Where the streets have no name. An in-depth study on the influence of community violence on children from the slums of Caracas.

Abstract

Children in the slums of Caracas, Venezuela have to deal with violence in their daily life. This thesis will focus on the effect that community violence has on these children in the slums and the way they cope with the violent situation. By conducting interviews with the children, they were offered a voice and proved that children are a group that can speak for themselves and have a clear idea about what goes on in their neighbourhood. Children find themselves being surrounded with violence that causes them to be limited in their mobility, have a constant feeling of fear and can lead them into becoming violent actors themselves. Children are affected by community violence in many ways. Yet they have learned to live with it and found various ways to cope with it. Not only have they adopted several coping strategies, but they use according to the situation. Nevertheless more action is needed to change the prospects for better future for these children. There is still a great lack in support that is offered to the children both in capacity of the support as in the content in which support often lacks to acknowledge the agency of children.