Culture Shock! Bolivia - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

68 CultureShock! Bolivia

Street Children

Bolivian police tend to refrain from involving children in the

law enforcement system.

If child labour laws were enforced in Bolivia, the minimal

juvenile crime that now exists might escalate. A World Bank

paper notes that ‘many children may have to work in order

to attend school so abolishing child labor may only hinder

their education,’ without arriving at the obvious policy

recommendation that such abolishment should accompany

massive fi nancial support for poor children’s education.

A contrapuntal study by Care USA suggests the opposite,

that ‘mine work prevents children from enrolling and staying

in school and hinders learning activities.’

As it is, many orphans and children from poor families

are working in a multitude of low-pay occupations. According

to the Saranteñani programme,

‘there are approximately 400

children ranging from 6 to 18

who live on the streets of La Paz

... with streets being their only

means of subsisting.’

In minibus vans, children

operate the door for passengers,

collect fares and call out the

van’s destinations through

the window.

This is reminiscent of the

medieval Spanish novel Lazarillo de Tormes, in which a young

rogue, abandoned by his unwed mother, skips from one

master to another, receiving minimal support in exchange for

exploitative labour. Similarly, many of these minibus workers

have been informally adopted by their drivers, in a symbiotic

relationship that keeps the children off the streets.

Lustrabotas and Child Miners

Shoeshine boys, called lustrabotas, lack paternal guidance

during their long hours on the street. Many wear face

masks so that school children from their neighbourhood

will not recognise them. The basic charge for a shine is

Only a lack of fi nances prevents
various church groups, non-
governmental organisations
and government agencies from
providing more assistance and
taking in a greater number of
child labourers. A number of
NGOs provide child workers with
scholastic and psychological
support as well as drug
rehabilitation, receiving funds from
international organisations.