La Semilla (The seed)
La Semilla is an NGO dedicated to providing integrated services to boys and girls at high risk of homelessness. It strives to offer an option to drugs and prostitution while supporting families and helping them to avoid abuse and exploitation.
The program began in 1982; this history makes for a lot of experience, but it also means that now La Semilla is working with second and third generation street kids, children whose parents (and even grandparents) once lived on the street. The problem was aggravated by the civil war of the 1980s and ‘90s, when the brutal violence of Sendero Luminoso (and the Peruvian military) sent many peasants into exile in Lima. These refugees still feel the scars of the civil war, they don’t trust the government or NGOs, and they don’t understand how a megalopolis like Lima functions.
After watching the failure of the government shelter system (the same failure that animated CEDRO), La Semilla decided to dedicate itself to preventing homelessness, especially in the shantytowns that surround Lima. They have produced excellent didactic materials for students and teachers, explaining sex, gangs, drugs, abuse, and children’s rights.
In the last several years, La Semilla has emphasized children’s activism, especially in the media. It sponsors a group of 32 boys and girls who produce a program on Radio del Pacifico, a station that reaches almost a million listeners. The children broadcast their ideas, reports, and music every Saturday. Each program focuses on a specific issue -- teen mothers, violence, abuse, teen sexuality, child pornography, etc -- as a way to educate the community. Other children and teens write a page for El Comercio every Sunday.
Along with CEDRO and the PUC-Lima, La Semilla has learned that community libraries do amazing work to prevent youth homelessness. Libraries promote reading and provide a space for after school programs (taught by local volunteers). La Semilla runs one library and hopes to open another when it gets the necessary money.
As of 2002, La Semilla works in two communities; it serves 500 children in one shantytown and 1200 in the other.
La Semilla
Belgrano 325 -- Pueblo Libre
Lima, Perú
263 4094 o 431 7292
contacto: Alicia Paredes, lasemilla@hotmail.com
