Eva & Lina

14-year-old Eva and Lina, 16, are the youngest of seven siblings who call El Salvador home. Like many people over the last couple of years, the girls have spent a lot more time together. Unlike other people, it was not only because of the pandemic. Until the end of 2021, neither of them officially existed.

Since they were tiny, every day has started early as the whole family heads out to work. With the additional stresses brought by the pandemic, both Eva and Lina have been joining the rest of their siblings and grandmother, selling water and cleaning windscreens every day on the streets in the centre of San Salvador instead of going to school like they used to. They leave the small house where they live ready to start work at 8am, staying out selling until at least 6pm. Until recently, their father also joined them, but last autumn, he found a salaried job as a security guard for a local business – a dangerous occupation, but the only steady income the family has to rely on.

Unregistered in a global pandemic

Like many children around the world, the pandemic brought education to a standstill for Eva and Lina. The girls have spent the last two years selling water just three blocks away from the classrooms they used to learn in. But the pandemic isn’t the only thing that has prevented them from going to class.

Until recently, neither of them had their birth certificates because their parents didn’t understand the impact that a simple piece of paper could have on their children’s lives. For Lina, it was always a great distress that her parents couldn’t remember the day she was born.

“I used to feel so sad when I got asked when my birthday was and couldn’t answer.” Lina

Dreaming of an education

Not having a birth certificate meant that neither Lina nor Eva had been able to proceed past Grade 4 at school, despite their love for learning and academic ability – meaning both of them were several years behind the grades 7 and 9 they should be in according to their ages. Having a future in which they’d do anything other than earn a living selling water on the streets was something the girls didn’t even think about because neither of them ever imagined having the paperwork needed to follow their dreams.

One day however, the sisters met Viva, Toybox’s partner in El Salvador. Through Viva’s support, the girls were accompanied through the various processes needed to get their birth certificates and other official documents. Initial doubt from their mum, DNA tests, witness testimonies from their older sister and lots of paperwork meant that it took over a year, but the girls finally had all the information they needed to receive the most important piece of paper of their lives in November 2021.

“I felt so strange going through the process because I didn’t know what it was like to have a birth certificate.” Eva

Now, it’s not only Eva and Lina who have their birth certificates. Their older brother also has his, which means that he has also been able to register his own two children, who are 2 and 4. Thanks to the girls’ determination to access their right to an identity, their little nephews will not have to experience the similar barriers to their basic rights that they have in their lifetimes. “I feel so sad there are other children who don’t have their birth certificates,” says Lina. “I’d encourage all of them to speak to their parents and force them to help them get their documents.”

“To me, a birth certificate means happiness because without it, I wouldn't be able to study like I do.” Lina

If you'd like to hear Eva and Lina's story in their own words, visit Toybox's YouTube channel where you can watch them speak about getting their birth certificates.

To find out more about Toybox's birth registration work in El Salvador and beyond, click here.