His Smile

Watch this video to see Dauri's adorable smile at the end. This is why everyone falls in love with him the minute they meet him! Liz is trying to work with him on not shoe shining on the Malecon. Many of the boys in the poor area have shoe shine kits. They go to the Malecon, a popular area along the water, and shine shoes for 10 pesos each. This is a way for kids to support their families, however, Dauri uses a lot of the money to go to a place downtown that charges kids to play video games. He ends up missing school and getting in trouble with the police while on the streets working, so we encourage the kids, if at all possible, not to shoe shine. The police prey on the young boys and will throw them in jail, sometimes for no reason other than the fact that they are shoe shining on the Malecon where the tourists can see, and the police don't want to be projecting that image of child labour to the tourists. It is also these shoe shine boys who are often targetted by pimps and child pedophiles. Dauri's grandmother had no idea that this was happening to young boys, so we educated her on the dangers of the boys going out on the streets along, working, and we hope that she will also encourage Dauri to stop.