Managua, Nicaragua

We arrived in a ‘very hot’ Managua airport, Nicaragua on Sunday evening and went to our Hotel courtesy bus. As we waited in the bus a street child, a boy of about 13, was wandering around in a daze from glue sniffing. As our other travellers joined us, just before closing the bus door the boy tried to ask for money through the door. The bus driver totally ignored him…. A reminder that children are treated and known as ‘disposibles’ (disposables)!!!! It is children like this young boy who are, and are at risk of becoming like him, that Toybox exists for with a clear vision of ‘seeing a world with no street children’. www.toyboxcharity.org.uk

Managua Red Alert is a new project for Toybox and its local partner Viva in its early stages, responding to the research Toybox made of the needs of the city and what is already happening there.

On our first day we were taken out to see the communities where street living and street working children are coming from. 53% of Nicaragua’s population is under 18 years old, which means that there are a potentially high proportion of the population at risk.

Managua rubbish dump

Managua had a severe earthquake in 1972. The city was rebuilt on the other side of the hill that now separates the ‘New Managua’ from the ‘Old Managua’ which borders a lake and is now home to the poor many of whom have migrated to the city from the countryside. On the edge of the lake is Managua City rubbish tip. This is a horrendous environment that smells and is piled very high!! Many poor people compete with vultures and other hungry animals foraging here to survive, collecting anything that may be of value nutritionally or sold to raise money to live on. The other sources of income for these people are working on the streets in ‘New Managua’, including many street working children who are then at high risk of becoming street children. This work ranges from manning a market stall to prostitution, and sadly the inevitable drugs trade and violent crime largely driven by gangs. School IS NOT as high a priority as earning money, which the children are drawn into rather than going to school. It is from this environment that Children are at HIGH RISK of becoming street children. Red Alert Managua works with local Churches, preventative projects and projects that care for street children. This amounts to currently 1,622 children. We visited some of these projects …….

Car windscreen washers

The first project we visited, Projecto Remar, is in an extremely poor area which as we pulled up outside the gate we were shocked to see six older teenagers, one of which was waving a HANDGUN around. Projecto Remar receives children referred by the courts for a variety of reasons; usually abused, abandoned or street living. They care for these children and support them with psychological and spiritual help as well as reinforcing their education. The project is next door to a school that some of the children attend, so there is opportunity for Red Alert to assist the school with preventative work. We saw several smaller children who were not at school as they were unable to cope with attending because of the circumstances from which they had come. One little girl of 4 years old stood absolutely still and did not look up once whilst we were there………

We also visited a Church based project, Iglesia Rene Polanco, which is located in the heart of an area where many street children come from. We were met by an enthusiastic group of volunteers of this extremely well coordinated work, some of whom had been beneficiaries of this project when they were younger. They organise three nights and a full day Saturday of activity.

'Risky'

Monday night they collect the children by walking around the communities to escort them to the church where they meet. This is a great way of attracting children to the project. They always go different routes and as they walk their numbers grow to the point when approximately 70 children are with the group collecting others. This creates local interest and the project is growing rapidly as a result! Craft activities, Bible teaching, life skills, support for those abused and education reinforcement all takes place. Wednesday nights several small groups of 20-30 get together in mutual support groups for Bible Study and discussion. Friday nights are similar to Monday nights. Red Alert Managua supports the volunteers with training in Child protection and various other skills which support the work, together with sessions for the children in many areas of life. Toybox via Red Alert Managua want to build their capacity so they work with these and many more children AT RISK so that, for example, they can teach them to read and write. The combination of all these skills is intended to give many children a purpose to their lives and to build their confidence, so they do not end up working or living on the streets.

Managua is a very special city with a potential for a massive number of children leaving their families for life on the streets. The preventative work is sooo necessary.

Todo es buenos