A Trip to the Registrar's Office

In the United States we don't think much about children being unregistered as citizens. In the United States children are born in hospitals and paperwork for birth certificates are filled out at that time. This is not the case in Ecuador where many children are born at home. In these circumstances the parent must take their children to the city registrar to log them into the archives. For many children this just doesn't happen. Unable to go to school, they become trapped in poverty with no chance of a bright future.

The summer of 2011 I went with Margoth, a government social worker with whom I work, to a poor section of north Quito called Llano Chico to register one such child so he could enroll in school in September. Klever (a popular Ecuadorian boy's name) was one of five children born to an alcoholic mother, four of whom were living with their 85 year old grandmother. She washed clothes by hand to earn money in order to feed the children and did her best to be a loving caretaker and provide them with a home. The oldest granddaughter, a 15 year old Doris, worked for $2 a day as a domestic helper to contribute as well. She never had the opportunity to go to school. The smaller children had been in the government shelter for a year before they were placed with the grandmother. Margoth had previously registered them. Eight-year old Klever, however, had always lived with his grandmother and never had the opportunity to be registered and because of this was unable to attend school.

When we arrived at the house, Klever was at the washing center helping his grandmother scrub clothes on a stone slab. He was shy and timid. His life then had never encompassed much beyond the walls of his home. Margoth explained to the grandmother that we were taking her and Klever to the registrar in order to get him logged into the archives as well as enroll him in school. She got on her slippers and hat and we piled into the government vehicle to ride to the registrar's office.

Margoth, Klever and his grandmother, and I entered a small office with a desk and a few chairs. The registrar was an amiable man willing to let the grandmother register him despite the fact that she wasn't his mother. This only happened because the grandmother came with Margoth, a government worker with identification vouching to his relationship to her.

The registrar started the process by asking the boy's name, age, and birthday. Already a problem arose. Klever needed more than a first and last name, he needed a middle name, something neither he nor his grandmother knew. Margoth said, "That's okay. We'll just give him one." then she turned to Klever and asked him what name he would like. He had no idea. I suggested my husband's name in Spanish, José, and he thought that was good. So he became Klever José.

Then came the matter of his birthday. We were guessing he was around eight years old, but without a birth certificate or the mother we really had no idea. So his birthday became June 22nd, the day of the visit to the registrar's office! His grandmother signed the papers with a thumbprint since she couldn't read or write. The driver acted as the witness.

As they were finishing the registration process, I walked across the street to get Klever some juice and cookies as a celebratory gesture. Then we dropped Klever

José and his grandmother off at their home I left Margoth in charge of the funds necessary to provide him with shoes, a uniform and school supplies so he could begin his education.

There are thousands of children like Klever in Quito. Sometimes I feel like I am doing so little because there are so many more children out there who need help. In these times I recite to myself a famous quote by the British writer Sydney Smith: "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little."

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