Street Kids in Santo Domingo

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Naufrago

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Sep 1, 2004
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Didn't notice them when I first got here, but lately I'm seeing a group of Kids living along the side of UTESA, right off of Gomez, across from the McDonalds.
The AMET guys are usually right there on the corner, and the folks at UTESA must be aware of them, but everyone seems to be just going about their own business. Yes, I'm a bleeding heart liberal, and in the worst way. I joined the US Army when I was 18, and served as a Special Forces Medic, because I thought I could somehow change the world by "liberating the oppressed". After becoming a lawyer I never had the heart to charge anyone, not that my clients had any money anyway, I just wanted to help them get there lives together. Most recently I was working in the projects of NYC getting kids out of jail and trying to help them to stay out, and stay in school. Along with my social work background I've done alot of grant writing/administration. So now I'm getting interested in these kids. Before I go stumbling off into my next adventure; I just wanted to post my inquiry to this community:
Does anybody know of anyone doing this kind of work here?
Is there a government agency that is suppose to be addressing these issues?
Any thoughts about starting a nonprofit in this country? fundraising? Church Groups that are particulary interested/active?
 
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Mirador

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In the early 1980s I met a guy that went by the name of ?Pap? Calle?. He was an elderly, retired expatriate and found inspiration in the street kids. I remember he went around with a medic?s kit and administered to the kid's health needs. Although he was a very religious man, he didn?t seem to try to change the street kid?s ways. As I understood the problem, the street children population was the result of the devastations caused by hurricanes David and Fredrick in 1979, which provoked massive immigration from ravaged rural areas to the city. Once in the city, many rural families failed to find adequate housing and work, and started to decompose, producing the street children. This process seems to be continuing down to the present.

Mirador
 
C

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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There are several agencies (NGOs and government) working on the root of the problem, which is poverty. If you go right back to the causes, this could include people working in the rural areas to offer economic alternatives to campesinos, with the idea of discouraging migration to the cities. Others work in the poor urban neighbourhoods, others work with children as a sector. Some are more effective than others, and what is achieved is clearly not enough.

At an assistencial level you have the orphanages and institutions like Don Bosco. I believe they do outreach work with children on the streets, but I don't know to what extent.

My friend's daughter is coming to volunteer at one of these orphanages here in Feb/March, so I can find out more between now and then.
 
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milosh

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Nov 9, 2004
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think it's the best via church. street kids are huge problem in moscow, too. but... in italy, spain, germany and france, street kids and beggars are profitable business for gangs of gypsies and albanians. i met one of bosses of those beggar kids in milano. he makes at least 1000 euros a day on them. cruel!
 
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Lambada

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If you've got access to El Caribe Archives, read article published around 9th. Dec. specifically about street children in SD. There is an agency called Ni?os del Camino which does outreach. The article gives the stories of 4 children living on the streets.......some were abused at home, one was orphaned after his brother, I believe, killed their parents.
On North Coast, Integracion Juvenil also works with abused & deprived children, but my impression is these have a home to go to, rather than are living on the streets.
 
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rafael

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Jan 2, 2002
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Very sad. . . . . I was at La Ceniza a few weeks back. I was sitting with my date for the evening when a young kid came up and said "tengo hambre". He seemed different than many that just come up and say da me algo. I asked what he wanted to eat and called the waitress over. He decided on chicharones de pollo.

The waitress told him to go wait by the street because if the owner showed up he would throw the kid out. Once the meal was done my date called him over. He thanked us twice.

We decided to leave and saw a taxi parked out front. The taxi driver showed up and handed the kid a soda to drink. The kid thanked us two more times. Once in the cab, the driver said that someone had given the kid the food. My date said that it was us. The driver told us the kid sleeps on the Malecon. His mother had left for the states and left him on his own.

I have been unemployed for 3 years, and am probably in worse financial shape than ever. . . .but I am extremely lucky compared to many in the DR. I felt horrible for that kid and will certainly keep my eyes out for him next trip. . . . .
 
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dontuseEltour

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On our first visit to the DR i had to explain to my 41/2 yrold son that we would prolly see a few kids not much older than him on the streets.Even at this age my son new what i was talking about. We were in Sasua town one day and had seen a few shoe shine boys around and i had explained to my son what was happening. My son being the usal kid from the US that gets just about what he wants asked for a soda so we stopped at the icecream place just off the triangle. They had given one off the boys a icecream container to finish off as they changed out the empty. I told my son it was prolly the first icecream he had had and never brought his own, well as the soda was delivered he picked it up and took it to the boy and sat with him a bit. i ordered another and took it over so my son had one to drink .The little boys said hi to my son everyday we saw him never asked for anything just said hi.
My son comes on every vacation with us were ever it may be in the hope he will understand how lucky he is ,and every place we go he meets kids his own age and treats them as his equal .
 
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Lambada

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If you REALLY want a heart wrencher try digging out that El Caribe article, particularly the photo. The street child in photo has a nice looking dog, clearly his 'friend' & clearly more loyal than some of the adults in that child's life have been.
 
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Mongoose

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Jan 30, 2004
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homes for street kids

Hi during my time working out in santo domingo i came across only two places for kids living in the streets, one specifically for children and adults with disabilities on calle DR. Defillo off of 27 de febrero called hogares de Luby and another which a freind of mine worked at but cant remember the name of it but it is behind the cathedral in zona colonial not very big and specifically for boys, i know she had quite a hard time settling in there but enjoyed it by the end.

Im sure there are plentyof other opportunities around, we took in an abandoned boy at the home i was working in but that was a rare thing for them to do as we were a small community based family home, so depends on what you are lookng for really. GOOD LUCk I hope you find something that interests you.
 
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Naufrago

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Sep 1, 2004
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Thanks everybody, there's alot to digest and think about. I know how hard it can be to change anything, but I also know that if you can get just one person onto a better path, the spiritual reward stays with you. It would be great if we could keep this thread going. I'll keep posting my thoughts and experience and findings. I pass these kids everyday, and i just can't keep passing them. The language barrier should make it interesting, but I sometimes think it better to go by what I see, as words can twist and mislead so easily. If anyone has a link to the referenced article in El Caribe or you can somehow scan it and post it, that would be great. My research is just beginning, and I'm really happy to see others who share my concern for these kids. Hey, it's rough being a kid under the best of circumstances, these kids need help.
 
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Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Two days ago, early morning, my daughter Alex called to my attention a young man sleeping on a tarp in the vacant lot behind our building. From the back balcony of my ph apartment, I shouted at the man and asked if he was hiding. He said no. I asked him where he was from, and he yelled back, 'from Venezuela'. I gestured for him to come upstairs. I had him served breakfast at the front balcony, and sat down to hear his story. He said he was 28 years old, that he was born in a remote village in the Venezuelan Andes, that he ran away from home at the age of eleven, and joined a travelling circus, the 'Russian Circus On Ice', that he travelled with the circus helping one of the animal handlers, up and down South and Central America. That one day the circus travelled to Santo Domingo, where he decided to jump ship. I asked him where he slept when it rained. He answered that in the caves by the sea, with the street kids. When he finished breakfast, I gave him some cash and ushered him away. Something I know for sure, he's definitely not from Venezuela.

Mirador
 
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teacherinchina2

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Aug 12, 2005
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Naufrago said:
Didn't notice them when I first got here, but lately I'm seeing a group of Kids living along the side of UTESA, right off of Gomez, across from the McDonalds.
The AMET guys are usually right there on the corner, and the folks at UTESA must be aware of them, but everyone seems to be just going about their own business. Yes, I'm a bleeding heart liberal, and in the worst way. I joined the US Army when I was 18, and served as a Special Forces Medic, because I thought I could somehow change the world by "liberating the oppressed". After becoming a lawyer I never had the heart to charge anyone, not that my clients had any money anyway, I just wanted to help them get there lives together. Most recently I was working in the projects of NYC getting kids out of jail and trying to help them to stay out, and stay in school. Along with my social work background I've done alot of grant writing/administration. So now I'm getting interested in these kids. Before I go stumbling off into my next adventure; I just wanted to post my inquiry to this community:
Does anybody know of anyone doing this kind of work here?
Is there a government agency that is suppose to be addressing these issues?
Any thoughts about starting a nonprofit in this country? fundraising? Church Groups that are particulary interested/active?
Click to expand...
I have information about a small orphanage that operates here and desperately needs volunteers and assistance. Please e-mail me Brenda
teacherinchina2004@yahoo.com
 
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