Children of the Streets

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Monday, October 11, 2010 | 5 photos

For a long time I thought I wanted to be a sports reporter. When I imagined my perfect life, I saw myself on the sidelines of the Super bowl, married to a wide receiver and living in a house full of Gatorade and champagne. Then I saw the documentary "Born into Brothles" and every idea I had about what I wanted to be changed. I am currently a senior Telecommunications major at the University of Florida, and I want to tell the stories of people who can't tell them for themselves. I'm not sure if I'll do this by being an international reporter, non-profit employee or maybe a career I haven't even thought of yet, but I know it's what I'm meant to do. I am the public relations and media development intern for an amazing non-profit organization called Children Beyond Our Border(CBOB). This year I was fortunate enough to travel with CBOB to Medellin, Colombia. While in Colombia I took a tour of the streets with another non-profit called Vivan Los Ninos. We set out at five in the morning to give children living in the streets bread and hot chocolate. I had no idea what to expect. I had been told sometimes they found children who had died during the night. What we found were skinny, scarred children using their t-shirts as blankets as they slept in the dirty streets. Many of them sniffed glue to get high.They told us they wanted to be in the sky not here on the streets. We met too many young girls who were still practically children themselves prostituting themselves so they could feed their children. I was able to block out the smell of urine and unwashed bodies by letting myself be absorbed in my camera. I knew the only way people would care about these kids would be by seeing them and learning their stories. I had nothing to give them, but a voice through my photos.