(The Big Ones)
Dora is 17. She's been a prostitute since she was 12. Carmelo is 19. He's been a thief since he was 10. Both are typical gamin, the name given to the several thousand children who live on the streets of Bogota in Colombia, South America.
Extreme poverty drove them from their families in the first place. Some, like Dora and Carmelo, left home when they were 7. As 'los chinches', the little ones, they survived from begging and stealing. As ' los largos', the big ones, the pattern of their lives remains, but the hazards are greater.
Ciro Duran , the Colombian director, filmed the gamin for two years. In this report, he looks at what adolescence holds for them. Narrated by VALERIE SINGLETON
Adapted for the BBCtv by UARYSI ADDISON