Help Children In Poverty

By Scott Cotter

Our first stop Tuesday was La Mosca. The Fly. It's a community built in the shadow of a gigantic garbage dump, where many of La Mosca's residents earn their very meager incomes as "buzos" (garbage divers).

Others who have been to La Mosca talk of the overwhelming stench and battalions of aggressive flies that crawl all over everything, including and maybe especially exposed skin. I guess we lucked out because neither were a problem during our visit with "Chilo" and her children, Gabriel and Ana Isabel.

Like so many others in the community, what little income they have is derived from what the children's father finds to sell in the mounds of garbage. And it isn't much, which has Chilo filled with anxiety. But as much as she worries about their income, she seems to be far more concerned about Ana now that she's 13. And I can understand.  In La Mosca, there are plenty of distractions and dangers for any child. But for a girl Ana's age, it's easy to fall in with the wrong crowd, leave school behind and end up married by age 14. In fact, it's commonplace.

There's some good news though. Ana and Gabriel are sponsored, which Chilo says is really helping the family, especially the health and education benefits they receive. She's also happy that Ana is involved in our Youth Program, which is working with young people in La Mosca to steer them clear of early marriage, keep them involved in positive activities and to make sure they have what they need and are motivated to stay in school. Chilo thinks it will have a positive impact. I do too.

As a side note, I'm happy to report that Evelyn, who is from our agency staff here in the DR (and has been a wonderful help), is just fine despite taking a rather nasty tumble down one of the steep hillsides in the garbage dump. She was covered in dirt from head to toe but came away laughing about what could have been far more serious.

Scott Cotter has traveled the globe reporting on our child sponsorship program. As a writer for Children International, Scott realizes there is more than one way to save a child...and one of his greatest contributions to our efforts to help children in poverty has been through the written word. Check out Scott's various feature stories on our website, children.org, and in eNews, Journeys and our other sponsorship publications. And don't forget to check back tomorrow for another blog from the CI team on the ground in the Dominican Republic!