The Lonely Planet describes El Salvador as "a country of beautiful beaches, dramatic scenery, and friendly people."

While this is no doubt true, El Salvador is also marred with poverty and suffering. Child labour is prevalent, as many young children need to go to work in order to survive, and often provide for their families.

Ever wondered where the tasty sugar of your can of Coca Cola comes from? Odds are it is from an El Salvadorian sugarcane mill, which openly uses child labour. Children as young as eight work for up to eight hours a day in hot sun, cutting sugar cane with huge machetes. It is dangerous work, and injuries, sometimes life threatening, are all too common. Other children labour in sweatshops making garments for western countries, children climb landfills in order to collect recycling to sell, and young girls risk physical and sexual abuse by working in the domestic sector.

The Marketplace Children

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Perhaps the most visible of child labour in El Salvador, is children working in the marketplace. The kids can be seen selling goods and services in the streets, and in local markets, some as young as four and five. This work often includes running in and out of traffic, backbreaking work carrying goods, and working in the extreme heat. Education is expensive, and many poverty-stricken families cannot afford to send their children to school. Children instead spend hours working, their childhood stripped from them, in order to survive.

The Global Volunteer Network, an organisation that helps connect volunteers with communities in need, enables volunteers to visit El Salvador to make a real difference to those in need.

Lauren’s story

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By volunteering through the Global Volunteer Network, Lauren McElroy of Washington, U.S was able to visit El Salvador to see first hand how these people live, and to work for a development program that helps to give the children a break from that environment.

Lauren volunteered for five weeks with a program called 'Angeles Descalzos' which means 'fallen angels'. The program is for kids who work in the marketplace, many whom are unable to afford to go to school, and provides them with the chance to learn and play.

'We had a morning and an afternoon session. I taught some English, because a lot of the kids didn't go to school, and English is something that really they can only learn in school. It's really useful, for them, because there's a lot more opportunities if you know English, both educational, and job opportunities.'