Edison, 12, has been working placing rollers and sticks under fishermen’s boats since he was 4 years old, waking up at 4 a.m. for this. He’d receive 50 cents to one dollar for his work, or get fish in return, which his mother would later sell.
According to UNICEF, 6 percent of Ecuadorian children between the ages of five and 14 are still engaged in some form of child labor. The government along with NGOs are implementing programs to take children out of labor and into schools.
After joining the program two years ago, Edison went from working everyday to working on the weekends or when he is not in school.