I will never complain of summer heat in Ohio. The oppressing heat of the Caribbean is only livable in the shade close to the ocean with the refreshing ocean breeze. Fortunately, Boca Chica is a beach town making the beach easily accessible to escape the heat!
Now that school has finished the population of children in the streets of Boca Chica rises. My summers during my elementary years were spent sleeping more, swimming at the city pool, family vacations, church camp, vacation Bible school, community day camps that were offered, and playing different sports. This was all crucial to my development as a young girl.
For the children here in Boca Chica it's very different. It means less activities and more time to work. Many of the children in our programs are working children. Without school they send more time in the streets working to help support their families. The kids work shining shoes or selling sweets or snacks to tourists on the beach.
Caminante, as an organization, works to defend and promote the rights of children. We work to make sure these children are not abused while working, but are treated properly. Most importantly we want to insure that the children have the opportunity to recreation as all children deserve.
Therefore we have baseball practices, have multiple young boys in the city youth baseball leagues, are offering computer classes, planning summer camp, providing lunches for the boys and using that time to talk about a theme or simply be a positive influence and friendly face.
With the support of Caminante children that come by bus daily to work in the center of town are offered a hot meal and a cool glass of water, a safe space to rest and a staff they can trust in case of problems.
Without Caminante many of these children would not have the formative programs that are crucial to all child development.
