Directed by Steve Bradshaw
Mayor Amilcar Huancahuari is trying to convert his native Peru to his optimistic philosophy of promoting early childhood development.
Warned that the child he's talked to will grow up poor and violent, Mayor Amilcar Huancahuari sighs. If only we could start young, he believes, we'd have a better chance of a peaceful and prosperous world. We need to keep young children away from violence, and develop their brains from birth.
But is that just the Mayor's dream? In this episode of Early Life, the Mayor tours his native Peru to discover how kids are being shortchanged: from the jungle city of Iquitos to the Andes mountains once wracked by political violence. Amilcar visits children who live in a floating favela - where he needs a police bodyguard - finds kids working city streets at midnight, and meets victims of a war over before they were born.
How much poverty, stress and violence can kids be exposed to without incurring real mental damage?
|