Real Olivers

Press, 10 June 1980, Page 18

Real Olivers

Some Christchurch boy will be chosen this montl to take part in the Christ church Operatic Society’; production of “Oliver,’ the musical based on th< Dickens’ story of Olive; Twist. They will be well cared for children, far re moved from the harsh lift and times portrayed bj Dickens; but there are stil real life “Olivers.” The problem of or phaned and abandonet children is a world-wide one. particularly- in the Third World countries Here is the s'_ry of a Peruvian “Oliver” who was saved from a life of crime by the National Institute of Advancement of Minors and Familes (INAPROMET), an organisation supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICL-). Oliver had run away from a home where a stepmother treated him shabbily. She gave him less food and more work, and beat him more often than she did her own children. He was barely eight years old when he ran away to La Parada where buses from all over Peru arrive, and all the vegetables ar-' marketed. . There. Oliver met other boys like himself, who more or less lived on the streets. They carried parcels or cases for customers, or helped to unload the trucks. Sometimes they took fruit from the market stalls, which earned them their name, the “fruit birds.” At the end of La Parada is a stretch of land where all sorts of stolen goods are for sale. Here the boys’ “uncle " are found.

Each gang h-«s ’’uncle.” who helpj to defend it against other gangs. Sometimes he may be called on to settle arguments that flare up among the boys in his own gang. Oliver took part in whatever was asked of him — unloading trucks, snatching fruit or handbags. One day he was hoisted up a wall to climb in through a small window and open a door from the inside, but he was too slow, and the police caught him. Oliver was sent to a boys’ home run by INAPROMET for a year. The institution's director found Oliver’s father, who said that he had reported the boy’s disappearance and was glad to know he was safe. He told the director that Oliver was a problem in his own home and a danger to his stepbrothers. Because his family- did not want him back, Oliver was allowed to stay at the home for a second year. At first he 'having to stay longw, but he settled down, and in some ways enjoyed it. He had food, shelter, a bed with sheets and blankets - and pyjamas to wear. The little “fruit bird” of the previous year had never been so comfortable in his life. Towards the end of Oliver’s second year in the home, the director visited an aunt of the boy’s, and persuaded her to give her nephew a home. He lives there now, working in the house during the day, and going to school in the evenings. 4