Homeless Children
Niños del Rio
Lima (Peru)
July 2021.
Peru being an essential stopover during a trip in South America, we were very happy to carry out a new humanitarian mission here! If we had initially set our sights on a program to help Venezuelan immigrants, many fleeing the condition of their country, we were ultimately unable to make this project a reality, the NGO struggling to respond to us in order to organize ourselves...
… But for the better, because we discovered the organization Niños del Rio, which fights for the well-being of homeless children (5-18 years old) in Lima. This was without counting the current pandemic, which has again complicated our task, all associative activities being suspended. The staff nevertheless kindly agreed to open their doors to make us aware of the problem... and since no gesture is too small, we could not resist the urge to put our stone in the building.
Problematic
Lima, the capital of Peru and the fifth largest city in South America, now has a population of around 10 million, with half of them living in poverty. These inequalities are reflected in the “wall of shame”, a concrete wall of 3 meters high and 50 cm thick topped in places with barbed wire, and which separates the wealthy neighborhood, Las Casuarinas, from the country's largest slum, Pamplona Alta.
The wall acts for these underprivileged populations as a mirror of their condition and a permanent reminder of what they cannot be and have. 35% of Peruvian children work to support their families. The same percentage represents the proportion of those living below the poverty line ($1,90/day). As a result, hundreds of children are living on the streets, completely on their own. The latter fled their unhealthy environment for various reasons: abandonment, violence, poverty… and preferred to seek refuge outside their home. They generally leave the surrounding rural areas (Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Huanuco…) for the capital in the hope of improving their daily lives. They often end up in Rimac, a neighborhood that has many social, economic and environmental problems: little government involvement, lack of resources, few green spaces, deterioration of housing, poor street maintenance and pollution.
Boys get there on average at the age of 9 and girls at 14-15. Grouped in different areas and living under basic hygienic conditions, these children are known by the unflattering name of "piranhitas". They survive through begging and are often exploited for economic purposes (3 million minors) as workers, sometimes sexually... Addictions are very common, young people being vulnerable and easily influenced. Accessible on the street, drugs allow them to escape their daily life and forget their distress. Living in a permanent climate of insecurity, they hide from the police who regularly carry out raids (the "batidas") to hunt them out from the city center. Nothing is more fragile than the lives of these children, rejected by society, marginalized, injured in their dignity, lost, weakened by disease and drug addiction. Very wary, it is difficult to gain and maintain their trust and be able to accompany them towards a better life. Without assistance, their lifespan does not exceed 30 years, the drugs consumed being increasingly strong and therefore more and more degenerative. Fortunately, some organizations (not enough), like Niños del Rio, are determined to help them in time.
Niños del Rio
The story of Niños del Rio begins in 1999 when a student from Metz, Olivier, travels to Latin America and wants to get involved in a humanitarian project. It is a Peruvian pastor who confronts him with the phenomenon of street children. For more than 7 months, he observes, listens to and analyzes the needs. It is on the basis of his findings that in 2000, the Enfants du Rio association in France and its twin Niños del Rio in Lima were created.
Since that day, Niños del Rio has not stopped trying to build relationships of trust with street children to support them in their process of reintegration into society, a process that takes time and can be chaotic, the temptations from the street being too strong. Successful reintegration requires being present at the right time and being attentive to the child's desires: joining a foster home, reuniting with their family, learning a skill, going to school… The association stands out not only for its direct help to homeless children, but also for its willingness to address the problem at the source and break the circle by focusing on motivation, self-esteem and empowerment of the child. This strategy has already been successful, 400 children having benefited from medical care, 315,000 meals having been distributed, and reintegration actions having reached more than 2,000 young people. To achieve its objectives, the association has developed various activities:
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Street assistance
Each week, the teams go out between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. to establish initial contact with children and adolescents living in the streets (more than 100 each year). The areas of intervention are defined according to the needs of the population. The team then offers them activities, fun games, music or just a friendly chat, with the idea of giving them time and attention in their place of life. A link is then created regardless of the distribution of food, clothing or other.
Once their confidence has been gained, the children are free to come to Casa Taller, an NGO home center dedicated to their social reintegration.
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The Casa Taller
The Casa Taller is a day care center for young people in street situations or at risk of being in street situations.
The objective is to ensure, promote and prepare the return of the child to his family or his entry into a foster home. To achieve this, the association gives them responsibilities, opens spaces for participation and interaction, and reinforces their positive attitudes: if a child wishes to eat, he must cook for himself; if he wants new clothes, he learns to sew in order to repair his own first; if he needs to wash them, he is encouraged to do his own laundry... At the Casa Taller, their essential needs (hygiene, food, health) are assured, and socio-educational support is in place, based on the will of the child.
The proposed activities respond to several themes:
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Taking care of hygiene as well as belongings
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Common house cleaning
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Sharing a meal to relax and tell the day
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Training workshops to build profiles on individual values, skills, general knowledge and strengths
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Academic support and sometimes financial aid for the child's education
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Exchanges through board games
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Computer courses and various training, with at the end a certificate of participation that can enhance skills in the labor market
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Opportunities to let creativity express itself through art, music, drawing, sport (judo, cycling...), cooking, etc.
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The Casa Agagida
The Casa Agagida is the Niños del Rio home, welcoming around fifteen young people in apartments located in the Rimac district.
As part of the integration path initiated within Casa Taller, the objective is to give to the youth the necessary emotional stability so that they can reintegrate themselves socially and accomplish their projects. This gives children a safe and healthy place to spend the night, before leaving in the morning for school or vocational training (in the case of adolescents). In the afternoon, they have the opportunity to participate in the activities of Casa Taller.
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Children follow-up
Children can benefit from medical monitoring as well as support in their administrative procedures (identity card obtention, birth certificate, legal process, etc.). The family is also called upon to ensure that the factors that prompted the young person to flee are attenuated or even disappear. Playful games are set up to promote family unity when the child spontaneously expresses the desire to return to his family or to integrate a foster home. The fundamental basis of this intervention is to provide personalized support to reinforce the kid’s exit from the street.
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Professional training
Over the years, the team of Ninos del Rio has set up two vocational training courses to enable children to train in the subjects that interest them:
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Pana del Rio
Since 2016, the NGO has opened a solidarity “bakery and pastry” food truck in the streets of Lima. The sales allow the association to not only depend on donations. This training is part of a wider reintegration path dedicated to the catering business.
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Pintado Nuestro Camino (“painting our way”)
Since 2018, printing workshops have been given at Casa Taller to learn how to print clothes and other accessories (ecological bags for example).
The development of “soft skills” (self-esteem and self-image) is encouraged in order to motivate the continuation of the process of leaving the streets. Management workshops are also set up (finance, marketing, sales) to launch the marketing of products (printed clothes and bags, etc.). These carry messages aimed at raising public awareness of the problem of children in street situations. Thanks to this program, adolescents gain self-confidence, have the skills to reintegrate, and learn to secure their own economic income.
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Cortinas ecologicas project (garden center)
Un projet éco-éducatif et communautaire de sensibilisation des jeunes au respect de l’environnement a été mis en place: c’est le projet «Cortinas Ecologicas para el Buen Vivir». Bien plus qu’une formation permettant d'acquérir un savoir professionnel et technique en jardinerie, cet apprentissage donne également les ressources pour prendre confiance en soi et apprendre les valeurs du travail telles que la ponctualité, le respect et le travail d’équipe. Le but est de renforcer les capacité sociales et la stabilité émotionnelle.
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IT, auto-motorcycle mechanics
These trainings are taught in the CETPRO partner center.
Our Participation
All of the association's activities being temporarily suspended due to the Covid, we were not lucky enough to be able to directly help the children.
But the number of hygienic items collected during our stays in hotels gave birth to an idea to contribute in our own way: touring the hotel structures in Lima in search of hygienic products (soap, shampoo, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper) to give them to the organization.
We were generally satisfied with our fundraising, with half of the managers having agreed to cooperate. It should be noted, however, that young people were more inclined to donate than older people.
Proud of us, we then met the psychologist of the association to discuss the functioning of the NGO and the problem of street children in Lima.
Difficulties & Obstacles
After explaining the history and background of the NGO to us, the psychologist told us about the difficulties that Niños del Rio is encountering:
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There is of course the pandemic. As the government instituted health restrictions such as social distancing and curfews, the NGO had to suspend street assistance and close Casa Taller. The children found themselves confined to their respective families, with two of them even being taken in by members of the team. Niños del Rio fortunately succeeded in setting up a system of sending food to the poorest families thanks to a partnership with a local association.
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Drug dependence remains a major obstacle to the social reintegration of children. Since weaning takes 3 to 6 months, it is common for children to leave the reception center out of addictive need, only to return a few months later. At this moment, everything has to start all over again.
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Families can also be a drag. In disadvantaged households, many adults are in fact financially dependent on their children, who represent a source of income. It is therefore difficult to encourage the empowerment of the child, whether in terms of education, schooling or professionalization. Families can also be drug users themselves. The work of the association is therefore not only to increase the well-being of the children, but also the one of their families to break the circle.
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Finally, the cause of homeless children suffers from its poor social image. Extreme poverty also often says begging, bad self-control and delinquency. Those who can help them perceive only the symptoms of their distress, and not the unstable environment and the lack of resources from which they suffer. The NGO which depends mainly on donations must therefore constantly appeal to external donors. If the problem of street children affects you and you want to help them, it is possible to make a donation to Niños del Rio HERE.
Food for thoughts
Even if in Europe, we are not really directly concerned by the problem of homeless children, we are confronted every day with homeless people who fight to stay alive. As we walk past them on the street, it is often difficult for us to open our eyes and feel their pain. It would awaken a lot of guilt in us and remind us how lucky we are. We also make excuses not to help them, like “it won't make a difference anyway”, or “if I start like this I'm not done, there are so many people in need”. This is never true, because while it is not easy to help on a large scale, it is possible to make a difference for even one person. A piece of bread, a bottle of water, a piece of clothing... It's within the reach of all of us.
This would also help reduce waste: food, clothing, hygiene, etc. We are over-consuming our resources at great speed. The environment and what it produces does not have time to regenerate itself. To throw something away is to lose it forever, and it becomes disrespectful to all those people who do not have our privileges. So why not to give? If you don't meet people in difficulty around the corner, there are always associations that come to the aid of individuals who do not have the same opportunities as us. To name just a few active in France: the Red Cross, the Secours Populaire, Emmaüs, Action contre la Faim, Handicap International… These NGOs would be delighted to collect things (clothing, hygiene products, utensils, toys, books, dishes, electronics, furniture, etc.). It might even be a Christmas present from someone on earth...