UNICEF trip to Bolivia 2

Helping the young people of Bolivia

by Dayle Haddon

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. More than 45% of the children and 60% of the country live in on less than a dollar a day, which is defined as extreme poverty by the World Bank.

The staff of the local NGOs say that the biggest challenge in Bolivia is the protection of children. Abuse, violence and abandonment are commonplace. The borders are not strictly enforced and trafficking of children through Bolivia is easy. From there, I was told, they can simply be walked across to a neighboring country. In fact, recently, a group of children who were trafficked from Haiti during the confusion of the earthquake ended up in the city of le Sucre, enroute to Paraguay. The government was working to find their families in Haiti and send them back safely.

We visited Breeze of Hope, a center for children who are victims of abuse and violence. I asked the age range of the victims and was told from one month to seventeen years old. Few cases get to court. Trials take years and they are too expensive for most. I was told that the court often blames the child for what happened. There are so many cases of rape that there is a demand for the death penalty or castration for those found guilty. This makes it very difficult for a child to accuse an aggressor especially when it is a family member. As we left the center, I noticed the children’s drawings framed on the wall. One was a self- portrait in crayon of a young girl looking out at us with huge tears flowing down to the bottom edge of the picture. Another drawing said it all. It showed a bedroom with a large closed door in the foreground. On a bed, face down was a little girl crying. Above her head was the caption which said, “ ?Porque yo’ “Why me?”     (more on next page)

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