The children of the market of El Salvador
The Lonely Planet describes El Salvador as “a country of beautiful beaches, spectacular scenery, and friendly people.”
While this is undoubtedly true, El Salvador is also marred by poverty and suffering. Child labor is prevalent as many young children need to go to work to survive and often provide for their families.
Have you ever wondered where the tasty sugar in your can of Coke comes from? It is most likely from a Salvadoran sugar cane mill, which openly uses child labor. Eight-year-olds work up to eight hours a day in the sun, cutting sugar cane with huge machetes. It is a dangerous job and injuries, sometimes life-threatening, are very common. Other children work in sweatshops making garments for Western countries, boys climb dumpsters to collect recycling to sell, and girls risk physical and sexual abuse working in the domestic sector.
Perhaps the most visible child labor in El Salvador is the children who work in the market. Children can be seen selling goods and services on the streets and in local markets, some as young as four and five years old. This work often includes weaving in and out of traffic, strenuous work transporting goods, and working in extreme heat. Education is expensive and many poverty-stricken families cannot afford to send their children to school. Children, on the other hand, spend hours working, stripped of their childhood, in order to survive.
By volunteering through the Global Volunteer Network, Lauren McElroy from Washington, USA, was able to visit El Salvador to see firsthand how these people live and to work for a program that helps children take a break from that environment.
‘One of my friends had gone to El Salvador the year before and said she had an amazing experience and would come back,’ says Lauren, reflecting on the 5 weeks she spent as a volunteer.
‘I was going back to Spanish, so I was able to go. I knew that she would actually be able to talk to the kids, and I felt like that would make a bigger difference.’
Lauren volunteered for a show called ‘Ángeles Descalzos’ which means ‘fallen angels’. The program is for children who work in the market, many of whom cannot pay for school, and gives them the opportunity to learn and play.
‘We had a morning session and an afternoon session. I taught some English, because a lot of the kids didn’t go to school, and English is something they can really only learn at school. It’s really useful for them, because there are many more opportunities if you know English, both educational and professional.’
Children come to the program part time, when they are not working, and can come to this program for free, thanks to the support of volunteers.
The program allows market children to take time off and provides an environment where they can be themselves and enjoy their youth, as many of the children Lauren met had been working for as long as they could remember.
‘My friend Lisa, who came with me, is a Drama major, so we did Drama, which is really fun, just to try and get the kids to be a little more creative and have fun. They don’t have board games or store-bought toys like in developed countries. They’re not really encouraged to be creative and just play around.’
The Civil War in El Salvador that lasted more than a decade, ended in 1992 and left around 70,000 dead, causing more than two billion dollars in damage. This put a huge strain on the already struggling economy and left thousands of men, women and children maimed, injured and emotionally scarred. Although the war officially ended in 1992, it still has a massive impact on the daily lives of the people of El Salvador. Many still suffer and accept war-related injuries and illnesses.
Lauren stayed with a host family and was able to see firsthand the impact of the war on ordinary families in El Salvador.
‘His father had been in the war, had been injured and had just started working again in a clandestine workshop in San Salvador, which is about three hours by bus from Santa Ana, where he lived. He went there every week and basically had full day shifts, up to 24 hours, so he stayed overnight and came back on the weekends. It was amazing to see the sacrifice he made for his family and to hear about his experiences fighting in the war and getting injured, then recovering and trying to get back into the workforce.”
Staying with a host family also provides them with valuable extra income. Lauren’s host family could then afford to send two of her children to school. One has also recently been able to attend university, thanks to additional income provided by host volunteers.
‘They had four daughters, two of whom were disabled. They basically couldn’t stand up and couldn’t talk. They were bedridden because they were born with these birth defects.’ ‘Just to see the mum, Leila, taking care of these girls, who were twelve and fourteen years old when I was there. They were grown girls, but she had to stay in the house with them all the time. To see her dedication to them, and the way the whole family embraced and treated them. The whole story of the host family was incredible. They were so inspiring, just amazing.’
Volunteering in El Salvador also brought obvious challenges such as language barriers for Lauren, but they were quickly overcome. Other challenges were not so obvious. Learning about children’s lives that are so different from our own childhoods can be heartbreaking.
“When children tell you their stories, all you want is to be able to change everything. I was only there for five weeks and you can’t change everything. Just knowing that you were going to leave and that they would stay there and continue to have the same life, I think that was really difficult and one of the biggest challenges. Do what you can and accept the fact that things are not going to change overnight. You have to leave it at that and do what you can while you’re there.
The program, which receives very little funding from the government, relies on volunteers, mainly from foreign countries, to teach the classes and maintain the program. If it weren’t for volunteers like Lauren, shows like ‘Barefoot Angels’ wouldn’t be able to keep going.
‘Just the fact that they were able to come to this show, not be in the market working, have some education, have some fun, have time to play and take a look at the outside world. They asked us ‘oh, what is it like in the United States’, and about our lives. A lot of these kids haven’t even left Santa Ana, the city we were in, so I think even that was really valuable to them.’
By volunteering, Lauren was able to really develop friendships with these kids, which is a totally unique element of traveling to a third world country.
‘One weekend we went to the market where many of these children worked, and we saw one of the girls with the basket on her head of fruit, one of the girls from the project that we knew. We kind of waved at her and said hello, since she was walking by.
“When you imagine a country like that when you go there, you see these kids selling things, but you don’t really have a personal relationship with them, so it gave it an incredibly different face and a different perspective on child poverty.” and child labour. It was really different when you knew the kid, you knew his daily life and you had a relationship with him, versus when he was just a faceless kid trying to sell you something. I have so much more compassion, respect and understanding of their lives and what that’s like.’
GVN has several programs in El Salvador, including teaching English to children in the market or to children who collect garbage from dumps for recycling. There are also community maintenance programs and the opportunity to work in an orphanage desperate for help.