Educate 80 street working children in Guadalajara!

It’s a new year, and we’re reaching for new heights

First, we would like to share with you, some of the details we have so far on the children and adolescents in street situation in Guadalajara.

In the last report we send you, we had registered 322 children and adolescents in street situation. We’ve done a bit of counting since, and the numbers are now 381. In other words, during the last 4 years – which was when we last counted the children and adolescents on the streets – the number of children and adolescents in street situation has increased by 116.5%. This increase has primarily been due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Almost 70% of of the children and adolescents work on their own, more accurate 253 of the counted.

Many of these teenagers, are normally handed out grown up responsibilities by their parents or guardians. As a consequence, they would often have to leave behind their studies at an early age, if they are enrolled in an educational institution. 

The economic activities the children, adolescents and their families are carrying out to survive varies. 70% of the identified population dedicates themselves to the sale of some sort of product, food or handcraft, such as chips, candy, water, bracelets, etc.   

As mentioned in the previous report, a part of the population identified is indigenous. To be more specific, 32%. This population are facing a severe vulnerability, since beside being poor they belong to a discriminated minority. As a consequence, they commonly have a really low self-esteem, and their rights are not upheld due to their ethnicity.

While we carried out this general census, we had the opportunity to chit chat with population, and they shared with us how they had experienced the pandemic so far. In general, they expressed that 2020 and the beginning of 2021 had been really hard economically, mainly because their survival and income depends on the sales they make at their stands at the main square. During the quarantines and following numerous lockdowns, they had a tough time, since they weren’t allowed by the local government, to generate an income in a public space. Even though the sales improved in 2021, they are still not back to as they were before the pandemic.   

But, lets get back to the field! In February we’ll start the “Friendship Phase”. Here our aim to get to know the beneficiaries, and build a good relation to them and their families. This process happens through play, where we restitute the “right to play”, which is often deprioritized or not existing in these children lives. We’re excited about starting this phase – that has been postponed due to Omicron variant, which hit Mexico in December and January – and we hope that you are as well!

Again, thank you for supporting this intervention. Personally, I can’t wait to send you a new report in June.