Program against Child Labor, Ciudad Don Bosco

In the countryside close to Medellín, there are several coal mining towns, and poverty forces children to work in the mines. Several years ago, Ciudad Don Bosco began a pilot project to prevent child labor in Amagá and Angelópolis.

As in all Salesian programs, the program has excellent vocational workshops. The program serves both boys and girls, and there are no gender distinctions -- boys learn to sew and girls learn to fix cars (today, there are several excellent female mechanics in Amagá). Participants also receive tutoring, psych services, and emotional support.

The greatest problem for the program is that these families are terribly poor, and they depend on the income of their children. Don Bosco provides food baskets for the families of participants, but it never suffices -- and often the families share the food with their hungry neighbors.

Angelópolis and Amagá are controlled by the autodefensas (right wing guerrillas). These thugs often murder boys for showing insufficient deference to authority, just as they kill girls for wearing miniskirts and halter tops. Equally sad, many boys join the thugs, seeing it as the only way to get ahead in life.

Nombre:Ciudad Don Bosco
Director: P. ARMANDO ÁLVAREZ DÍAZ

email: donbosco@une.net.co
donbosco@epm.net.co

Dirección: Carrera 96B  Nº. 78C - 11. Medellín. Colombia

Teléfono: 57 4  264 21 22 
Fax; 57 4 264 23 90

www.ciudaddonbosco.org