Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
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Oscar, the Child Laborer of The Forgotten Border
Chiapas, Mexico - At 11 years-old, Oscar has to work the seven days
of the week to help his mother pay for household expenses. Like
thousands of children in Mexico, he is forced to substitute the toys,
and often the school supplies, with employment.
The job of this child of brown skin, indigenous features, and who
appears to be younger than the 11 years he assures to be, consists
of loading and unloading bundles or boxes of merchandise at the
Suchiate River’s bank. The river is at the border between Tecún
Umán, Guatemala, and Hidalgo City, Chiapas, Mexico. This job
requires the strength and stamina of a grown man, not of a thin and
small boy like Oscar.
The merchandise this boy loads and unloads consists of fruits,
vegetables, grains or any other home or field products that are sold
at stores on both sides of the Mexico-Guatemala border. These
goods are transported on makeshift rafts made of pneumatic tractor
tubes, and which illegally cross the copious Suchiate River at any
hour of the day and even late during the evening.
I met Oscar on a Saturday’s afternoon. On that day, the teeny boy
had to work at least 10 hours, the average number of hours he
works on weekends in order to earn about 50 Mexican pesos, or five
U.S. dollars.
Oscar is from Guatemala but he works on the Mexican bank of the
river. Although he can work in the river’s bank of his country, he
prefers working in the Mexican side. According to him, he gets paid
better there. Oscar has four brothers, one of them older than him
and who also works loading and unloading bundles from the rafts
that cross the Suchiate.
He says he is a fourth-grader in an elementary school in Tecún
Umán, Guatemala, his hometown, and that right after school is over
he comes to work at this bank of the river. On weekends, he arrives
there early and works all day.
On his spare time, Oscar finds some fun by doing cartwheels or by
diving into the dirty waters of the mythic and unpopular Suchiate
River. For him, it is a way he can have fun, and besides jumping and
playing in the water as the child that he is, it helps him chill out a bit,
since the summer’s high temperatures and humidity in this jungle
region of Southern Mexico makes days unbearable.
Like Oscar, many other children at this border zone do the same:
they work from sun up to sun down trying to make a living. Some are
15 or 16 year-olds but there are also 9 or 10 year-olds, and
sometimes even younger. Those who are older do not load and
unload bundles anymore, since they have learned to row the rafts
using long sticks that can measure several yards in height. Oscar
and some of his little friends who are about his same age know that
one day they will stop being stevedores to become raft rowers also,
a better paid job.
Some of these boys —of short height for their ages— have grown up
loading and unloading merchandise in this busy commercial crossing.
Here in the Southern border of Mexico, these kids see their childhood
slip away from their lives the same way the river’s dirty water slips
away before their very tiny eyes.
For them, to work loading and unloading bundles at their young age
is the only way to help their families financially. Otherwise, they run
the risk of ending up begging for money on the streets, or even
worst, committing crimes to get some money. These activities are
very common in this zone and many of these boys cannot escape
from crime here at this border, also known by many as the forgotten
border.
Translation by Eduardo Barraza
of the week to help his mother pay for household expenses. Like
thousands of children in Mexico, he is forced to substitute the toys,
and often the school supplies, with employment.
The job of this child of brown skin, indigenous features, and who
appears to be younger than the 11 years he assures to be, consists
of loading and unloading bundles or boxes of merchandise at the
Suchiate River’s bank. The river is at the border between Tecún
Umán, Guatemala, and Hidalgo City, Chiapas, Mexico. This job
requires the strength and stamina of a grown man, not of a thin and
small boy like Oscar.
The merchandise this boy loads and unloads consists of fruits,
vegetables, grains or any other home or field products that are sold
at stores on both sides of the Mexico-Guatemala border. These
goods are transported on makeshift rafts made of pneumatic tractor
tubes, and which illegally cross the copious Suchiate River at any
hour of the day and even late during the evening.
I met Oscar on a Saturday’s afternoon. On that day, the teeny boy
had to work at least 10 hours, the average number of hours he
works on weekends in order to earn about 50 Mexican pesos, or five
U.S. dollars.
Oscar is from Guatemala but he works on the Mexican bank of the
river. Although he can work in the river’s bank of his country, he
prefers working in the Mexican side. According to him, he gets paid
better there. Oscar has four brothers, one of them older than him
and who also works loading and unloading bundles from the rafts
that cross the Suchiate.
He says he is a fourth-grader in an elementary school in Tecún
Umán, Guatemala, his hometown, and that right after school is over
he comes to work at this bank of the river. On weekends, he arrives
there early and works all day.
On his spare time, Oscar finds some fun by doing cartwheels or by
diving into the dirty waters of the mythic and unpopular Suchiate
River. For him, it is a way he can have fun, and besides jumping and
playing in the water as the child that he is, it helps him chill out a bit,
since the summer’s high temperatures and humidity in this jungle
region of Southern Mexico makes days unbearable.
Like Oscar, many other children at this border zone do the same:
they work from sun up to sun down trying to make a living. Some are
15 or 16 year-olds but there are also 9 or 10 year-olds, and
sometimes even younger. Those who are older do not load and
unload bundles anymore, since they have learned to row the rafts
using long sticks that can measure several yards in height. Oscar
and some of his little friends who are about his same age know that
one day they will stop being stevedores to become raft rowers also,
a better paid job.
Some of these boys —of short height for their ages— have grown up
loading and unloading merchandise in this busy commercial crossing.
Here in the Southern border of Mexico, these kids see their childhood
slip away from their lives the same way the river’s dirty water slips
away before their very tiny eyes.
For them, to work loading and unloading bundles at their young age
is the only way to help their families financially. Otherwise, they run
the risk of ending up begging for money on the streets, or even
worst, committing crimes to get some money. These activities are
very common in this zone and many of these boys cannot escape
from crime here at this border, also known by many as the forgotten
border.
Translation by Eduardo Barraza
By Pedro Ultreras August 8, 2011
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| HISTORY IS ABOUT TO CHANGE Grassroots Journalism |
Oscar is an 11 year-old Guatemalan
boy who works long hours at the
bank of the Suchiate River, in the
Mexico-Guatemala border. His
childhood, as that of many other
children workers like him, goes by
amongst games, school and long
working days.
Photo by Pedro Ultreras| Barriozona
boy who works long hours at the
bank of the Suchiate River, in the
Mexico-Guatemala border. His
childhood, as that of many other
children workers like him, goes by
amongst games, school and long
working days.
Photo by Pedro Ultreras| Barriozona
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Pedro Ultreras is a journalist, photographer and
filmmaker. He is the director of the movie 7 Soles and
the documental La Bestia. He currently lives in New York.
E-mail: ultrerasp@me.com
filmmaker. He is the director of the movie 7 Soles and
the documental La Bestia. He currently lives in New York.
E-mail: ultrerasp@me.com
