Working for a better world

By Marsha Munroe/Development & Peace MANTHOC... A Peruvian youth-led organization working for justice
May 2002

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Members of MANTHOC, a youth-led Peruvian organization, visit Canada to share their story of Christian youth working for social justice. (Story written by Marsha Munroe of Development and Peace, a MANTHOC partner organization.)

José Sánchez Porras looks much like any other teenager. Balancing school and work, he enjoys playing sports with his friends and classmates. However, there is a great deal more to this 16-year-old.

José is a member of MANTHOC (Movement of Adolescent and Child Workers, Children of Christian Workers), a youth-led Peruvian organization that works to ensure that children and youth have dignified and safe working conditions, with time for education and recreation.

Since discovering the organization at the age of eight, José has participated in four national assemblies and has recently been elected as one of MANTHOC's nine national delegates. He emphasizes that MANTHOC is not just an organization for youth workers' rights, but a movement of, for and by child workers, as they are the ones who are making the decisions and taking action.

The rights of children and youth are not always respected within Peru's labour force and in society. Given its current economic environment and extensive poverty, the country's estimated 2.5 million child and youth workers face great challenges. Work is hard to find and conditions are terrible.

While recognizing the international cry to stop exploitive child labour, this movement in Peru supports the rights of children and youth to work. "We say yes to child labour, but in just conditions," says José. He adds, "People often say that children are the future, but we are here to say that we are the present as well, and through MANTHOC we are exercising our right to participate in society."

MANTHOC's work is firmly based on Christian faith. "We have a special identification with Christ. As Christians we want to follow the word and example of Christ," says José. "Don't forget that Jesus was a child worker."

This commitment to Christian values inspires the youth to take action in the face of injustice. In its 25 years, MANTHOC has implemented numerous programs for youth and child workers. With international and local support, the movement provides employment, education services, street youth outreach, and a program to combat the loss of culture brought on by globalization.

At World Youth Day 2002 social justice is a major component. José and MANTHOC show how youth from around the world are taking responsibility as social actors. It is clear these often-overlooked young members of society have the power to change our world for the better.

José often emphasizes el protagonismo (the protagonist or agent for change) in speaking of MANTHOC's work among children and youth workers, and he poses this question to young Canadians: "How are you protagonists in the transformation of your society in light of the Gospel?"

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