Real lives

To the county's new Rights Protection Board

Inside a plastic bag, Estuardo carries flannel cleaning cloths to sell to motorists stopped at a red light at one of the city’s streets. He is nine years old.

It is 10:30am and he has only sold one shirt. He sits down on the sidewalk and, for a second, imagines his school and the classroom with a map of the Galapagos Islands on the wall.

When his father left for Spain looking for a job, Estuardo was forced to drop out of school and to work in the mornings in order to bring home some money.

A neighbour approaches him and asks why he is sitting on the sidewalk. The child tells him what has happened to his family. The neighbour takes him by the hand and brings him to the new county's Board for the protection of children’s rights.

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