Los Retoños
[In January of 2003, the Quito city government closed the city dump, making it impossible for Los Retoños to serve the children of the families that worked in the dump. We maintain this essay on the site because Los Retoños was one of the most successful models for work in dumps, and we hope that its success will still be able to teach others.]
As in many Latin American cities, hundreds of poor families make their life picking trash from the Quito dump. The Fundación Niñez y Vida created Los Retoños to aid these families’ children and to organize and improve the quality of life in the dump.
The pedagogical model for Los Rotoños is the same as for Niñez y Vida’s other schools. The dump makes education much more complicated, of course, and teachers much dedicate much more attention to health and hygiene, but the school looks much like other Niñez y Vida programs.
The Quito dump is not the same as the famous (and brutal) Guatemala City dump, because families don’t actually live in the trash. Even so, the context is similar: families do not value education, they don’t understand the idea of fixed hours of work, and they see money as a day to day thing -- they don’t save or invest. In this world, it is tough to convince parents that their children should go to school.
Because of this culture clash, educators must do outreach in the dump. They don’t just come to know the trash pickers, they also help them organize into a union. With the help of Terre de Hommes (Italy), the trashpickers created a cooperative to recycle and sell paper, plastic, and metal at a higher price. They have also started a small business, making mattresses from recycled plastic bags. This organization allows a strong relationship between Los Retoños and the trashpickers.
Because they trust the educators, the trashpickers recognize that they have something to offer; as such, they are more willing to take their children to school. Even so, it is a constant battle, particularly at the beginning of the school year. When it began, the school functioned inside the dump, so that kids could come more easily, but today it is half a mile away, in a middle class neighborhood. This new location is great for the students, because they see another part of the world and because it keeps them far from the bacteria in the dump, but it is tough to convince their mothers to make the trip.
Fortunately, when mothers do make the effort, they end up being much more committed to their children’s education. It is difficult, so they understand that it is important. Even so, at the beginning of the school year, the school principal has to go to the dump every day to collect children and lecture their mothers. At this time, the relationship with the chair of the recycler’s coop is essential, because community leaders will reinforce the educational message.
Though discipline is a challenge, teachers have found that using the names of the child’s family makes h/im more disposed to listen. Just by saying, “What would your Uncle Julio think of you?” reminds the child that the teacher knows h/is family and cares about h/im.
Relations with the local public school are difficult, because it is a middle class school, unwilling to accept students whose parents work in the dump. Though los Rotoños has been able to force other schools to accept dump kids, the local one is the most resistant. Eventually, the program concluded that it was best to help the child be as clean and well dressed as possible, and never to mention the dump.
In 2003, the work has been made more complicated by the closing of the dump -- a new one opened far to the north of the city, and it is closed to recyclers for health and safety reasons. No one knows how to help the recyclers and their families at this point.
Centro Educativo Los Rotoños de la Fundación Niñez y Vida
Fundación Niñez y Vida
Joajuín Pinto 132 y 6 de diciembre sector Mariscal
Quito, Ecuador
(2) 555154 227 419
Contactos: Sonia Pérez, futierra@andinanet.net
Guillermo Ordoñez: guiordol @yahoo.es
http://ninezyvidatdh.org/
