Print
this page
Email
this page Newsletters - Children and Work
Argentina
The lights are red. The traffic screeches to a halt. The boys, clutching their wet rags, rush to find clients who will be glad to have clean windscreeens and pay a few cents for the privilege. If they time it well, they will just manage to complete their task and get back to the pavement before the lights change. Around the city of Salta, others – some as young as four – mind cars, clean shoes, beg outside the supermarkets.
It is over a year since the collapse of the economy in Argentina, and half the population goes hungry. The situation is desperate. The tragedy is that Argentina has plenty of food but people cannot afford it. Years of political and economic instability and corruption have left the country bankrupt with a huge foreign debt. This has led to redundancies, wages falling in value, costs rising and many families below the poverty line. Seven out of ten children under l4 live under the breadline and four out of these seven are destitute. Over the last few years, according to UNICEF, there has been a 91% increase of children who work. There are now deaths of children from malnutrition. Alternative ways of making a living have taken over, like collecting and recycling whatever is on offer, hawking or begging on the streets or from door to door, often in family groups. In Buenos Aires alone, about 100,000 adults, accompanied by at least one child, spend their time scavenging. Schooling has always been a priority – and still is if a meal is provided – but more and more children drop out, unable to afford the cost.
Does nobody care that these children drop out of school to live such a frenetic life, often punished if they have not brought enough money home?
Yes, some do care. Anglican congregations have started some form of free meals and help with homework. At San Andres Church in Salta, for nearly a year, boys have been invited for a day a week to the church premises and provided with a square meal. Professionals then train them in some trade or craft skill. They share their faith and encourage them to start studying again. The craft items made are now being marketed. The project is prioritising the boys of 14 plus, not yet adults, but at a critical stage when they could get caught up in despair, drugs, glue sniffing, crime and prostitution. At present it is mainly boys who are on the streets.
Thanks to such encouraging projects, soup kitchens, clubs for exchanging barter vouchers or swapping products, and micro industries initiated and run by the churches backed by prayer, the situation looks more hopeful and lives are being changed. With more volunteers, sponsorship and grants for projects, much more could be done to enable more children to continue their education.
Top
