An eco-friendly bank for kids

Brut America

At just 7 years old, he created an eco-friendly bank just for kids in Peru. The currency? ... recyclable waste. Here's how he did it...

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Jose Alfonso Guizojala Condori, I'm 15 years old, I'm from Arequipa, Peru,

00:05and I've created a bank for children and young people where money is the solid waste.

00:10I'm going to bed.

00:25I realized that in my school's container there were a lot of sheets of books,

00:30papers, bottles, and I was very frustrated to see that,

00:34because my grandmother taught me when I was very little to take care of the environment.

00:38I remembered that the recyclers used to pass by my house.

00:41Here in Latin America it's very normal for the recyclers to pass by your house

00:46and tell you to buy bottles, cardboard, papers, everything you have,

00:50and you don't need it anymore, they buy it for you.

00:53So I said, aha, that's the solution,

00:55that way I can help this not happen,

00:57and that way I can also help children get money.

01:09When you just take the courses,

01:11you'll be able to bring other types of recycling,

01:13apart from white paper,

01:15and when you take the financial education course,

01:17you'll be able to have your card with which you'll do the financial operations.

01:33In my school, my classmates,

01:36In my school, my classmates told me that,

01:39they told me, I haven't had breakfast,

01:41you can't invite me to your recess,

01:43or they told me, can you lend me a pencil, please?

01:45I don't have one, and I don't want my other classmates to know.

01:48So I realized that the problems were not only there,

01:52but also outside of my school.

01:54I realized that there were a lot of children who worked,

01:57a lot of children selling candy,

01:59children cleaning the windshields of cars,

02:01children asking for alms,

02:03things that we shouldn't do,

02:05because they always teach us that children shouldn't work.

02:20Well, my dad is a very fundamental part of my project,

02:23because he helps me a lot,

02:25especially emotionally,

02:27because, despite everything, I'm 15 years old,

02:30and managing a project with 5,000 children is a lot of stress.

02:34For me, it was super complicated to do this project at 7 years old,

02:37because even so, people didn't believe in me,

02:40in my own family, nor did they believe in what I was doing.

02:44When I went to ask for help from the state,

02:47government companies, private companies,

02:49so that they could support me,

02:51they also closed the door for the simple fact of being a child.

02:53So it was super complicated to be able to make this project work.

02:58I'm really not very different from the kids my age.

03:01I just think that what makes the difference is that I decided to do something.

03:05We are the generation that is keeping quiet,

03:08and that is raising their voice.

03:10We need to do more, more than that.

03:12We don't just need to raise our voices,

03:14we need to take action.

03:16So I invite all of you to see a problem in your society,

03:19because there are always problems,

03:21and find a solution.

03:23Let's show adults that children and young people

03:25are the ones who are making the change,

03:27not in the future, but from now on.

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