AMBIENCE : sound, traffic, selling...

NOISY CITY BUSES, TRUCKS AND VENDORS SURROUND THE PARK IN DOWNTOWN GUATEMALA CITY'S ZONA UNO. THIS IS THE OLDEST PART OF THIS CENTURIES-OLD CAPITAL, BURSTING WITH PEOPLE, DENSE WITH POLLUTION ...

IT'S ABOUT TEN IN THE MORNING, AND DESPITE THE SUN, AND THE NOISE, IF YOU LOOK AROUND, OVER HERE BY THIS BENCH, AND OVER THERE BY THAT TREE, LIE A NUMBER OF TEENAGED BOYS ... SOME SLEEP ON THE GRASS ... OTHERS ON PIECES OF DIRTY CARDBOARD ...

AMBIENCE: "Ustedes de donde son...de Honduras..."

THEY'RE BEGINNING TO WAKE UP ... AND EVENTUALLY, THEY TELL ME WHAT BROUGHT THEM TO THIS PARK IN GUATEMALA CITY...

ACT #1: Marvin ... soy de Honduras, de la capital ... yo viene despues del huracan ... el huracan Mitch ... se perdieron puentes, casas, cosas de valor ...

ACT #1: V/O "I'M MARVIN, AND I CAME FROM HONDURAS AFTER THE HURRICANE ... IT WAS BAD ... HOMES, BRIDGES. ALL KINDS OF THINGS WERE LOST ... THINGS OF VALUE ..."

MARVIN IS NINETEEN YEARS OLD ... HE SAYS HIS FAMILY WAS LUCKY ... NONE OF HIS NEAR RELATIVES WERE KILLED IN THE HURRICANE, BUT THEY DID LOSE THEIR HOMES AND THE FEW POSSESSIONS THEY HAD ...

ACT #2: "Para conseguir dinero, para llevar a ella y ayudarles, ...

V/O "I CAME HERE TO MAKE MONEY ... TO TAKE TO MY MOTHER ... IN HONDURAS, THERE IS NO WORK, THERE ... I WANTED TO GET TO MEXICO, BUT I DECIDED TO STAY HERE...MY MOM DRINKS AND I NEED TO HELP HER OUT WITH MONEY ... I HAD A SHOE SHINE KIT, BUT IT WAS STOLEN ..."

ACT: ... yo tenia una caja lustre pero me la robaron, quiero compar otra ...

THEN, MARVIN LIFTS UP HIS SOILED T-SHIRT ... AND POINTS TO A FRESH SCAR RUNNING ABOUT FOUR INCHES UP HIS STOMACH TOWARD HIS CHEST ...

ACT #3: ... Aqui me pegaron esto ... quien te lo hizo, particulares ...

V/O: I WAS SHOT BY A POLICEMAN WHO THOUGHT I WAS STEALING, BUT IT WASN'T ME WHO WAS ROBBING, IT WAS THE GUY I WAS WITH ...

AFTER ONLY A FEW MONTHS IN GUATEMALA, MARVIN HAS THE HARDENED LOOK OF SOMEONE WHOSE LIVED ON THE STREET A LONG TIME.

SO DOES LEE, WHO'S FIFTEEN ...
ACT 4 : "Me vine porque alla en Honduras, Mitch hizo mucho relajo ...

V/O I CAME BECAUSE IN HONDURAS, MITCH HAS CAUSED SO MUCH HASSLE. THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THERE ... SO I LIVE ON THE STREET ... I PUT UP WITH HUNGER, I ASK FOR FOOD, IF PEOPLE REFUSE ME, I JUST PUT UP WITH IT ... THINGS ARE REALLY BAD ...

FADE UP ON ACT: entonces me aguanto ... es mejor aqui que en Honduras ... si cierto

BUT, HE SAYS, IF I'M BAD OFF HERE, AT LEAST IT'S BETTER THAN IN HONDURAS......"

AMBIENCE : Dennis te habalan ... el no quiere hablar ...

DENNIS, WHO'S FIFTEEN, IS STILL GROGGY AND DOESN'T WANT TO TALK. WHEN HE DOES, HIS VOICE, LIKE LEE'S AND MARVIN'S IS SLURRED AND DREAMY, HE'S DRUGGED, BUT IT'S NOT FROM SNIFFING SHOE GLUE. THESE DAYS, ANOTHER DEMON DRUG IS PREYING ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH LIVING ON GUATEMALA'S STREETS, IT'S CRACK, IT HAS BECOME SO CHEAP AS TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO THESE KIDS WHO HAVE ALMOST NOTHING.

AMB #6 "Cuando en la noche se ponene a fumar crack..FADE UNDER FOR NEXT TRACK: el dia sigiuiente estan muy nerviosos, muy ... como pasan toda la noche con el crack, no duermen ...

JOSE ANTONIO ALONZO, A VOLUNTEER WITH CASA ALIANZA, THE LATIN AMERICAN BRANCH OF COVENANT HOUSE, SAYS IT'S EASY TO TELL WHEN THE'VE HAVE BEEN SMOKING CRACK. IT MAKES THEM EXTREMELY NERVOUS AND RESTLESS ... WHEN THEY SMOKE CRACK AT NIGHT, THEY DON'T GET TO SLEEP AT ALL, HE SAYS ... IT HITS THEM HARD AND QUICKLY ... AND RIGHT NOW, HE ADDS, THERE ARE FEW OPTIONS FOR REHABILITATION ...

FADE UP ON ACTUALITY ... rehabilitacion o centros solo estan Remar que trabaja con drogadictos no, ..."

IT'S ESTIMATED THAT ON ANY GIVEN DAY, THERE ARE ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING ON THE STREEETS OF GUATEMALA CITY ... PRIOR TO HURRICANE MITCH, PERHAPS TEN PERCENT OF THEM CAME FROM HONDURAS, BUT ACCORDING TO BRUCE HARRIS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR CASA ALIANZA, THE NUMBER OF STREET CHILDREN FROM HONDURAS HAS RISEN DRAMATICALLY IN THE MONTHS FOLLOWING HURRICANE MITCH ...

ACT #6 : We're talking hundreds ... when they left Honduras, they weren't necessarily street children ... these were children whose homes and families, had been destroyed and they're looking for survival. One of the children, 14 years, had his face stuck in a bag of solvent shoe glue, and I said to him, wouldn't you be better off with your family in Honduras ... and he said yes, I'll take you to Casa Alianza, and we'll repatriate you and he said, I can't go back to my family if I'm not taking any money"

CASA ALIANZA IS TRYING TO GET TO THE CHILDREN BEFORE THEY BECOME TOTALLY ADDICTED TO THE STREET ... A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE PARK IS THE PLACE KNOWN AS EL REFUGIO ... THE REFUGE ... IT'S A KIND OF TRANSITIONAL HOME FOR STREET KIDS YOUNGER THAN SEVENTEEN ... AND IT'S ALWAYS, ALWAYS, FULL ...

AMBIENCE: Bueno por la manana ..."

GUADALUPE ESPINOZA ROJAS, WHO RUNS THE REFUGIO FOR CASA ALIANZA DESCRIBES A ROUTINE FOR THE KIDS THAT BEGINS AT 5:30 IN THE MORNING ... IT INCLUDES CLASSES, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND TIMES FOR PRAYER AND REFLECTION ... LAUREN OLIVER IS A VOLUNTEER FROM ENGLAND:

ACT # 11: "The idea is that they're trying to get all the drugs out of their systems, motivate them ... to get to function more ..."

OLIVER SAYS THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REASONS WHY SOME KIDS WOULD CHOOSE TO COME TO CASA ALIANZA RATHER THAN STAY OUT ON THE STREET. THE REASON SIXTEEN YEAR OLD EMERSON ASIDIS AND FIFTEEN YEAR OLD VICTORIANO DIAZ ARE AT THE REFUGIO THIS MORNING IS THEY THEY JUST CAME FROM HONDURAS A FEW DAYS AGO ... WHAT ARE THEIR PLANS, I ASK?

ACT #13 : cuales son sus planes,,,,superarme para tener un futuro mejor

V/O: MY PLANS ARE TO IMPROVE MYSELF...TO MAKE A BETTER FUTURE ... WE WANT TO GO TO THE UNITED STATES TO WORK, TO HELP OUR FAMILY ... WE JUST BARELY MADE IT OUT OF HONDURAS WITH OUR LIVES, THANK GOD ...

BRING UP ACT AT :" ..queremos un bien para nuestra familia, nuestros hermanos....Ustedes, si la situation...If life were different in Honduras, would you stay..se quedarian...si estuvieramos trabajando, pero es muy dificil..."

v/o "YES WE WOULD BE WORKING, AND WORKING WELL ... BUT THERE,IT'S VERY HARD ..."

EVEN BEFORE HURRICANE MITCH, HONDURAS WAS ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THIS HEMISPHERE. FOR BRUCE HARRIS OF CASA ALIANZA, THAT POSES A MAJOR STRUCTURAL CHALLENGE FOR GOVERNMENTS AND AGENCIES TO LOOK AT LONG TERM ...

ACTUALITY #15: "If we want to really be humanitarian about this, then we have to look at the bigger picture, and we need to help people get back on their feet, to help them with dignity and with work, and with access to markets, not just handouts."

BUT IN THE SHORT TERM, MITCH IS JUST ONE OF A NUMBER OF FACTORS ADDING TO THE GROWING POPULATION OF STREET CHILDREN THROUGHOUT LATIN AMERICA, A POPULATION NOW ESTIMATED AT OVER FORTY MILLION. IF THEY WERE ALL IN ONE PLACE, SAYS BRUCE HARRIS, THEY'D HAVE THEIR OWN COUNTRY, A SEAT IN THE U.N., A LOAN FROM THE WORLD BANK. BUT BECAUSE THEY'RE SPREAD OUT, THERE'S NOTHING FOR THEM NOBODY THINKS ABOUT THEM, AND MORE THAN DRUGS OR PROSTITUION, IT'S INDIFFERENCE, HE SAYS, THAT IS BY FAR THE BIGGEST KILLER OF STREET CHILDREN....

FOR LATINO USA, I'M MARIA MARTIN.