bug spray. But is it a safe place for kids?

In Bolivia, one third of children are employed as workers in extreme conditions in places such as mines and sugar plantations -- that's 320,000 kids working from dawn till dusk for very little money. Many of them have started school, but are forced to leave to support their families.

While lots of the child workers are in the countryside, thousands of kids in Bolivia's cities are also working. Parents have to sacrifice the education of one child, usually the oldest, so that the rest can eat and go to school. Often these children go around the city streets with little carts, selling whatever they can. And it's not a big step from working on the streets to sleeping and living there full-time.


It's been really exciting seeing Viva help these kids. Of course the problem can't be solved by just sending the children to school, because then how will their families afford to live? Viva's made a way around this though, through Early Encounter.

Early Encounter is Viva's response to street kids in Latin America. Through our city-wide networks of projects, we work with the children and families most at risk of ending up on the street and provide them with the things they need, whether it's breakfast, medicine, counselling or a place to sleep. Because we have connections with so many local projects and churches, we have the inside scoop on which kids really need help and we have plenty of options of ways to take care of them.

One of my favourite examples of Early Encounter in action is the story of 14-year-old Rodrigo. We found him in the market square in Cochabamba early one morning, panicking because he was unable to rent the cart he needed to walk around selling things. No cart, no money ... no dinner. One of our staff seized the opportunity to pay the damage deposit for the cart so that Rodrigo could rent it, and then we invited him to join us for breakfast!

Now, along with dozens of other young street workers in Cochabamba, Rodrigo comes to an Early Encounter project early every morning for breakfast. Then to support his family, he spends the rest of the morning working. In the afternoon he goes to another project that provides vocational training, and is learning how to become an electrician. Since we've earned the trust of his family we've been able to counsel his parents too, giving them the skills they need to support the rest of their children without having to sacrifice their futures.

That was 18 months ago. Now Rodrigo has been able to finish primary school and has even received money from the Bolivian government to continue his education. When he's completed his electrician training he won't need to work in the streets anymore, and thanks to Early Encounter his little brothers and sisters will never need to either.

It's stories like this that have caught the attention of governments across Latin America. Viva is having huge success because we're not trying to solve problems ny ourselves. Instead we're helping the local projects that already exist and know all about their own neighbourhoods, teaming them up to work together and showing them how best to care for street children and child workers.


Viva Latin America


To learn more about Early Encounter, please visit www.viva.org/EarlyEncounter.aspx

Another great blog on Viva's work in Latin America is www.jonniewelford.blogspot.com