Niños de Papel (Paper Children)
Paper is an important metaphor for Colombian street kids. According to Niños de Papel, it isn’t just that street kids recycle paper to survive; they are like paper. People have thrown them into the trash, but with care they can come out like recycled paper: clean, new, and useful for society.
Niños de Papel began in Bucaramanga and has always had a strong presence there. In 1999, the program opened an office in Cartagena, where Shine a light visited, and which will be the subject of this essay.
Work began on the streets of the ancient port, as well as on the beaches where kids beg and sell sweets. Street outreach workers encouraged kids to consider other lives and to dream new possibilities. For a time, the city government funded this work, but a change in the administration cut off the funding, and today Niños de Papel relies on volunteers for street work.
When kids begin to wonder if another life is possible, they go to a drop-in center north of downtown. In order to provide dignity and respect, the building is new and beautiful, built with the help of Mundo Cooperante in Spain. Kids may spend all day in the drop in center, where they can play, bathe, eat, get health care, and wash their clothes. Drugs are prohibited on premises (in Cartagena, the drug of choice is glue) in order to teach kids that they can get by without frying their brains.
In the same building as the drop in center (and the administrative offices), Niños de Papel offers a “Reception Center,” an overnight shelter where street boys can stay without luxuries. The majority of street kids in Cartagena have been on the street for years; many are child travelers who come from Medellín or Bogotá. They have been betrayed by other institutions (for instance, the Cartagena city government sometimes picks up all the street kids, puts them in a locked bus, and sends them to Medellín. Within a week, they have all returned), and don’t trust anyone. Building a relationship takes time.
In the Reception Center, kids learn whether they really want to leave the street and whether they can adjust to a more structured life. They also receive medical and psychological attention. Some 20-25 boys stay in the Center, while 10-12 girls live in another Reception Center.
After a month in the Reception Center, the child and h/er educators decide what should be the next step. Some kids can return to their families, while others go to a shelter that specializes in mental illnesses. Those who remain with Niños de Papel either go to a drug rehab community or to a permanent shelter.
60% of Cartagena’s street kids suffer serious drug addictions; they go to a farm to detox. The program has been so successful that it won the prestigious “Queen Sofía Anti-Drug Prize” in 2001. Most kids stay at the farm for about a year.
All of the shelters are small houses in lower-middle class neighborhoods. The kids are well integrated into community life, and neighbor kids are always hanging out in the shelters, playing games, football, or working on homework. There are 6 shelters in Cartagena, four for boys and two for girls. 10-12 kids live with an educator in each house. As with all Niños de Papel buildings, the shelters are well maintained, clean, and well constructed.
The last stage is a transition shelter, where older kids prepare for life on their own. They work in local businesses and earn a salary, and the house has few rules. Most have finished high school and are saving money to begin a normal life.
Niños de Papel also has a prevention program. Shelters serve as community centers where kids and families can come for workshops or just to hang out and play. Niños de Papel sends various professionals to train teachers, police officers, and social workers how to spot a kid who is about to run away. Their research has shown that several neighborhoods are “points of expulsion” that send many kids onto the street, so educators focus their attention there.
Niños de Papel’s methods are based on caring. “They need to know they’re loved,” says the president of the board. “They have left home because they felt no love, but they know they’ll find it here.” Educators also know that kids are looking for a mirror in which they can affirm their existence, and all staff try to be a mirror that flatters the child.
In the past, Cartagena City Hall has been guilty of “social cleansing,” often sending street kids in locked busses to other cities. The government defends these violations of human rights as “protecting tourists.” To defend the kids’ rights, Niños de Papel rents a house by the sea in tourist high seasons, and invites the kids there.
I have mentioned several times the quality of Niños de Papel’s physical plant. This quality comes thanks to Mundo Cooperante, a NGO that raises funds for Niños de Papel in Spain. Niños de Papel also receives funds through contracts with the city and the ICBF (Youth Services Department), and earns money in several small businesses. In Bucaramanga they make paper from pineapple refuse and run a student café. In Cartagena, a bakery, a wood-shop, and a farm provide some income.
Questions about volunteering: Johanna Rojas: proyectos@ninosdepapel.org
Sede Regional Cartagena de Indias:
Nombre de la Organización: Asociación Niños de Papel - Colombia
Sede Regional: Cartagena
Calle 59a No. 16- 44 Canapote Sector La Rosa
Teléfono: 6582606 - 6580640
Fax: 6582606 - A.A. 1513
Sonia Castellanos - Directora Regional
direccion_ctg@ninosdepapel.org
MONTERIA:
Asociación Niños de Papel - Colombia
Seccional Montería - Córdoba
Centro de Orientación Juvenil Don Bosco Km. 11 Vía Planeta Rica - Córdoba
Teléfono: 7901866 - 7910172
Fax: 7901866
Ernilda Susana Franco Usta - Gestora de Prevención y Atención
direccion_mont@ninosdepapel.org
Niños de Papel, Bucaramanga
Padre Manuel Jiménez Tejerizo, Director Nacional
Calle 48 # 18-79
Bucaramanga, Santander
Colombia
630 5970
fax: 630 5961
Manuel Jiménez <manolojt@ninosdepapel.org>
www.ninosdepapel.org
