ABOUT STREET KIDS Like in many other third World countries, being a Peruvian child isn’t easy. These children have to deal with many problems. It all starts in the home environment. The families are living in extreme poverty or the parents are alcohol or drug addicts. These problems are often leading to physical, sexual and mental abuse as well as mistreatment. Because of the poverty, many children have to work to support the whole family, which is why they don’t attend school. During the day some of them are on the street and go back home at night. The others don’t find any other options than walk away: their life on the street begins. In the whole of Central and South America, there are around forty millions helpless children who live day in, day out on the streets. They work, eat and sleep there. In order to get money, they polish shoes, sell postcards, play music, beg and in some cases steal. Many children are neglected, have not experienced maternal or paternal love and are mentally bullied. Many are starting to use the drug ‘Terokal’ (hallucinogen glue), that makes them forget their problems for a short moment. Moreover a lot of children are under developed. They haven’t been to school for a very long time and are not aware of the concept of values. There isn’t an exact number of street kids in Peru because it is difficult to assess but in Cusco alone, there are XXX street kids. Children living in inhuman circumstances for whom the street is their home and their daily chore is survival. THE STORY OF A STREET CHILD Every child in ELIM has his own story. Below is the story of some of these children as they told them. How they got on the street, what did they do to survive, what have they experienced and how did ELIM change their lives?