Introduction

In 2015, Peruvian media sources brought attention to the ‘plight’ of children who migrated from rural villages during their school vacations to work in Lima and earn money to pay for their school fees. Reports highlighted the risks children faced on the streets and the need to prevent such movements through educating, and if need be, criminalising, the children's parents. Yet, the reports did not examine young people's own assessments of their migration experience or analyse the ways in which migration may simultaneously address and reinforce social exclusion. This chapter explores the experiences of young people who migrate from rural provinces in Peru to Lima, Peru's capital, to earn money to pay for their school fees, help their families, or create other opportunities for themselves. I argue that although migration potentially allows young people to expand their social networks and earn money, changing economic conditions, climate change and static narratives about ‘global childhood’ hinder the effectiveness of migration as a strategy to address poverty and inequality. Furthermore, young people's aspirations and views of poverty may change through migration and in the context of social marginalisation in Lima.