SOS Children's Village Tehuacán

Growing up without parental care

Tehuacán is the second largest city in the Mexican state of Puebla, located in the country's south-east. More than half the population in Puebla is affected by poverty and social exclusion. Owing to the burdensome socioeconomic conditions that mark the region, thousands of families have a heavy cross to bear. Around 67 per cent of the people in and around Tehuacán live in poverty. Around 18 per cent of them lack access to regular meals. Forgotten by society, they live in shacks without running water, electricity or a proper sewage system. Such high levels of poverty and economic inequality tend to have a strong impact on the mental and physical development of a child. In Tehuacán, many young children grow up without parental care and protection. 

In order to ease their parents' economic struggle, children often drop out of school and engage in labour activities to help raise the family income. Like in most other parts of Mexico, children mostly find work in the informal sector. They usually shine shoes, sell merchandise or clean car windshields at traffic lights. School enrolment for Tehuacán continues to be very low at 65 per cent and even remains below the state of Puebla's average. Around 9 per cent of the people in Tehuacán do not know how to read or write. For children who do not attend school chances of breaking the cycle of poverty in the future are small. 

Over recent years, child prostitution has also become a concerning issue in Tehuacán. Although the Mexican government has started a number of initiatives to combat child poverty, the problem is far from being eradicated - at least in Tehuacán.