Eradicating Child Labor in the DR

Just this morning on our way back home from a run, we bumped into two of our little soccer players and invited them over for breakfast. They are what is known around here as "limpiabotas" which means "boot cleaners," and they wander the streets (or find a specific corner) to shine people's shoes. The photo at left is an example of the little wooden box they take with them everywhere with water bottles filled with shoe shine liquid - these boys are all over the place in Santo Domingo, most of them around 10-12 years old (but many look like they're about 7-8 because of malnutricion).

Both of the boys we ate with this morning have three-hour school in the afternoon and are expected to bring home at least RD $500 (less than $20) a day to help support their families... so they spend their mornings wandering around asking adults if they want their shoes shined. It just so happened that both Omar and Leonardo's dads are Fruteros, or street fruit vendors... which is the direction these little boys are headed for their futures.

It's interesting... the government and the First Lady's Office launched the National Plan for the Elimination of the Worse Forms of Child Labor yesterday, which would definitely apply to our little buddies. The plan calls for annual programs that will help reduce the number of children who are obliged to work by 2015.

Currently, there are 436,000 kids in the country, between the ages of 5 and 17, who are at high risk of contracting disease - 80% work in degrading situations that endanger their lives. The First Lady also commented on how these children are also the victims of prostitution and are hired to carry drugs (we pray that our kids are not... but some probably are). US Ambassador Hertell said that since 1995 the U.S. Department of Labor has donated more than US$535 million in funds to fight forced child labor and said that the funds have taken 27,000 kids in the DR out of forced hard labor.

We are working on ways, as a church, we can address the needs of these kids. We're thinking about starting a "trades school" which would allow them to learn a specific useful skill and make money doing that. Keep us and our little "limpiabotas" in your prayers if you will.