Fast facts about Ecuador
- Location: South America
- Population: 13,032,000
- Capital: Quito; 1,451,000
- Language: Spanish, Quechua
- Ecuador is named after
equator, because of its location on equator.
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What
is a child of the street/street child?
Children
of the streets have a common denominator in the fact that they reside in the
streets, at a railroad station or places of similar character. The children
roam the streets in order to get money for food. Every day is a struggle
against poverty and hunger. Some of the children have a family, who resides in
poor neighborhoods, but there are also children, who have no adults to look
after them. This could, for example, be children, who have run away from home
because of domestic violence, sexual abuse or children, who have lost their
parents in war. These children seldom have another choice but to live in the
streets. Many of these children earns a living by polishing shoes, selling
candy or washing windshields on cars. The children who are most unfortunate end
up doing crime, joining violent gangs, or end up in prostitution. Lots of children also develop an abuse of drugs.
Why
does children become children of the streets?
There
are numerous reasons why children end up in the streets:
- Armed conflicts and war, which causes children to scatter away from their parents, or in some cases, the parents end up dead
- The family is poor, and the children get forced out on the street in order to work, beg or reside
- Natural disasters, where kids disappear
- Violence or sexual abuse in the home, which causes the children to escape their homes
- The family dissolves. The reason could, for example be divorce.
- The children are starving and end up in the streets in search of food
- Children become orphans, because the parents die of HIV/AIDS
- The children gets put on the street by their parents.
- The family loses their home, and the entire family lives in the street.
How
are children of the street treated?
The
children struggle to survive. They are being forced to work, beg and even steal
to get food every day. This makes them unpopular, and some store clerks chase
them away, if they bother their customers. The children are called names, which
indicate the population see them as a nuisance. I Rwanda for instance, the
children are called “Saligoman”, which translates into brats. In Rio de
Janeiro, they are called “Pivetes”, which translates into children, who do
petty crimes. In Honduras, they are referred to as “resistoleros”, which means
drug addicts. Children, who reside in the streets, have no one to look after
them, and this makes them into easy targets for adults. These adults are
looking to hurt the children, kidnap them or exploit them sexually.
Film
at EMU – The street of death
In
the film about “The street of death”, we encounter various children from Managua
in Nicaragua. They survive using different methods via odd jobs, surrounded by
drug addicts, prostitutes and youths, who do glue. We meet Valeria, who makes
money for her great grandmothers’ medicine. We meet pregnant Wendy, who seeks
to find the father of her child. We also met Juan, who wants to become a street
clown.
Tina, Martin, Katrine, Camille & Benjamin
