A Harsh Reality

I am suddenly very aware of the problem of slavery and exploitation of children here in Buenos Aires, and it scares me beyond belief to actually witness it myself.  As I'm sure many of you know I want to be a social worker in my future, but today made me decide exactly what I want to do with my life. 

Every so often there are children (probably as young as about 5) on the subway asking for money.  Many come around with a small printed slip of paper that says "with the money that you give me I will be able to feed my family," but it always seemed weird to me that the kids have paper obviously printed from a computer that their families certainly couldn't afford if they are asking for money for food.  I've always been wary of giving them money because I had the suspicion that it wasn't going directly to them or their families.  I would prefer to give them food, but usually they won't accept it- for a good reason.  They have a quota to fill, a minimum amount of money to bring back each day to the people that are exploiting them. I finally got up the courage to ask my NGO leadership professor about it, and my fear was confirmed.  They don't have families to feed.  Most of the children are orphans.  These children are clearly malnourished, walk around without shoes, and wear dirty and ragged clothing...because they are slaves. 

Today my friends and I were walking around by the park and saw a young girl juggling tennis balls in the middle of the street in front of cars.  We paused for a bit to sit down and the girl and her cousin came over to talk to us, and it was then that I realized what was going on.  Her cousin had a gatorade bottle with a few coins in it...probably no more than about $1 US total.  They asked us where we were from and the little girl asked if we came here on an airplane.  She was so surprised that we weren't scared to fly, and told us that she was.  Hearing her say that broke my heart; I know that she has never been on an airplane and probably never will be.  We were having a fun little conversation with them when all of a sudden they ran off and said they had to go.  Their boss came over, furiously yelling at them for having been talking to us instead of making money.  She had a big group of children with her and a bag of toys for them to do tricks with.  We quickly left so as not to make the situation any worse for the kids, realizing that there was nothing better we could have done.  I have never felt so helpless in my entire life, knowing that I literally had no way to make their lives better. 

I am still incredibly shaken by having witnessed modern-day slavery.  It is a frequent topic of conversation in my sociology classes at home, but seeing it in real life changes everything.  I now know that putting an end to slavery is my purpose in life.  I hope that one day it won't have to be my purpose, but it is going to take a lot of hard work on the world's part to make that a reality.  I plan to make changes in my life to reduce the contribution that I surely have to the slave trade- we all contribute whether we know it or not.  It's going to take a bit of research on my part, but I encourage everyone who reads this to do the same.  Look up where the coffee you drink, the chocolate you eat, and the clothes that you wear come from...By making one small change in your life you can reduce the impact you have.