| ABOUT THE REAL WORLD |
| An estimated 100 million children live and work on the streets in the developing world; 40 million in Latin America. Most street children (75 percent) have some family links, but spend most of their lives on the streets begging, selling trinkets, shining shoes or washing cars to supplement their families'income. Most never go beyond a forth-grade education. The remaining 25 percent live in the streets, often in a group of other children. Known as "Street Children", they sleep in abandoned buildings, under bridges, in doorways, sewer or in public parks. They often resort to petty theft and prostitution to survive. Most are addicted to inhalants, such as cobbler's glue, which offers them an escape from reality, and take away hunger--in exchange for a host of hallucinations, pulmonary edema, kidney failure, and irreversible brain damage. Many are victims of abuse, sometimes murder, by police, other authorities and individuals who are supposed to protect them. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse by parents often by step-parents are the most common reasons why children leave their families. |
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| Links: |
| www.larrydlargefoundation.org |
| Contact Info: Maria Deen |
| What is a faith worth if it is not translated into action? ghandi. |
| Maria D. Deen |
| Name: |
| Email: |
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| Francisco Oropeza Garcia (aka "el trompitas"). Francisco was sick for several days, living with a group of street children in an old factory building in Mexico city. According to his friend he had no eaten in four days; finally he died. For burocratic reasons, the boy's body was not realesed by the public prosecutor's office for several days. The body started the normal descomposition process, posibly causing sicknes in the other children. BUT NO MATTER THEY DON'T HAVE FAMILY Francisco was finally laid to rest on october 28, 1998. |
| There was a fire in an abandoned building in the baldio of consulado area in Mexico city where many street children used to lived. The fire, supposedly an "ACCIDENT", has never been fully investigated. A total of seven street children burn alive. The dead are: Nohemi, zuleima, Vanessa, Dalila, Ericka, Saul & carlos. BUT NO MATTER THEY DON'T HAVE FAMILY. |
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| "TAKE A MOMENT TO REFLECT UPON THESE CHILDREN AND THINK OF ALL THEY COULD HAVE GIVEN TO HUMANKIND HAD WE SHARED OUR LOVED AND BLESSING WITH THEM." |
| "Be informed, and then please act. Only if we all together will be able to really protect the children in the poverty and if we do not do anything to help, who will? If we want peace, we must work for justice. |
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| Bernardino Garcia (12) Had beenliving on the streets of Mexico city for several years. His father is in jail and his mother a street seller. Bernardino was sleeping in an abandoned post office building with several other children. They would sniff glue to stave off feelings of hunger and lonliness. The little boy was leaving the building when he slipped and fell into a flooded basement. His friend tried to rescue him, but could not reach him. When they eventually found help, Bernardinito had drowned. BUT NO MATTER THEY DON'T HAVE FAMILY. |
| Liliana Castillo (7) Liliana was murdered by an as yet unidentified man who sexually abused her and then beat her to death, leaving her body in an empty lot. The body was not found until three days later by the police. BUT NO MATTER THEY DON'T HAVE FAMILY. |
