Second Chances, Third Chances, Fourth Chances

This afternoon, there was a party in a park in downtown Lima for any homeless child that wanted to come and have some fun. We played volleyball, listened to kids played music, and served tons of food. Also, there were many donations of really nice shoes that were being given out to the kids. I loved this party. I felt like the kids were given a chance to be a normal kid for a little while. They didn't have to worry about their lives on the streets, how they were going to feed themselves, where their families were. They had a few hours a bliss, and it was amazing to be there and witness it all.

All together, there were 150 kids that were fed and given donations that day. Incredible. Even though 150 is a lot, Kique estimates that there are about 300,000 to 500,000 homeless children in Peru. The next thing he said was, "but that's not that bad, that's solveable." Which I think is very true. It will take a lot of dedication, a whole lot of heart, and of course money. With project things get better. With every kid that taken off the streets and educated, it gets better. We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, and it need it on a bigger scale.

After the kids vacation for the day, they went right back to the streets, and I went too. Ruben, Ellie, Lizbeth, and I went to the streets that night to start doing some interviews with the girls. As always, I bought bread, juice, ham, and some bananas to give out to the girls before the interview, and candy and cookies for after. I interviewed 8 girls. Many of the girls had very similar stories. They started working around age 12, they work because they can make more money in that job than any other, they use the money to help support their families, and most of them did go to school and they would love to return. After the interview we were tell them about La Casa de Veronica, the home for girls who do not want to be doing this work anymore. Four of the girls were very excited and they ended up leaving the next day to live in the house. That simply amazes me, I'm still in awe. We took about 10 minutes to talk to these girls and it really was the beginning to a change in their lives. Right now, as I am writing this, they are safe miles away from any clients, they are given a second chance.

Besides the rewarding aspects of the night, we also ran into many problems. Right now, at Genericion, there are no adults watching the kids. The guy that is usually there need a vacation because he's a little stressed (I don't blame him!) But because of that, the kids come and go and hope not to run into Lucy or one of us. When we were downtown doing interviews we saw two of the girls from Genericion have snuck away. One of them was there because she wanted to work for the night and make some money to give back to her mom, and the other girl was pretty much dragged along with her. Either way, it was a battle to get the girls to come back with us. Some of the other girls that were working the streets were making fun of the girls, saying that they weren't free if they go with us, they are prisoners at Genericion. Even when we finally convinced our girls to come with us, we had a back of girls following us trying to get them to come back. One of the girls that was on the streets at the time decided that she wanted to stay with the girl that snuck away, so now we had three girls to watch and get to safety.

The rest of the night was not as easy as I had hoped. One of the girls that snuck away did not want to come back. She kept telling us that she needed to stay for the night because she needed to see someone. She wasn't going to tell us who, but she needed to see someone. She also said that she would go back to Genericion on her own the next day. She was very back and forth, wanting to come and not wanting to come.

Eventually, we called Lucy and the girl got into her car. Now, when Lucy Boraj goes places, it is always a show. There were children piled into her car, there were a least 10 inside, and another 10 surrounding it. All of them saying Lucy, Lucy we need chicken, we need shoes, or whatever they needed. It was insane, and when Lucy wasn't paying attention, the girl snuck out of the car. At this point our group was gone with the other two girls. We went back to the new girls room so she could get her things and go to La Casa de Veronica. At this point I took a taxi back because they were pretty much getting ready to go back themselves. I didn't realize that there would be more excitement after I left. Just as the rest of the group was getting ready to get in a taxi themselves, they saw the girl that everyone that was with Lucy, huffing glue on the corner. They grabbed her right away and put her in the taxi.

The girl that wanted to sneak away from Genericion is very new to the home, my second day in Peru was her first day there. Lucy says that this is really normal because these kids have been living the lifestyle of the streets for such a long time that takes time for them to adjust. Most kids leave the house 3 or 4 times before they decide that they want to stay. This little excursion was her first trip away from the home since she's arrived.

Before we met up with the two girls from Genericion, they were in a hotel where the "services" are provided. The man who runs the place asked the girl who was dragged along if she wanted to work. She said she didn't need to because she lives at Genericion and there she has food and clothes and she studies. And the man said to her, you wouldn't be here if you didn't want something. You can make much more money working here, and here you are free, you can do whatever you want. I don't understand how that man could say that to a 14 year old girl. Here you are free. Here you are free to sell your body for sex. It disgusting. I'm so proud of that girl for standing up to that man. The other girl will get there eventually too, but it will just take a little bit of time.