MULTICULTURAL REVIEW, March 1999.
If you care about children, people, or your government's respect for
human rights, read this book. Nancy Leigh Tierney's
ROBBED OF HUMANITY: Lives of Guatemalan Street Children is a masterful
marriage of academic information and gut-wrenching true stories. Don't be put off
by the textbook-style title: it's a good, fast read, and these kids need you to
know about them. The book's preface, written by Sister Alice Zachmann, admonishes
the reader to respond to the stories with action ("The children of Guatemala do not
want your tears . . .. Your energy is needed."). The devastating poverty and abuse
endured by these smart, kind, funny children is worse than most of us could imagine.
In this book, Tierney describes, discusses and tries to explain the horrors faced by
Guatemalan street children. Deftly guiding the reader through a clear, informative
analysis of the conditions that cause so many kids to suffer, Tierney paints a picture
of a government that not only neglects, but also terrorizes, the citizens it should
protect. Health care, education and other social programs are shockingly inadequate;
Tierney writes: "in 1990, according to UNICEF, only 63 percent of adult males and
47 percent of adult females in Guatemala were literate."
The book also describes many unprovoked attacks on street children by police officers.
A powerful example of such brutality occurred when "two uniformed national police
approached sixteen-year-old Esvin Noe Flores . . .. One of the officers, in a drunken
state, asked Esvin if he had ''gotten anything'' for him yet. When Esvin responded
negatively, the officer . . . began viciously beating Esvin with the butt of his
gun and, more maliciously, poured a potent acid over the boy's head and chest."
According to Tierney, the Guatemalan public ignores attacks like this.
The book's heart lies in its second chapter, made up of the testimonies of four
recovering street girls who speak candidly of being jailed, beaten, raped and
prostituted. One of the young women, when asked what she'd like to say to the readers
of this book, responded: "When a person asks them for help, that they give it to him,
because that person . . . is asking for help because he needs it." Read the book;
you may never see a homeless person the same way again.
URBANO LATINO magazine, February 1999. Reviewed by Christy Damio.
ROBBED OF HUMANITY provides a detailed account of the
everyday realities faced by street children in Guatemala City through several
moving personal testimonies. The reader is given insight into the daily obstacles
these children are forced to overcome, the brutality they suffer at the hands of the
police and private civilians, and the corrupt system responsible for them. Tierney
attributes the indifference shown by the general populace towards their situation to
Guatemala's history of terror and torture, a history in which the plight of the growing
number of street children has never been a major concern. ROBBED OF HUMANITY gives
us a rare opportunity to become better acquainted with the harsh reality of Guatemala's
street children, while revealing the remarkable spirit of endurance that they possess,
and the hopes and dreams that many of them hold for the future.
REPORT ON GUATEMALA, Vol 19, No 4, Winter 1998 (San Francisco: Guatemala News and Information Bureau)
Nancy Leigh Tierney's book,
ROBBED OF HUMANITY: Lives of Guatemalan Street Children, is a powerful and
disturbing work on the lives of street children. At times painful to read, it evokes
feelings of anger toward the forces and institutions that plague the lives of these
unfortunate children. Like most foreigners and Guatemalans alike, I also chose to ignore
their plight while visiting the capital. Tierney's book serves as a wake-up call to
all of us.
Certainly in recent years Guatemala has received its share of bad press. Many people in
the United States and abroad are becoming more aware of the human rights abuses, violence,
and killings that continue to take place in this forgotten country of 10 million to our
south. CIA-paid murderers escaping justice, Americans who have been murdered and tortured,
and the latest crime of several American students raped on a study-abroad trip-all have
considerably deepened our negative perceptions of Guatemala. Sadly, this book uncovers a
societal problem that is even more perverse, violent, and systematic. Tierney explores
the problem through the use of scholarly materials, interviews with child advocates, and
with the stories of the children themselves. The children's struggle is also shown in
various settings: within their families, on the street, in private shelters and public
detention centers, and within larger social institutions. She paints a comprehensive and
painfully clear picture by incorporating reliable and relevant sociological and
statistical data from a variety of sources to support her findings.
In the opening chapter, the "Scene" provides an overview of the major forces and social
actors that impact the lives of street children. The term "street child" is defined as
youths with weak or broken ties to their families, who live and work on the streets and
rarely, if ever, return to their homes. More than two-thirds of these street children are
boys whose average age is 12 and girls whose average age is 10. Reliable reports indicate
a worldwide total of about 100 million children now living on the streets. A
disproportionate number of those are concentrated in Latin America, especially in the
"gang of three" -Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala. Most estimates for Guatemala City are
5,000 children, a number that has increased dramatically in the last 15 years.
Testimony taken directly from the children befriended by the author is the focal point
of this work. These accounts, with little or no editing, make for powerful narratives.
Many of these children began by working outside the home to support family members and
ended up living permanently in the streets; others were in serious danger at home with
abusive fathers, mothers, or other relatives and fled for their own safety. Tierney traces
the root of these conditions to the societal limitations of an economy with typical wages
that barely rise above poverty levels. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the institution
that street children fear most is the police. Sickening details describe street children
being murdered, tortured, robbed, harassed and ridiculed by police. These children have
very few institutions to support or defend them; the notable exception is a street
children's advocacy group called Casa Alianza, which is located in Guatemala City.
Tierney suggests strategies to address the problem: more assistance for single-parent
households; coordinating efforts for children in destitute communities; and self-help
movements in poor settlements to slow the growing number of children being forced onto
the streets. ROBBED OF HUMANITY will hopefully outrage and compel concerned citizens
here and in Guatemala to stand up for this nation's street children.
WORLDVIEW, Vol 11, No 3, May-July 1998 (Washington, DC: National Peace Corps Association). Reviewed by Matthew C. Royston.
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