In Cabildo and Sucre, in front of the Belgrano branch of Banco Nación, a
9-year-old boy
is alone, sitting on cardboard with his head bowed.
He holds up a Burger King
glass
where passers-by deposit money into him.
A lady approaches him and gives him a bag with three packets of 9 de Oro cookies. Joe's story is repeated in different parts of the City of Buenos Aires.
There are many boys who ask.
A few minutes later Edgar, his father, appears with Johnny, 8 years old, Joe's younger brother.
Since the youngest wanted to go to the bathroom, his father took him to McDonald's and that's why the 9-year-old was left alone in the street for a while.
"I hurt my finger with the grinder a week ago, that's why we came to ask because there is no money in the Province. I
work in construction and in the Central Market, and we live in González Catán
," says the father, in dialogue with
Clarín
,
while lifting the gauze covering the wound on his immobilized right hand.
A boy begs for alms on Martín García y Tacuarí avenue, in Barracas.
Photo Ferdinand of the Order
Just three blocks from where Joe is sitting, three children and two young people ask for money at the door of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Belgrano.
Also at the entrance of the Jumbo supermarket, in Santa Fe and Bonpland (in Palermo), Dori (39) is sitting with two of her nine children.
"We are from José C. Paz. Four years ago we came to ask, I was pregnant with her. I am a housewife, a single mother and
I have a pension for having more than 7 children, I had 10 but one died
," she says.
Dori prefers that they help her with food, instead of money, so she can take the food to cook at home.
A lady who approaches with a bag of food joins the conversation and points to the 4-year-old girl: "You were pregnant with her when you started coming here."
One block from the Alto Palermo shopping mall, on Santa Fe and Billinghurst, right on the corner of a bar in Havana, a boy and his mother ask for help.
Only a glass separates them from the people who snack on the premises.
Florencia and one of her children beg for money in the Florida pedestrian street.
Photo Ferdinand of the Order
These two worlds are also seen in the Florida pedestrian street.
At the door of an Adidas business, where they plotted the window with the photo of the Argentine National Team lifting the World Cup, Florencia and two of her children spend their days asking for money to spend the night in a hotel in the City.
"During the day we are safe on the street. At night
we don't sleep in the government shelters because they steal you
even if you don't have the last cell phone," she explains while her daughter and son walk around her with an aroma diffuser that has become her toy.
In the hand in front of her sings her husband and his other daughter accompanies him.
"We lived in Burzaco but he lost his job a week ago, that's why we came to the Capital.
They had offered me to clean houses but it was a pittance
," says Florencia.
what the city says
From the City Government they try to break away from this black postcard of Buenos Aires.
Human Development and Habitat officials explain that their Buenos Aires Presente (BAP) program only provides assistance to families living on the streets.
But they admit that they do not contemplate providing help to those who ask during the day in the City.
"There are two very different realities that of the person who does not have a roof to sleep in, who requires a social policy that resolves that. On the other hand, there are people on the street who ask during the day in areas where there is movement and therefore generally come from other districts," they say.
But also in the City there are children who do not have a place to live.
Paradoxically, at the door of the Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Family, in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires (Perón 524), Santiago and his daughter Cielo (5) ask for food and money to rent.
His case went viral with a video that was shared on social media.
The family of eight has
a sign in English
that a girl who passed by helped them make.
Santiago, his wife Gabriela, Sol (13), Luna (11), Santino (9), Estrella (6), Cielo (5) and Mateo (3) live in a Renault 12.
Many tourists pass through the area who give them dollars, but when the sun goes down the streets become depopulated.
Only those who do not have a home remain on their sidewalks.
From Fundación Sí they explain to
Clarín
that
"since the pandemic the number of people who arrive in the Capital during the day has increased
. "
And they clarify: "We see them circulating mostly through the micro and macro-central area, through Belgrano, Palermo and the areas with the largest number of shops."
That is what
Clarín
verified in a tour of different Buenos Aires neighborhoods.
The boys and their parents explained to this newspaper that they go to school, receive social plans and before night falls they return to their homes in the Province of Buenos Aires.
In the night tours that the NGO makes to meet people who live on the streets, they note that "there are many people who do not live there but come to work during the day and go back to sleep in their homes."
This leads them to confirm that
"there is great circulation between the Capital and the Province"
.
The ease of reaching the City by train -and later by bus- allows them to ask for help in neighborhoods where people with greater purchasing power and tourists reside.
In fact, Rodrigo's family arrives at the Constitución train station (11).
His stepfather Eduardo recounts his journey: "I take everything I see in this area and my wife does the same in Once, then we sell it at fairs in Florencio Varela, where we live."
While he walks, his son and stepson wait for him sitting on the Martín García y Tacuarí avenue, where a branch of Banco Ciudad is located.
"It's safer for them to wait for me sitting there," says Eduardo.
During class time the boys come to order on weekends.
But in summer, for eight years, they have come before noon and leave at 7:00 p.m. on the Roca train.
"I went to sixth grade and so did my brother. The day here is very long, but we come because it's not enough for us."
MG/AS
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