iEmpathize

Casa Alianza has 22 years of experience as a street outreach to vulnerable kids. We have connected with them to tell the at-risk and prevention story. They are an amazing prevention org that serves as a drop in shelter and home for abandoned children and youth. They have some great programs and 150 beds. We will be featuring them in our media communicating prevention and child protection work. David, their street outreach director, took us to the areas of the city where kids are most vulnerable living on and under the streets. We hung out and played Uno and Soccer to break the ice. The kids then opened up and gave us tours of their homes. A group of about 20 teens live in a small tarp village. Another group lives under the streets. We climbed though drainage pipes and tunnels under the city where we sat and talked with them. In spite of it all, they have made these places home. They were so gracious and hospitable. We definitely made some new friends.

Each of the street tribes have girls that live with them. The leaders have their pick. We hung out with one 15 year old girl who is two months pregnant. All of the kids are so addicted to sniffing/huffing that they will do anything for it. There are crack pipes and PVC glue cans laying around everywhere. They pour the PVC glue into plastic water bottles, dip tissue in the solvent then huff and sniff the soaked tissue. Local pimps use this to exploit the girls and force them into prostitution in exchange for the glue. Four of the girls at the safe home were rescued from this very scenario. Two of the safe home girls have had babies from when they lived there… one from a pimp. One of the girls was 13 years old when she had her baby. We gathered some great artifacts for our exhibit, including the bottles, tissue, PVC glue can, and a crack pipe… all given to us as gifts from the kids.

We were escorted by armored/bullet proof SUV through the most dangerous and infamous areas for street prostitution in Mexico City to gather exploitation media. We were in one place there where you can rent a motorcycle and machine gun by the hour to do drive-bys… not joking. Many underage girls are being exploited here. Women in these areas line up on the streets to be chosen by clients. In another area the girls are paraded in the alley one by one in front of a lineup of men until one chooses her. This is where Rosi Orozo, the founder of the safe home that we partner with, personally rescued the first girls three years ago.

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