The Current Conditions of Street Life in Ecuador

Essay written in October, 2003

It is impossible to understand Ecuador without understanding one fact: that between the years 20001-2002, more than 10% of the population emigrated to other countries (more than 1,500,000 people out of a total population of 13,000,000). While this figure gives an indication of the grave economic problems the country is facing, this mass exodus has also opened up opportunities for both girls and boys living on the streets.

The majority of those who have left are young (between 20-30 years of age) and many have children. The children remain behind in Ecuador and live with extended families. Although their parents send them money from abroad to pay for their education, clothes and food, many children feel abandoned and go on to the streets to express their rebelliousness. Others use the money sent by their parents to buy cellular phones or fashionable clothes and stay on the streets trying to impress their friends.

There are also many farmers and indigenous people who migrate from the countryside to Quito or Guayaquil to find work. Their children work as well – mostly on the streets or in markets – and the country has the same problem of child labour as in other poor countries. In fact, statistics compiled by INNFA demonstrate that Ecuador has the highest incidence of child labour in the whole of Latin America.

When a connection is made between child labour, emigration, crime and the fact that many children live far from the places they work in, it is not difficult to imagine that many children prefer to remain on the streets. Although luckily there are only a few children living on the streets in Quito or Guayaquil (the numbers are more worrying in the small city of Machala) and there are many good programmes whose aim is to keep children off the streets (Niñez y Vida, Proyecto Salesiano, JUCONI and Mi Cometa), the situation appears to be deteriorating.

Although tourists to Ecuador worry about violence in Quito, Ecuador is still a country which has a very low crime rate and less organized crime than many other countries. While there are juvenile gangs in Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, the levels of gang violence is nowhere near that in Colombia, Brasil or Central America. While street children may sells drugs in order to get money to live, there is very little activity in regard to narco trafficking. It is feared, however, that influence from the guerrillas in neighbouring Colombia could increase the level of violence in Ecuador.

In Ecuador, the types of drugs used depend upon one’s social class: the poor abuse glue and solvents; the middle class use marihuana and the rich are addicted to cocaine. Although street children in Ecuador sniff glue, the problem is not as severe as that in Colombia or Mexico.

One positive result of the massive migration of Ecuadorians to other countries is that there is a lot of work available for qualified young people. This is because the majority of those who emigrate are skilled workers – mostly carpenters, construction workers and mechanics. In fact, 80% of those who graduate from Proyecto Salesiano succeed in finding the jobs they wish to have.

Ecuador is a small country but has many capable and creative NGOs. In fact, in Quito and Guayaquil the level of assistance to street children nearly reaches the demand.