Throughout my field research, I had to travel to different cities in Bolivia and saw a cross regional commonality: children on the streets selling candies, shoe shinning or begging for money. This is clear evidence of the high levels of poverty in the country, and the lack of resources to improve life standards. It is very difficult to see this reality, especially when you live in a consumerist society with outrageous spending habits, and with no incentives to change them. It is very disturbing to see how these two parallel realities seem so distant, almost unaware of each other, while belonging to the same time and space. In astonishment, only one thing comes to mind, what is wrong with the world?
Three cousins are selling chocolate bars in Sucre square. The oldest is eleven years old, and the youngest is four years old.
These children work besides of “La casa de la Libertad” cleaning car windows.
Rolando goes to school every day in the morning and works as shoeshiner in the afternoon.
Whichever the reason is for these kids to be working in the Sucre square, this reality alone makes you realize that something is seriously wrong with the world.