6/3/2004 - Connecting Locally and Globally: Casa de la Chinca and AFS
_”¿Lo mas importante para mi? No andar de noche en las calles porque en la calle pasan cosas malas.”
“What is most important to me? Not to be in the streets at night because that is where bad things happen.”_
-Maritza, 11 años
An estimated 40 million children live and work on the streets in Latin America. Most spend their time begging, selling trinkets, shining shoes or washing cars. Many resort to petty theft and prostitution to survive. Inhalants, such as cobbler’s glue, offer a temporary escape and to keep hunger at bay. Street children are commonly victims of abuse and sometimes murder. Colombia’s national statistical bureau reported that at an average of six per day, 2,190 children were murdered in 1993.
The term “street children” refers to children for whom the street, more than their family, has become their real home. Few advocates speak up for these children.
Casa de la Chinca in Medellan is one of these few. Since 1961, La Chinca, as it is commonly known, has offered girls and young women more than relief from the streets. La Chinca has given them a home in which their health, social and academic needs are met. Currently 40 girls aged 6 to 20 reside in the emotionally and economically stable atmosphere of La Chinca where they are nurtured into mature and responsible adults. They stay there until they are old enough and are capable of living independently.
Thanks to the initial involvement of AFS volunteers, Asociacion AFS Programas Interculturales Colombia and La Chinca have found many ways to mutually support each other’s work. Locally, the AFS volunteer chapter in Medellan and the Director of La Chinca have been working together and participating in each other’s activities since 1994. Once a month AFS volunteer meetings are scheduled in La Chinca. La Chinca also has several connections to the global AFS family. La Chinca has been not only a valued project host for AFS Community Service Participants, but it has also sent five of its own residents on AFS scholarship programs.
And the connections continue: When staff at AFS International learned about La Chinca they decided to contribute their seasonal gift to La Chinca. The monetary gift is given to a different organization each December in memory of the well-loved former AFS staff member, Scott Ramey. In 1999 enough funds were raised to purchase a computer for the education of the girls. Asociacion AFS Programas Interculturales Colombia and AFS volunteers in Medellan were instrumental in arranging this gift.
For More Information on the lives of street children:
United Nations Children Fund: www.unicef.org
Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org
Let the Children Live: www.letthechildrenlive.org
Casa-Alianza: www.casa-alianza.org