Jorge is only 13, but he’s seen a lot of bad things happen.

Jorge lives in a dangerous part of Guatemala City

‘There are lots of gangs and lots of drugs,’ he says. ‘Sometimes you hear gunfire about 11 or 12 at night. It frightens me.’

‘Once they caught a couple against the wall opposite my house. They’d kidnapped them and they shot her in the chest. It was about five in the morning. My grandmother does the washing at that house, she saw all the clothes full of blood. She didn’t go to work that day.’

‘I still want to live here because my family is here. I don’t want to go to another country where I don’t know anyone.’

Jorge’s family is Catholic. ‘We go to church on Sundays,’ he says. ‘I ask God to help the children who have no home. In the city there are lots of children with no home.’

Local arts group Caja Ludica has taught Jorge to stilt-walk, which helps him rise above the problems in his neighbourhood.

‘It took nearly a week to learn, practising every day. There are stilts at school that they let me borrow. It’s hard to learn because you fall a lot.’

Performing has changed his life. ‘I’ve lost my fear of appearing in public. I used to be afraid but I’m not anymore… It’s important to learn things and pass it on.’