a woman sees herself incomplete unless living with a man, even if she has been used and discarded by many of them. Her current man has no desire to look after her previous children. He may or may not feel responsible for those he has produced, but certainly not for her older boy, who may be as young as six or seven. To avoid her boy being victimised, she sends him out to work – he begs, sells chewing gum and cigarettes or shines shoes – all on busy city streets. He takes the money home at night to his mother. Little by little he learns from street boys that it is better to live alone on the street with your own money that to give it to mother and be beaten by her man. Little by little he makes the transition from slum to street, from one set of fears to another, from chewing gum to drugs. He will meet boys with similar history and others who have been deliberately abandoned. They all hold in common their fears, their hate, and their scars.

there are younger brothers. One by one they too will be forced into the street, as mother brings yet another one into the world.

by the vast majority of people in the cities. They are rarely referred to as children, but rather are known as ‘Piranhas’. They can be seen mostly at night when they are on the move – fearing to fall asleep, lest they should die of pneumonia, the main cause of death among street boys. One thing these boys know nothing about is trust – they have probably been rejected by their own mother! They fear all adults; hate all police. They are regularly caught, beaten and often tortured. They are constantly on the run, never sticking around long enough for ‘injustice’ to catch up with them. They have taught each other to lie, deceive, steal and, in general, outwit all ‘big people’, their natural enemies. These fears are justified – many street children are rounded up by the authorities, never to be seen again. Some of the children are shot.

is absurd and contradictory. First of all, they do not know who he is – at most, to them, he is the figure of a dead man on a cross. Secondly, ‘love’ is not part of their experience. This could only mean sex. An estimated 90% of Lima’s street boys have been sexually abused. They have no self-esteem. Even if there were a living Jesus and such a thing as unselfish love, it would not be for them, for they are the city’s ‘human garbage’.