I wish I could share different photos than these... but I must share the images that touch me in ways I cannot begin to explain. I shot these images last week when I was in Bolivia for work.
These kids are roughly four and five years old and instead of going to school they are on the streets singing and dancing for money. Sometimes the mothers are close by but most of the time they are on their own.
This little boy plays the guitar while his sister dances
women and children sitting outside the church
For many of Bolivia’s street children the slippery slope starts at birth. They inherit malnutrition from their mothers. Twenty percent of babies die before they reach the age of three. Many of the ones who survive on a grossly deficient diet are disabled in one form or another.
While research has not been carried out at national level and therefore there is no exact figure for the real number of street children, it is estimated that over 10,000 children and adolescents live on the streets, in the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Tarija and Sucre. This constitutes a grave social problem in Bolivia, and is on the increase.
