A cave on the outskirts of Bogota is one of many places where gamins seek 
shelter. Some bed down in building entrances, near warm air vents, or in 
other favored locations. The gamins are just one segment of the urban poor, 
many of whom live in wretched conditions in crowded squatter settlements. 
ways open in case he decides to leave. 
Interestingly, the most celebrated pro- 
grams of the Children’s Aid Society 
in turn-of-the-century New York, as 
well as Father Borelli’s program for 
the street urchins of Naples, used ex- 
actly this approach. 
For some street children, this pro- 
gram is a hospitality house, the source 
of regular meals, a clean change of 
clothes on occasion, and when sought 
out, a sympathetic ear. It can offer 
much more, however. After months 
of visiting, a child may ask to become 
an internado, one who lives in. Over 
time, he may formally complete the 
equivalent of a high school education 
and take up some career training. As 
they pursue anything from mechanics 
to music, the talent and intelligence 
of these children shine. A number are 
now students at the National Univer- 
sity in Bogota. Yet even this exem- 
plary program is open only to those 
who are fully capable of the necessary 
transition. In essence, the program 
guarantees its own success. Children 
with severe emotional problems or 
neurological impairments are left by 
the wayside early on. 
A few of the youngest children who 
have been placed in government pro- 
grams may find themselves in a more 
traditional home through adoption, 
but this is quite uncommon. In con- 
trast, betwen 1853 and 1890, some 
90,000 vagrant children were sent west 
from New York City by the Children’s 
Aid Society — sent for adoption to a 
place “where there is more to eat than 
there are mouths to feed and where 
a man’s children are yet his wealth.” 
A similar policy was followed by the 
Barnardo Homes of England, which 
sent thousands of urchins to families 
in Canada and Australia. 
There are rare cases where, on their 
own initiative, individuals or families 
have taken in vagrant children and 
have carried them through the dif- 
ficult transition from the streets. Oth- 
ers provide assistance through what 
the children call contratas (“con- 
tracts”). The contrata is an informal 
arrangement wherein an individual, a 
store, or a restaurant regularly pro- 
vides a particular child with food, 
clothing, and the like, often at a fixed 
time of day. The child is seldom asked 
to reciprocate with direct service. 
Twelve-year-old Hernan has two 
contratas , one for clothing and one 
for food. The first is with a woman 
whose car he guards when she stops 
at the post office. In addition to the 
better-than-average tip she gives him 
for his service, this woman regularly 
brings him some of her own boy’s old 
clothing. She has contemplated taking 
him in, but her husband believes it 
would be difficult, both for Hernan 
and for them. “So I try to give him 
a little extra,” she says. “It makes 
me feel good. But I still feel sad for 
him and for the others.” Hernan’s sec- 
ond contrata , shared by other boys, 
is with an open-air restaurant. In the 
late evening he comes to the back 
door to receive leftovers. The middle- 
aged proprietor tells me, “You know, 
I have admiration for the gamins — 
they are smart and tough, and they 
make it on their own. I’m like them 
a little, I’ve made this business on 
my own.” Later, he qualifies his gen- 
erosity by adding, “I do ask for some- 
thing in return. I won’t ever chase 
them away, but I prefer them not to 
beg in my restaurant. You under- 
stand — it bothers my customers, and 
it’s bad for business. That’s the way 
things are. Well, I do what I can.” 
The gamins deserve respect for their 
ability to survive, with so little help, 
against overwhelming odds. But their 
lives remain filled with pain and suf- 
fering. While the streets can fortify, 
they most often consume. The reality 
of the gamins’ plight must not be ro- 
manticized or allowed to disappear 
into simplistic myths that prevent re- 
flection, responsibility, and action. In 
particular, these children must not be 
viewed solely as deviant and in need 
of rehabilitation. To do so ignores their 
many strengths and, more important, 
ignores their most basic need, that 
of protection. □ 
48 
