 |
| Lilia Mercado, a 28 year old lawyer that had to sell flowers on the streets at the age of 10 Original CNN Mexico story has photos of all four people presented in the article |
CNN Mexico: Belén Zapata
Translated by Mariana Silva— She was 10 years old when she started working. With her little hands, her petite body and sometimes ill-fed, Alhelí washed dishes at a restaurant and cleaned houses.
In 2011, she was one of the three million children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years old working in Mexico, according to a survey carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
Thanks to her efforts and the support of social organizations such as MAMA, AC, an institution that has been working in Guadalajara for the last 25 years rescuing kids from the streets, 19-year old Alhelí is currently enrolled in the second semester of the Bachelor in Design studies.
The earrings and bracelet she is wearing are the result of her creativity. She used the wixarika technique, which is the same she learned as a child when she helped her parents making and selling huichola hand crafts. [MV Note: wixarika and huicol are names for an indigenous people in Jalisco and other states of western Mexico. The craft uses tiny, colored beads to cover a base with patterns.]
"Not everyone has the same luck", they state. Inegi reports that from the total of children who work, almost 40% don't go to school.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) marked June 12th as the World Day against Child Labor in order to encourage all countries to participate in the progressive elimination of this problem.
According to the National Commission of Human Rights, the term child labor is defined as
“work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is detrimental to their physical and psychological development.”President Enrique Peña Nieto sent to Congress an initiative to reform the Constitution in order to raise the minimum working age from 14 to 15 years old.
The minimum working age right now is 14-years. According to estimates made by the United Nations (UN) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), there are 3.6 million children between 5 and 17 years old working in Mexico. Within that number, 1.1 million are under 14-years.
“I didn't mind working, I knew that it meant more money for my siblings, so I was glad to work to help them. I came home after working all day and we had money to eat and to buy things for my siblings, so it was very rewarding,” says Alhelí Mejía Bautista with emotion.Money to Eat
According to Inegi, there are different reasons that drive a child to start working, but economic problems are usually the main one.
30% of the children surveyed by Inegi stated that they work because their family needs the income, another 25% say they need to pay for their studies, and 13% want to contribute to the family income.
“Logic states that a child shouldn't be working. A child should be home and ready to go to bed by 8 o'clock, having their homework done and their bellies full, but in our case that wasn't an option,” says Lilia Mercado, a 28-year old lawyer WHO had to sell flowers on the streets at the age of 10.She started working because her family was in the florist business. After that, she started reciting poems to couples in parks.
"I loved to work on the street. I am a very sociable person; I always received good advice from people who encouraged me to study and succeed," adds Lilia.Isidro Ubaldo Ramón, a 25-year old who used to peel potatoes in his family business and is currently a diagnostic technician at an international electronic company, says,
“A lot of people would take this as a hard time in their lives, but for me it was joyful since I met a lot of people, and I learned to take care of myself away from home and without the protection of my parents and siblings.”Alhelí, Lilia and Isidro recognize that being on the streets is risky, and there are many adults who take advantage of working kids by offering them drugs, prostitution and immersing them in crime, and many children fall into that trap.
The ILO report “ Accelerating Action Against Child Labor” states that in 2008 there were 215 million children working around the world, and more that a half (115 million) were exposed to the worst forms of child labor, such as dangerous environments, slavery, illicit activities such as drug traffic and prostitution, and also involuntary participation in armed conflicts.
“The streets are full of fights and temptations, there are good and bad people. Because of all of these risks, children should not be working, but the truth is that they need to work in order to survive,” Carlos Ignacio Arias, a professor at MAMA, AC., says to CNNMéxico.Graciela Fernández is 21-years old and arrived in Guadalajara when she was six. She is doing the paperwork to enter management [business] school. She used to sell candies on the streets as a child.
She has positive memories of her childhood, but she states that it is necessary to end the stigma around people who work in the street, since many people think that they use this money to buy drugs or other vices.
“This children work to be able to eat, get clothes and help their parents, no to waste it or by drugs. We have to help them instead of rejecting them,” she states from her own experience.Spanish original