Children who actually sleep on the pavements are afraid of institutions. Some come to eat breakefast and lunch for free, but most of the day, and every night they are intoxicated from sniffing glue and it is impossible to communicate with them. For this reason we organized a city wide Football Championship just for them : and they came in impressive numbers.
“We combined the competition with medical, dentasl, psychological and social services. We also gave them a meal and change of clothing..

Our unstated mission, and the main point of the project, was to encourage some of the children to enter one of three shelters in the city dedicated to receiving such children. Directors and social workers from two of these institutions participated with us in serving the children, and when the competition ended and we all sat down to a meal together we were able to present them with their options: :
continue to live as they are, suffer the cold nights and dirty unhealthy conditions, pass in and out of juvenile detention centers and perhaps one day soon die from the wretched affects of inhaling their drug, Terocol. Or else check into one of the shelters and receive three good meals a day, a comfortable bed in a warm room, care from caring people, and best of all bwecome educated.
Mundo De Niños was represented by their Coordinator, Monina, plus a social worker and volunteer child minder.
Hogar San Jose was represented by one of their directors and two staff members. Both of these shelters are for boys only.
The main girls shelter in Trujillo, Hogar de la Niña, will participate in a similar event here next Saturday.
“When the event ended many of the children did not want to leave - understandable as few of them have any place to go other than back to the street. But they left with smiles on their faces, with the knowledge that there are shelters where they will be welcome when they deciode to give up their young criminal and drug addicted lives on the street. They also left with some winter clothes asnd a few of them with prizes. In fact all they left behing were a few broken windows and some extracted teeth.We entertained 35 the first Saturday, and we expect this number to grow week be week. God willing many of them will find a way off the dangerous streets and into a life with shelter, health, safety, sanityand education. Right now many of them, boys and girls, are beggers, petty thieves, drug addicts and some of them prostitutes.
How children get into it? How many use it? Almost all the children living on the streets take drugs of one kind or another. They start taking drugs from a very tender age. When asked how they got into taking drugs or sniffing dendrite, most of them said that it was their friends who taught them. Some said they learned how to do it after seeing others doing so. Some said that they could not live without taking drugs or some kind of substance because it relaxes their tension. They said they had to take drugs to forget their hardship and worries. Life is so hard on the streets. There is so much suffering and threats all the time that they need something which gives them a kick to enable them to take on any challenge to their survival. Some said that taking drugs is inevitable whilst living on the streets. The circumstances are such that there is no alternative, and that you just can't stay away from drugs even if you try hard. Some said that their friends force them, and yet some said when they are not well their friends stop them from taking any drugs. Some have stopped taking dendrite, after learning of its harmful side effects, that it will damage their brain and kidneys. They also say that they have seen their friends suffering very badly due to addiction to dendrite.