Los Niños Trabajadores / Working Children

In La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, there are nearly 10,000 children living and working on the streets, neglected and with no one to look after them.

I met these children in the Sagrado Corazon soup kitchen. They would come every day, either for a bite to eat or just to escape the hardships of the streets. For these children daily life is a continuous fight for survival – a battle against starvation, sickness and gang violence.

Some scrape together tiny amounts of money from any casual work as street vendors; selling candy, movies, clothing, and food. Some resort to criminal activity and eventually affliate themselves with violent gangs that rule the streets at night.