Dec. 15, 1998

Bolivia ... [ANN]  The economic realities of stark poverty are forcing children out of their homes onto Bolivia’s city streets, reports ADRA Works, the quarterly publication of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Silver Spring, Maryland.  Drugs help them get through their dark days-or so they think.

Children sleep on the streets and steal to buy food.  They often turn to alcohol and drugs to ease their loneliness.  Enrique, a typical 11-year-old Bolivian boy, was one of these street children.

“I slept on the streets, but I was always hungry and needed to feed my addictions,” Enrique says.  Eventually a lady took him to an orphanage, but he ran away to live on the streets again.  The police caught him and brought him to CERENID, a homeless shelter and drug rehabilitation center for children.

Prior to living on the streets, Enrique lived with his grandparents.  He was physically abused by his grandmother and, after many beatings, ran away from home. 

Enrique says, “I did not like CERENID at first.  I behaved badly so they would kick me out, but they didn’t.”  As he felt love and acceptance, Enrique’s life changed.  He is now a normal boy who loves soccer, enjoys swimming in rivers, and has many friends.

CERENID, a Seventh-day Adventist operated center, is dedicated to saving and changing lives.  The staff includes a psychologist who supervises each child’s rehabilitation, emphasizing their educational, psychological, physical, and moral well-being. [Daniel Wortman, Program Officer, ADRA Bolivia]
 

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