In several areas of the centre of La Paz in Bolivia one can find boys and men shining shoes on the roadside, usually in groups of 2-4.
They almost always wear woollen masks over their faces that gives them a frightening appearance. One of the first times a masked shoe shine boy confronted Ian in the street, pointing to his shoes, Ian’s immediate reaction was that it was a ruse to get him to look down (and when he did so, be mugged and robbed).
At that time Ian went into a self-defence stance only to realize that the kid frankly wanted to shine his shoes. His reaction was not unusual though. Many people are scared of the shoe shine boys assuming that they are dangerous.
The reality, however, is that while these boys and men often come from terrible home environments and/or are victims of human trafficking and now live mostly in the streets, they are not known to be dangerous and are probably smarter than one might assume. In fact, they have created their own newspaper which they sell. Unlike the newspapers sold by people on the street of Toronto, this paper is actually written by the shoe shine boys and men themselves.
I was not able to find one while in La Paz but Ian told me about a recent issue that responded to an accusation that shoe shine boys are thieves by listing several local politicians, including the ever-present President Evo Morales as the true thieves and also explaining why.
In a downtown La Paz park, Alalay (an organization Alma funds in Bolivia) still holds nightly soccer games and supports groups for the shoe shine boys.