We are financing a series of 12 workshops “Promoting the health and well-being of girls in a situation of domestic child labor” for 30 girls in Lima. The objective is to contribute to the overall well-being of girls in domestic child labor while providing access to their rights as girls through improved physical, recreational, and emotional health conditions.
This project is conducted together with Grupo Jugando Aprendo, a recognized women-led community group that protects the labor, human, and educational rights of women and girls in domestic work in Peru. The group is composed of former child domestic workers, students, and volunteers from Peru and around the world.
Through these types of educational initiatives, we aim to break the brutal legacy of poverty that is passed from mother to daughter due to a lack of education and equal access to decent work. Many families have migrated from the Andes and, facing harsh and unforgiving urban realities, they rely on historically useful Andean practices, such as the relocation of a child to a new home, to alleviate the burden of poverty. In an environment like Lima, these traditional strategies at best fail to improve growth opportunities and at worst fuel a brutal system of child exploitation. We deeply believe that girls belong in school, not serving others as modern-day slaves, where they are exposed to physical, sexual, and emotional violence.
The team works with these girls in four essential ways:
- We inform them of the associated risks, such as physical burns and missed education opportunities that will perpetuate their poverty situation
- We instill a sense of pride and an understanding of the importance of maintaining personal physical health. We conduct nutrition and hygiene workshops
- We educate girls in child domestic work on how to cultivate emotional well-being and self-awareness
- We teach communication skills to improve intra-family communication
