Preventing that ‘street lifestyle’ – Projects

In my last blog I told you about the situation faced by the team here in Oruro in light of the problem of street children. As I said I’d tell you what the team do in response.

In Oruro children are in danger of developing a ‘street lifestyle’ increasing the likelihood of a transition from home to the streets. What contributes to this becoming a reality?

- Parents working long hours while children have time outside of school to do as they please.

- Abuse from home.

- Children working to earn money for their families, for parents who may be addicts. It takes a lot for addicts to be satisfied with what is brought to them.

- Being pushed by family problems and feeling mature enough to survive.

- Pressure from peers in similar situations.

I’m sure there are more. These are those that come off the top of my head.

School times for children in Bolivia are the following -

8am – 12:30pm

12:30pm – 5pm

5:30pm – 10pm

Mining and market jobs, which are in abundance in Oruro, often start very early around 7am and finish around 9pm in the evening. With family financial situations so tight babysitters just don’t seem to come into consideration. Every now and then our next door neighbours go travelling to Peru for 3-4 days to buy a load of clothing to sell on here in Oruro. They are happy to leave behind their 10 year-old son for this time. He walks to and from school and his parents leave behind enough food for him, although he’s often over ours for meals!

Children often have a whole morning or afternoon or sometimes the whole day free if they go to school in the evenings. They have homework, but of course could you imagine your 8/9/10 year-old son or daughter sitting down and voluntarily and enthusiastically doing all his homework without instruction and with his mates just next door? Thought not...

Children need guidance and encouragement in all areas of life. The Early Encounter network here in Oruro supports 7 projects. These projects are places where children can go before or after school to do their homework, get any help they need and be trained and encouraged in all that they are doing. They learn life-skills, have fun and are encouraged in their education and what they have the ability to achieve – items incredibly influential in a child’s development. These children learn a lot and their lenience towards a ‘street lifestyle’ is massively reduced beyond imagination.

I volunteer with two projects – “Maranatha” and “Soy la Nina de tus Ojos”. These are two fantastic projects that support the children in their neighbourhoods hugely. They carry out all the activities stated above and more. There are fantastically committed teachers and volunteers on hand to help at each. We all recognise the risk faced by the children in their neighbourhoods. It is great to have the opportunity to have such well-run projects in such dangerous and ‘street lifestyle’ appealing areas. A very special aspect about each project in Oruro is that each has a Church. Many of the children who go to the project in the week go to Church on the weekends as well as some of their parents, again bringing more opportunities to children and their families – to learn and search about what God has done for them. Monthly evening sessions take place in each project once a month. These often involve family training and feedback on their children’s school work. In each aspect this involves encouraging the parents to take seriously and encourage their children in their education.

Hope you enjoyed reading this one. In my next blog I will go into what Early Encounter Oruro do for children already in a ‘street lifestyle’ condition. Thanks.

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