Lourdes, a voice for the working children and adolescent movement in Bolivia
by Elena Sartorius
They have no other option than working to pay for their studies, but they refuse to be exploited. NATs, the working children and adolescents of Latin America, have created movements for the recognition of their existence and their rights. Lourdes Cruz Sanchez, 17, a university student and representative of Bolivia’s NATs, has been working since the age of 10. She travelled to Europe to tell her story.
As she sits in the bus on her way to the UN district in Geneva, a couple of hours before her expected participation at the International Labour Conference, Lourdes Cruz Sánchez, 17, is thoughtful. She seems both tired and excited after travelling for a week in Germany and Belgium, where she spoke at the European Parliament. "I am holding the fate of Bolivia in my hands," she says anxiously.
Lourdes is active at the local and national levels in Bolivia. As a leader of the UNATSBO, the national working children’s and adolescents’ organization (in Spanish: Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes Trabajadores - NNATs), she is coming to Geneva to testify at a time when the ILO is about to sanction her country. The new Code of Children and Adolescents, developed by the government of Evo Morales in August 2014, allows the self-employment of children and teenagers aged 10 to 14 under exceptional circumstances, whereas the country’s minimum legal working age is 14. This new law contravenes ILO’s Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), ratified by Bolivia.
"I must prevent them from sanctioning my country”, says Lourdes, who does not consider child employment as a bad thing per se, and claims the right of NATs to work in decent conditions. "In Bolivia many children must work to survive, it’s a reality. They will not make us disappear by simply declaring that working is forbidden."
She knows what she is talking about. Born in Potosí, a mining town stretching above 4000m (13,000 feet) over the Bolivian Altiplano, she has been working since the age of 10. The eldest in a family of six children, she explains that her father’s income from mining varies according to the price of silver ore, and is not always sufficient to cover the family’s needs. "I started working as a kitchen helper in a restaurant, during the holidays, she says. My mother stayed at home to look after my siblings. At 13, I was earning money with other teenagers cleaning tombstones in a cemetery, and then I started selling newspapers. Now I make clothes, I have my own workshop at home and I work on weekends. "
Working her way to school
Unlike many working children in developing countries, Lourdes was able to pursue her schooling. The problem was not therefore of having to choose between school and work. Paradoxically, for many children in Bolivia, working is the only way to attend school. "School is supposed to be free, but our families cannot afford the uniforms and school supplies, says Lourdes. Working makes it possible for us not only to eat, but also to study."
When asked about the risks at work for children and adolescents, she replies: "Every job has some risks, not only for children, but for adults too. Even going to school is risky, you can get kidnapped or hit by a car… In the US, there are students who shoot their own classmates – education is not completely safe either."
Many schools in Bolivia have adapted to the reality of working children and adolescents. "There used to be a lot of discrimination against us in schools, recalls Lourdes, now there is much less. Teachers are a little more flexible with school hours and when they know there is a working child in their classroom, they try to make the lessons more dynamic so that he or she doesn’t falls asleep”. The UNATSBO representative is currently a first year student at the University of Potosí. “I’m studying social sciences", she says with a glow in her eyes.
How does she manage to combine work and school since the age of 10? "It's a question of organization", she says. She had to establish a routine, get up every day at the same time, plan for her work and homework. "When I worked in the afternoons, I would to my homework in the evenings, at times it was difficult, I was tired. But I managed to overcome the difficulties." Lourdes has always been a good student. When comparing her situation to that of wealthier children, she says: "There are children who have everything but who don't value it, they make no effort whatsoever, at school or elsewhere."
NATS need to be recognized in order to avoid exploitation
For this young delegate, the new Bolivian Code of Children and Adolescents is a step forward, a victory for many NATs like her. Beyond the controversy regarding minimum employment age, it offers NATs a social security, minimum wages, and the possibility to report abuse. "It is not the solution to child labor, she admits, but at least this law recognizes our existence, instead of hiding us in a cellar! It protects us and prevents us from being exploited."
Lourdes developed her social consciousness at a young age, as a member of the Potosí association of children and adolescent workers. Within this movement, she was a beneficiary, from the age of 12, of a project to support NATs developed by Pasocap (Pastoral Social Caritas Potosí), a new partner of Terre des Hommes Switzerland in Bolivia. "I had been working for several years, remembers Lourdes, when the Pasocap educators came to organize awareness workshops. They taught me that I had rights as a NAT, but that they were not recognized."
She was quickly convinced and started to participate in meetings and workshops regularly. "I was able to understand the reality in which I and other working children lived; it was the beginning of my struggle,"she says with a hint of pride.
A leader in Bolivia and abroad
With other members of the NAT movement, Lourdes has benefited from leadership training offered by Pasocap and from their continued support over the past five years in her efforts to achieve the recognition of her rights. "We, the children, receive from Pasocap the support we need so that our rights can be heard." She is very aware of her responsibilities and takes her role as a NAT leader and spokesperson very seriously: "There are two types of children, she says, leaders and others. The group offers solutions and we, the leaders, represent the group outside." Lourdes’s style is relaxed but determined. Small and discreet, she is not the kind of person who feels she needs to talk loud in order to be heard. It does not prevent her from being a respected delegate of her association in Potosí and to have been elected by the other leaders in the country to represent their movement in Europe.
This is her first trip outside Bolivia. She cannot believe all the commodities and riches around her. She really likes pizza, but better avoid serving her sparkling water! On the bus, she remembers her father: "He realizes this trip will open doors for me." She remembers her brothers and sisters, who are not working at the moment “because the price of silver ore is high.” She wants to continue working so that she can be independent. She dreams of studying for a year abroad and hosting a foreign student back home. She talks about Potosí, the city where she was born, and the countryside around it, which she loves.
She would like to tell young people in Switzerland that they are lucky to enjoy such good economic conditions, that they should know how to value that, and the fact that they do not have to work, as a motivation to study. She is aware that the new laws in Bolivia are not the ideal solution, and that it is the causes which force children to work which should be addressed. But she knows there is a long road ahead, so in the meantime, she just wants to be recognized and allowed with her friends to support herself when her parents are not able to do so, even when they work hard.
The subject of child labor is highly political and complex. Lourdes will finally not be able to speak officially at the ILO meeting. She will have to return to Bolivia with a heavy heart, as her country is criticized by the international community. She dreams of a more active participation of children in the development of policies that affect them, but between ideal and reality, it is not always easy to find a balance.