Alejandra: A Girl Among the "Curiles"
by Romeo Lemus

Alejandra’s* destiny seemed to be set at the age of 12. Every day at four in the morning, her father, Don José, woke her up, not to go to school, but to go collect curiles -- small mollusks -- in the mangrove swamps located in the Hacienda el Joval on the Island of Espiritu Santo in Usulutan, El Salvador.

In the rush to get to work, she didn’t take time to eat breakfast. It was more important to make sure she had the things she needed to endure a workday that often meant up to 14 hours in mud and danger -- about a dozen cigars and at least four pills to keep her from falling asleep. Ironically, a good part of the money that she earned was used for buying these "indispensable" items.

Down in the mangrove swamp without shoes, this young girl had to withstand inclement weather, mosquito bites and cuts and scrapes caused by having to extract the curiles from deep in the mud. At times, the cigars helped to repel the mosquitos. However, when she ran out of them, Alejandra just had to put up with the insects as she moved from branch to branch and from one area to another in search of shells. When she returned from work, her body was nearly always covered with bites.

Her earnings amounted to very little. In a day, if she was lucky, Alejandra, the eldest of eight siblings, might manage to collect two baskets of curiles (150 shells), worth little more than 12 colones (US$ 1.40).

On account of her long day, she had no time to go to school, much less play with other children. And in any case, she preferred not to join them as they said that she had a bad odor and ostracized her for being a curiles worker.

Little by little, Alejandra lost her self-esteem. She did not integrate into any group and was marginalized like the other children who worked collecting curiles. For Alejandra, it seemed like a tunnel with no exit.

A New IPEC Program Targets Children Like Alejandra

In October 1999, the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) of the International Labor Organization set up a program in the country. In the same year, the use of children in this manner to collect curiles was identified, in accordance with the ILO Convention No. 182, as a worst form of child labor and a project was begun on the Island of Espiritu Santo to withdraw children from it.

This program was launched with the goal of enhancing the capacity of the countries to confront the problem in the future.

It was then that the parents of Alejandra received a visit from Nelson Amaya, a psychologist of the Organización Empresarial Femenina (Women’s Business Organization), the NGO implementing the program.

It was not easy. The resistance of Alejandra’s mother and father was strong from the outset. Her parents showed no interest in this program, thinking that it would not amount to anything and that her going to school would not put food on the table. It was not only necessary to insist on the benefits of the program in order and to change their minds, but to make at least three visits to Alejandra’s family to convince them to enroll her.

Alejandra Looks to a More Promising Future

The program helped Alejandra to rebuild her self-esteem and her parents to improve their parenting skills. They came to realize that her future is in school and not in the mangrove swamps. Now Alejandra says that she wants to make something of her life and is set on the idea of a university career. Her father is also now convinced that she should graduate and help her seven other younger brothers and sisters so that they also benefit from the IPEC program.

Alejandra and her parents appreciate that the ILO-IPEC program is comprehensive: it not only offers the children meals, medical visits, and recreational activities, such as teaching them to make handicrafts, but also provides them with education.

The youngest attend the Centro de Desarrollo Integral (Comprehensive Development Center), while the others meet according to their level.

Previously, Alejandra’s younger sisters would waste their time in the streets, but now, according to her father, the program has become a guide for them. Nelson Amaya believes that the exciting thing about the IPEC project is that, not only will some 56 children collecting curiles be rescued and 87 families with productive activities on the island be assisted, but a prevention phase is being developed to protect dozens of boys and girls in high risk of ending up in the mangrove swamps.

In total, the program is offering assistance to 156 children around Alejandra’s age who can be sure that their future has changed for the better because of IPEC.

*not the child's real name