Nilda Camacho

In 1999, something left French tourist Olivier de Metz open-mouthed. Walking around Lima Dowtown, he had come across a group of kids sniffing glue and followed them. He realised they were going the banks of the Rímac River; the garbage and danger was part of their life. He went to his country and travelled back to Peru one year later to found in Lima and in Paris the Children of the River Association. The French subsidiary would raise part of the funds for the Peruvian subsidiary to provide these children with an alternative. Since then, thanks to the commitment of experts in care of abandoned children, the Association has born its first fruits. For eight years, Nilda Camacho has been watching over the well-being of kids who would otherwise be swallowed up by adversity.

Why do you think a child leave home and lives on the streets?

There are two main reasons: poverty and family violence, which can be structural and symbolic. Structural because our system, as it is, crushes the youngest; and symbolic because, due to poverty, parents fight or split, work from early on and come back home so late that they no longer have time to care for their children...

A parent that comes back home from work after spending stressful hours is not able to be patient with a child who demands attention.

Exactly. There is no time or space to share with their children, and they choose to socialise on the streets.

Should we understand, then, that a child leaves home in search of well-being?

Yes. There is an average age at which kids leave: at the onset of puberty. What they cannot convey at home, they do on the streets, with their peers.

What did you find when you made contact with them at the foot of the Rímac River?

I was not part of the Association at the beginning. However, I know that the kids would take refuge by the river to hide from repressive authorities; there they found a place to socialise. Then came the founder of Les Enfants du Rio, Olivier de Metz, a young Frenchman who was impressed to see kids sniffing glue by the Rímac River. Authorities have built huge walls so that they can no longer access the place; that is, a “social cleansing” was done to make Downtown Lima look good.

To hide what they do not like about our city.

But the problem remains. It is now even bigger because we no longer see those children on benches or under the bridges, now they hide in abandoned houses and leave at times when no one can see them. They are also exposed to unscrupulous people who profit from their dignity.

Why do you help children in this situation?

I love it!

Why?

I watch over the wellbeing of others. I might not earn a lot of money, but I can help build a better society.

Yours is not a job common people would find attractive.

I had a very beautiful childhood. I come from Cañete, from San Antonio. The place was a paradise; there was no delinquency, no young people wasting their lives away. I did not experience any of that, and so that angers me, because we can become a more sustainable society.