So yesterday was set to be a day and night in after partying the night before - free drinks are given in pretty much all the bars so I didn´t spend a single sol on drinks all night. Obviously the stuff is like paint stripper so yesterday was a feeling a bit rough. We decided to have a night in and some of the other volunteers and I were playing cards and having a good laugh. The boys had just gone to bed and it was clearly at this moment that seeing the empty bed they realised that one of the boys had escaped. In the panic of looking for him in the orphanage some of the other boys came back form school (they go to school at night) and they causally told us that 2 of the boys hadn´t come back with them. I immediately began to panic because Alex, 10 years old, who had escaped is still new and apparently had a problem with drugs and I was concerned that he might take something. He´s one of the most fragile looking boys, one of those that really makes me want to take him back with me.
Davis, one of the older boys thats in charge called Jeremy to let him know. This is quite a common thing for the childen to escape and want to go back on the streets. Jeremy always goes looking for them and brings them back but if they continue to do it they can often be kicked out of the home. Davis went to Jeremy´s house to go to another boy´s dorm where they thought he might be, a few others had a walk round near the orphanage and me, Fred and her sister got in a taxi and went straight to the Plaza in the centre of town - a hot spot with kids who know they can get money out of tourists who feel sorry for the children or guilty for spending so much money on restaurants and going out. When we got there as we had just got up and left we weren´t wrapped up as much as usual and it was soooo cold. I just couldn´t believe that these kids would prefer to be out in the freezing cold than at home in their warm beds. It soon became apparent that we had no clue where to look for them, I mean how were we ever going to think like a street child and know where they would go? Luckily, I got a call to say that they had the three of them and they were coming to pick us up.
It turned out that the three of them had planned the whole thing. Two of them hadn´t bothered to go to school and Alex had gone and met them. They had gone to the dorm to get 3 soles "to eat" as they had told the guy there. Jeremy sat them down and the whole thing was talked about, reasons as to why they had left had included for one, bullying by other boys (who were then woken up and made to apoligize), another claimed it was because he was bored, and Juan Carlos had clearly just gone with it for the adventure.
It was quite emotional the whole thing. At one point Fred walked off because she was starting to get upset, I followed her and said I felt exactly the same, which then set me off crying, and then her sister started! Gosh it was emotional. We didn´t go back to the room so the kids wouldn´t see us crying but we stayed close to listen. The boys were then told to come and apologize to us and they came and gave us big hugs and they were cyring a little bit which set the three of us off crying again. It was quite obvious that we have no idea what these kids have been through or what goes through their minds. To think that 10year olds would rather spend a night on the street, begging or whatever they would have done broke my heart. Jeremey says that it´s what most of these kids know and the attraction of the money is too much for some who don´t like the rules of the orphanage and want their independence. Obviously the begging only really works till their 13/14 because people don´t give money to older looking boys and this is went the stealing begins. However, this isn´t a good messgae for the other childen that they can come and go as they please and as Anderson, the ring leader of the adventure has already run off a few times he is now on his last warning. Only time will tell if he will stay or not.....
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