Friday 27 January 2012
Below blog of trip April / May 2011 to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia
This blog is of our Latin America trip April/May 2011. We are visiting 5 countries Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. All have projects that the Toybox Charity supports. Toybox vision is of a world with no street children which if achieved would mean we are redundant!! www.toyboxcharity.org.uk We hope you enjoy reading this blog and although some of the stories will be sad and at times difficult they are all stories of HOPE Love Alastair & Debbie Welford
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Lima, Peru Red Alert
Of the 29 million people living in Peru, Lima has a population of almost
9 million. It is a massive city with a beautiful centre with shopping malls, beautiful parks, amazing historical buildings BUT totally mad drivers!!
The sandstone hills surrounding the city are an extremely dusty, un-serviced environment, and home to Lima’s poor.
For many years people have migrated from the countryside into Lima with the hope of improving their living and, as a result, their lifestyle. Sadly, on arrival, they find they cannot get work and so settle in these sandstone hills and begin building a home out of whatever materials they can obtain!!
They are squatting BUT the normal pattern is that the Government, after approximately 8 years, begin putting in services. Until then they have managed without water, electricity or sewerage. Unfortunately as the first children reach mid-teens gangs move in and with them crime, drugs and alcohol.
On top of problems at home created by the environment, together with no work, alcohol, drugs and abuse of all kinds, these areas produce many street living and street working children. Toybox supports Red Alert Lima, who are linked with Viva Latin America, which supports many projects in these areas and is working closely with the Government to help them replicate a good working strategy.
Typically a street working child has school in the morning, works on the streets from 2pm to 10pm washing windows, selling sweets, juggling; anything to make a living. A street living child works when he/she needs money and lives a life of no rules and no limits, (drugs are always an integral part of these children’s lives)! We visited a number of the projects that works with the children in these situations.
The Government has opened feeding centres in these poor areas but that is all these centres do. Red Alert has agreed with the Government that they can provide education for adults and children, spiritual support, and psychological support. The centres are a great place to do this because people are already going there and the people welcome this help. The Government is viewing this positively and is keen to replicate this model in other feeding Centres. This is a low cost way of providing preventative work where it is needed and with the Government now viewing the 3 pilot schemes positively we have high hopes of this being replicated. The Government is now funding educators for these centres.
We visited 2 of these centres where we chatted with families who were extremely poor. We joined a class of adults who were being taught how to show love to their children. Many of these were uneducated so this environment was very new to them and what they were learning appeared a surprise!!
We saw the children, some at 14 years old, unable to write. These skills help create a purpose and a hope for a better future for the children and their parents … (mostly single mothers) which together with the spiritual and psychological support we pray causes many children to take a path other than street working or street living. In one centre we sat with an old lady in her late 70’s who had moved to the Lima hills to take care of her young grand children as their parents/ her daughter had been killed in an extremely unpleasant way. She had lived in the countryside all her life and so the experience of Lima was very hard for her. The feeding centre was a refuge where she met people and received support and help with her children. If she had not come to Lima we wonder what would have happened to the children??
We visited 2 projects in a market stall area. These projects took care of the children whilst parents were working, encouraged the children to attend school and gave them support with their homework.
They also meet with the parents (usually mothers as fathers are absent) to give them education and support similar to the feeding centres. One of the parental groups we joined had 20 mothers and 1 father attending, where that day, they where being encouraged to sit with their children while they read in the hope that this would help both the child and the parent with their reading classes.
Vaso de Leche (glass of milk) is a project Alastair visited almost 4 years ago. This project was reaching approximately 20 children then and now reaches 120 children providing them with food, education, spiritual and psychological support.
This is an amazing project, which has benefited from training workshops and grants. It is so good to go back after almost 4 years and see the impact of the support from Red Alert so positively influencing the community with many parents involved with helping as well.
Becky describes in her blog taking every mode of transport available in Lima one day … buses, Tok Tok, taxi….. with crazy drivers this was quite an experience with more near misses than we would have in a year at home! Beck’s blog has loads of photos so please have a look.
Happy Faces project is almost at the top of some sandstone hills …. a very poor area with a very edgy feel to it.
Here we found a Lady who was so committed to young children who live in this so so poor area. She along with three helpers works with approximately 40 children providing education, food and support to them in an amazing way.
We visited Caritas Felices, a project that is part of a small Church in the hills where a couple called Casio and Ofelia work with 50 children.
These children are from extremely painful backgrounds or street living children. Casio, Ofelia and their family are so committed and are benefiting from grants and training as they grow this project and gaining further help from the local community.
They told us of a story of a child of 5 who they found laying down outside the project whimpering. As they looked they could see he had received a severe beating and was very bruised and bleeding. He lives with his mother who has 13 children and his drunk father. Sadly his mother is also drunk most of the time and drugs are also involved. This is such a sad sad situation as being right in the heart of a very poor community they have to manage very carefully how this child can be removed from this life-threatening situation. Obviously they want to help the family but the immediate risk is the child’s life. The parents will not allow the little boy to leave them because he is viewed as an asset and until there is “sufficient evidence of abuse from the parents” the government officials will not intervene believing it is best for the child to stay in the family unit at almost any cost!! It comes down to lack of resources especially if that child has not been registered at birth and therefore does not exist in the eyes of the Government. This was just a dreadful situation to walk away from but we did so knowing Casio and Ofelia were doing all they could with the support of Red Alert.
Lima has a massive problem where 80% of children are quoted to suffer from abuse of one sort or another. We were so glad to have been with the Red Alert team who Toybox supports to see the on-going work in Lima … walking away is very, very hard, we do so confidently, knowing there are good people in Lima supporting the children, however the pain in us goes so very deep! We know God has good plans and we are sure street children are not one of these. Street children, we believe, are sadly a result of man’s greed, and are NOT God’s plans.
Please have a look at Becky’s You Tube channel where she has edited a video of some of what we have seen.
We will end now as we continue to reflect on this trip, which has been hugely challenging and will post a final blog with our thoughts at some stage. In the meantime please consider praying for these children and supporting Toybox in some way. Sponsoring a child, being a “Best Friend”, sending a donation or doing something crazy by joining the Toybox ‘iDo’ campaign. THANK YOU for reading this blog.
9 million. It is a massive city with a beautiful centre with shopping malls, beautiful parks, amazing historical buildings BUT totally mad drivers!!
The sandstone hills surrounding the city are an extremely dusty, un-serviced environment, and home to Lima’s poor.
For many years people have migrated from the countryside into Lima with the hope of improving their living and, as a result, their lifestyle. Sadly, on arrival, they find they cannot get work and so settle in these sandstone hills and begin building a home out of whatever materials they can obtain!!
They are squatting BUT the normal pattern is that the Government, after approximately 8 years, begin putting in services. Until then they have managed without water, electricity or sewerage. Unfortunately as the first children reach mid-teens gangs move in and with them crime, drugs and alcohol.
On top of problems at home created by the environment, together with no work, alcohol, drugs and abuse of all kinds, these areas produce many street living and street working children. Toybox supports Red Alert Lima, who are linked with Viva Latin America, which supports many projects in these areas and is working closely with the Government to help them replicate a good working strategy.
The Government has opened feeding centres in these poor areas but that is all these centres do. Red Alert has agreed with the Government that they can provide education for adults and children, spiritual support, and psychological support. The centres are a great place to do this because people are already going there and the people welcome this help. The Government is viewing this positively and is keen to replicate this model in other feeding Centres. This is a low cost way of providing preventative work where it is needed and with the Government now viewing the 3 pilot schemes positively we have high hopes of this being replicated. The Government is now funding educators for these centres.
 |
| Jorge and Maria work extremely hard providing educational support as well as food |
We visited 2 of these centres where we chatted with families who were extremely poor. We joined a class of adults who were being taught how to show love to their children. Many of these were uneducated so this environment was very new to them and what they were learning appeared a surprise!!
We visited 2 projects in a market stall area. These projects took care of the children whilst parents were working, encouraged the children to attend school and gave them support with their homework.
They also meet with the parents (usually mothers as fathers are absent) to give them education and support similar to the feeding centres. One of the parental groups we joined had 20 mothers and 1 father attending, where that day, they where being encouraged to sit with their children while they read in the hope that this would help both the child and the parent with their reading classes.
Vaso de Leche (glass of milk) is a project Alastair visited almost 4 years ago. This project was reaching approximately 20 children then and now reaches 120 children providing them with food, education, spiritual and psychological support.
This is an amazing project, which has benefited from training workshops and grants. It is so good to go back after almost 4 years and see the impact of the support from Red Alert so positively influencing the community with many parents involved with helping as well.
Becky describes in her blog taking every mode of transport available in Lima one day … buses, Tok Tok, taxi….. with crazy drivers this was quite an experience with more near misses than we would have in a year at home! Beck’s blog has loads of photos so please have a look.
Happy Faces project is almost at the top of some sandstone hills …. a very poor area with a very edgy feel to it.
Here we found a Lady who was so committed to young children who live in this so so poor area. She along with three helpers works with approximately 40 children providing education, food and support to them in an amazing way.
We visited Caritas Felices, a project that is part of a small Church in the hills where a couple called Casio and Ofelia work with 50 children.
These children are from extremely painful backgrounds or street living children. Casio, Ofelia and their family are so committed and are benefiting from grants and training as they grow this project and gaining further help from the local community.
They told us of a story of a child of 5 who they found laying down outside the project whimpering. As they looked they could see he had received a severe beating and was very bruised and bleeding. He lives with his mother who has 13 children and his drunk father. Sadly his mother is also drunk most of the time and drugs are also involved. This is such a sad sad situation as being right in the heart of a very poor community they have to manage very carefully how this child can be removed from this life-threatening situation. Obviously they want to help the family but the immediate risk is the child’s life. The parents will not allow the little boy to leave them because he is viewed as an asset and until there is “sufficient evidence of abuse from the parents” the government officials will not intervene believing it is best for the child to stay in the family unit at almost any cost!! It comes down to lack of resources especially if that child has not been registered at birth and therefore does not exist in the eyes of the Government. This was just a dreadful situation to walk away from but we did so knowing Casio and Ofelia were doing all they could with the support of Red Alert.
Lima has a massive problem where 80% of children are quoted to suffer from abuse of one sort or another. We were so glad to have been with the Red Alert team who Toybox supports to see the on-going work in Lima … walking away is very, very hard, we do so confidently, knowing there are good people in Lima supporting the children, however the pain in us goes so very deep! We know God has good plans and we are sure street children are not one of these. Street children, we believe, are sadly a result of man’s greed, and are NOT God’s plans.
Please have a look at Becky’s You Tube channel where she has edited a video of some of what we have seen.
We will end now as we continue to reflect on this trip, which has been hugely challenging and will post a final blog with our thoughts at some stage. In the meantime please consider praying for these children and supporting Toybox in some way. Sponsoring a child, being a “Best Friend”, sending a donation or doing something crazy by joining the Toybox ‘iDo’ campaign. THANK YOU for reading this blog.
Love Alastair & Debbie
Saturday 11 June 2011
Oruro Red Alert
Oruro is where Jonnie has been volunteering this year following Cochabamba last year. He has been working with the Red Alert team in Oruro, a City-wide project that identifies and works with local projects helping street living, street working and 'high risk' children. The main principle being to help the local projects and people do what they do better and enabling them to work with more children. At the same time linking or networking these existing local projects and people together with Churches, other organisations, civil society groups and Government (where possible). Red Alert provides training to run projects better; improving care for the children, improving the project’s facilities, and applications for grants to improve their work and to help them to reach more children. Red Alert Oruro is supported by Toybox and linked to Viva Latin America, who also provide consultancy. In supporting and funding this work Toybox enables local people to develop, improve what they do and reach many more children thereby producing locally driven change by those who know best ... the people of Oruro.
Oruro Red Alert is a great example where locally driven initiatives with support begin making a massive difference. The team in Oruro are dedicated and committed to this and are innovative about what is needed in Oruro.
We went out early one morning to meet the ‘Oruro shoe shiners’. Many of these are either street living or street working children. Street living children in Oruro have a hard life. Jonnie, our son, currently lives in Oruro and is working with these children. His blog dated 30th April describes and explains the street children situation in Oruro and what is happening to change this. Link to Jonnie's blog
We met one of the shoe shiners who Alastair met 3 years previously. He had lost a hand during this time and has clearly had a harder life as a consequence. He is certainly keen to change his life and has adapted cleverly to manage with one hand. Rigo needs our prayers as his options are further limited by only having one hand.
We visited project Agua Viva that was in a tin shed when Red Alert began in Oruro 4 years ago. Through local fund raising and grants from Toybox via Red Alert Agua Viva now has a permanent building where they work with over 100 children preventatively and reach locally abandoned or orphaned children. The area where Agua Viva is situated is slowly improving.
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| Approach to Agua Viva |
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Maranatha Church has a project reaching many local children. Here there are an extremely committed group of volunteers working extremely hard. They have benefited from training and grants and this help has meant they have fund- raised locally as well as received grants from Red Alert which has resulted in a facility where they are now reaching many more children. Once they finish the present building work they plan to increase the numbers of children they work with again.
“Soy la Nina de tus Ojos” works with about 100 children. When Alastair visited three years ago they were reaching approximately 40 children. This project is run by a very enterprising man named Pastor Cleto. He is always keen to look at alternative interests for the children. This project grows vegetables and has ducks and chickens, all of which produce food for the children. When we visited we were given chicken for lunch cooked in a solar oven, potatoes grown at the project, that were cooked by hot stones buried in the ground, and salad also grown by the project. The children clearly benefit from a wide-ranging curriculum and besides these practical interests are given educational support, psychological support and spiritual support. The children here are at high risk and this support is invaluable preventative work. This is a great example of existing work which has benefited from Red Alert through training and grants. The project simply needed a little bit of help to do what they already do, do it better, and reach more children. The local people in Oruro know what is needed in their community, have the passion to serve their community and with a little bit of help achieve much, much more. For Toybox, a vision of a world with no street children, reached by this approach becomes possible and sustainable as the local community is engaged in this way.“Arbor del Angel” works with prisoner’s children. This is another high-risk group needing care and support and is a project that is excellently run and has benefited from similar support working with 70 children.
We visited “Christo Resucitado” project which last year was working with 20 children who mainly lived or worked in the streets. They are now reaching over 40 children having benefited from training and grants.
We met a 15 year old who had lost a baby and is now pregnant again, has a sad, sad home life as her mother is an alcoholic and her father is not about. She is expected to care for younger siblings and has not attended school since she was 8 years old. This project is a lifeline for her and is saving her from long-term street life. There are many children like her … thank goodness Christo Resucitado is there and committed to these children.
Oruro is a bleak place and without Red Alert the projects would be reaching only a fraction of the children they are presently. It really is a privilege to see the dedicated Red Alert team in Oruro supporting local projects in a locally relevant way.
Alastair & Debbie
Sunday 22 May 2011
Cochabamba Red Alert
Cochabamba Red Alert now has projects that have completed the training programmes and benefited from grants that Toybox fund. They continue to receive support, advice and benefit from the City-Wide network. It is good to see locally driven work supported and successful. Cochabamba is Toybox longest running Red Alert and like others operates on the same principles of empowering local people and communities.
The first project we visited was Corazon Grande, one of the projects that have ‘graduated’, has doubled the number of girls it is reaching in the last year and is now supporting 28.
One of the girls we met last year was Patti who is now 6 years old and has had to get over the impact of drugs and alcohol that her mother took when she was pregnant with her is making good progress. We also remember another girl called Rosita (now 6) who was at the project last year. Some of her other siblings have been found in other projects via Red Alert and are now all together in the same project. Although it would have been good to see Rosita we are pleased she is now with her siblings.
Esperanza Viva is a project that works with whole families who come from street living life. In some cases they are from families that have lived on the street for three generations. This is hard to understand but sadly a reality. Many of these families have had no education and cannot read or write. This project provides an environment where they can come off drugs and alcohol. They are given training in bread making, sewing, mechanics or carpentry.
During the training various articles are produced and sold. In general terms a third of the value of the goods sold pays for materials, a third goes to run the project and a third is banked for the families to use to setup a home and business when they leave the project which is usually between 9 months and 2 years depending on their needs. Many families need psychological support, to learn basic love and care for each other, drugs and alcohol rehabilitation, and medical care, which is frequently very necessary after long term street life. We have seen many people whose bodies have clearly had a hard life and look old even in their 20’s!! This project prevents continuing generations of street living families and rescues many children from long term street life. It is not always straightforward as we discovered when we went to visit a family who Alastair first met at this project 3.5 years ago when Fernando and Maria described their former life which was a total nightmare, which ended with Fernando being sliced from neck to tummy button with a machete and then spending 9 months in hospital after which began his time with Esperanza Viva where he joined his family.
Jonnie knew this family from when he did voluntary work at the project last year. Fernando, Maria and their daughter Damaris (6) left the project and were living independently and had started a bakery business. We met Maria and Damaris but sadly Fernando had recently been drinking and had gone back to the streets.
Red Alert know where he is and are following him up we are pleased to say …. Please pray for this family, that they are restored, and that Fernando can fully overcome the impact of his former street life.
We visited Villa Libertad which has changed significantly in the last year. The real benefits of the training and grants are now showing. We met a 6 year old girl last year called Maria who had been abandoned on the streets and has very severe tunnel vision. She makes a great effort to see things and is extremely active and hardy as she frequently bumps into something or falls. This year she was much calmer and appeared to be settling.
All the children are given psychological and educational support, They are helped with gaining purpose in their lives and with a life plan. This was demonstrated by one of the Ambassadors for the project called Berta who is now just 17. Ambassadors are representatives of the project elected by the other children in the project. They are supported by Red Alert and benefit from Leadership training and are taught about Children’s Rights.
They frequently advocate for good treatment of children in their community and to local Government. This gives them a ‘value’ and ‘purpose’ and is a very important part of their development. They also teach other children in the projects what they have learnt which the children love. They are given the opportunity to put into practise advocating Children’s Rights on many occasions. These children are also the Child Ambassadors that can be sponsored through Toybox. They represent their projects and the City-Wide Red Alert so sponsoring helps in many ways. If you would like to consider sponsoring an Ambassador please go to the Toybox website Ambasador sponsor link.
El Refugio is the refuge in Cochabamba which is emergency help / accommodation for children. Work with these children at every level takes place and with their families. The aim being reintegration with families or if that is not possible placing with a project in Red Alert with the specialist care necessary for that child. The refuge in Cochbamba is possible because a very generous donor from Toybox seeded the initial funds which have been added to by other donors. This is a very necessary project and helps many children.
We visited what used to be a beautiful park, which on previous visits Alastair had been told was not safe to visit!!!! Understandably we went with some nervousness but were soon reassured by the project working there linked into Red Alert called Estrelles en la Calle. The park had been taken over by street living people most of whom were children. The area we visited was a plastic sheeting home to about 30 children. This was simply an awful environment. The smell of glue and sewerage was very strong. The area was filthy and littered with rubbish including old glue bottles, old mattresses, furniture, bits of metal and children ‘high’ on glue. The feeling of this place was just horrible …. We are lost for words to describe it adequately!!
The people from the project clearly had a good dialogue with these children and were gaining their confidence. A 16 year old girl was totally lost and eventually sat talking to Becky and Debbie …. As she thawed out a bit from the glue she ended up cuddling up to Debbie, wimpering. Such a sad sight and experience of desperation.
A 17 year old boy asked Alastair to pray for him. When we arrived he could hardly stand up because he had taken so much glue. He likewise eased off the glue as we interacted with these children and eventually had a reasonable chat about his life which involved abuse in every way, abandoned (yet hoping his father would return) .… just awful. He said his birth had not been registered which meant he could not find work and the Government did not recognise he existed .. he lived in fear that the Police would capture him and his friends and take them away to a place that he described was even worse than where he was now living!!!
It was another boys 17th birthday and we had brought cakes from the Esperanza Viva project we visited the day before for him. Birthdays are a ‘big deal’ in Latin America and frequently are a time when life is evaluated. When we arrived this boy was in uncontrollable tears and sniffing glue. It appeared as if he was trying to forget everything on ‘the day’ when he would be evaluating his life … his birthday! The other children with him clearly cared for him and encouraged him to participate with the cake and hearty renditions of ‘Happy birthday’ in English and Spanish. He smiled for a while …. As we left the team with these children we saw him cutting his forearms with a knife. This is such a dreadful situation and simply is NOT RIGHT.
Please pray for these children for real change. Many of them declare God helps them to live in this place … now that is a challenge when you consider that their worst fear is that the police could take them away to another Government run institution of awful reputation for abuse by the wardens who run the place. This declaration of God’s help, therefore, seems very valid. For many of us we know God helps us and we must remember we have a responsibility to play our part in our lives …. We have a free choice to allow this. How these children survive is unimaginable. They steel, run drugs, wash car windows … anything to provide their very basic needs … even prostitution! Estrelles en la Calle needs our help. Red Alert supports them, and rightly so. They are amazing and so committed to these children.
We visted an extremely poor community on the outskirts of Cochabamba where a Church called Hermoso works with 100 plus children preventatively. They provide food, education, counselling, and spiritual support, all very necessary to prevent these high risk children from living a street life. This Church has benefited significantly from training and grants from Red Alert and is now reaching all these children which a couple of years ago had no help!!
We visited Projecto Emanuel where Jonnie has also been working. This is a project in the Red Light area of Cochabamba where it is estimated there are in excess of 10,000 prostitutes. This project cares for the children of prostitutes and provides very, very necessary support as these children are involved with cleaning the brothels and are at high risk of being drawn into a similar way of life, trafficking or street life. When we visited this project last year Red Alert had helped the project register 500 children’s births with the Government. Gorretti, the project leader, is an amazing lady who runs the project from her home. She visits the Mothers as well to support them and encourage them to change their lives. She is so committed and a wonderful person. It is people like Gorretti who have a clear calling and passion to work with children that Toybox support through Red Alert. Gorretti knows the needs of this community best and is in the process of fund raising locally to build a refuge for the most at risk children of prostitutes.
Cochabamba is a colourful city in a lovely climate in some ways beautiful….. BUT!
Alastair & Debbie
The first project we visited was Corazon Grande, one of the projects that have ‘graduated’, has doubled the number of girls it is reaching in the last year and is now supporting 28.
One of the girls we met last year was Patti who is now 6 years old and has had to get over the impact of drugs and alcohol that her mother took when she was pregnant with her is making good progress. We also remember another girl called Rosita (now 6) who was at the project last year. Some of her other siblings have been found in other projects via Red Alert and are now all together in the same project. Although it would have been good to see Rosita we are pleased she is now with her siblings.
Esperanza Viva is a project that works with whole families who come from street living life. In some cases they are from families that have lived on the street for three generations. This is hard to understand but sadly a reality. Many of these families have had no education and cannot read or write. This project provides an environment where they can come off drugs and alcohol. They are given training in bread making, sewing, mechanics or carpentry.
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| Maria and Damaris 3.5 years ago in Esperanza Viva |
Jonnie knew this family from when he did voluntary work at the project last year. Fernando, Maria and their daughter Damaris (6) left the project and were living independently and had started a bakery business. We met Maria and Damaris but sadly Fernando had recently been drinking and had gone back to the streets.
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| Maria and Damaris with friends May 2011 |
Red Alert know where he is and are following him up we are pleased to say …. Please pray for this family, that they are restored, and that Fernando can fully overcome the impact of his former street life.
We visited Villa Libertad which has changed significantly in the last year. The real benefits of the training and grants are now showing. We met a 6 year old girl last year called Maria who had been abandoned on the streets and has very severe tunnel vision. She makes a great effort to see things and is extremely active and hardy as she frequently bumps into something or falls. This year she was much calmer and appeared to be settling.
All the children are given psychological and educational support, They are helped with gaining purpose in their lives and with a life plan. This was demonstrated by one of the Ambassadors for the project called Berta who is now just 17. Ambassadors are representatives of the project elected by the other children in the project. They are supported by Red Alert and benefit from Leadership training and are taught about Children’s Rights.
 |
| Berta - Ambassador |
They frequently advocate for good treatment of children in their community and to local Government. This gives them a ‘value’ and ‘purpose’ and is a very important part of their development. They also teach other children in the projects what they have learnt which the children love. They are given the opportunity to put into practise advocating Children’s Rights on many occasions. These children are also the Child Ambassadors that can be sponsored through Toybox. They represent their projects and the City-Wide Red Alert so sponsoring helps in many ways. If you would like to consider sponsoring an Ambassador please go to the Toybox website Ambasador sponsor link.
El Refugio is the refuge in Cochabamba which is emergency help / accommodation for children. Work with these children at every level takes place and with their families. The aim being reintegration with families or if that is not possible placing with a project in Red Alert with the specialist care necessary for that child. The refuge in Cochbamba is possible because a very generous donor from Toybox seeded the initial funds which have been added to by other donors. This is a very necessary project and helps many children.
We visited what used to be a beautiful park, which on previous visits Alastair had been told was not safe to visit!!!! Understandably we went with some nervousness but were soon reassured by the project working there linked into Red Alert called Estrelles en la Calle. The park had been taken over by street living people most of whom were children. The area we visited was a plastic sheeting home to about 30 children. This was simply an awful environment. The smell of glue and sewerage was very strong. The area was filthy and littered with rubbish including old glue bottles, old mattresses, furniture, bits of metal and children ‘high’ on glue. The feeling of this place was just horrible …. We are lost for words to describe it adequately!!
The people from the project clearly had a good dialogue with these children and were gaining their confidence. A 16 year old girl was totally lost and eventually sat talking to Becky and Debbie …. As she thawed out a bit from the glue she ended up cuddling up to Debbie, wimpering. Such a sad sight and experience of desperation.
A 17 year old boy asked Alastair to pray for him. When we arrived he could hardly stand up because he had taken so much glue. He likewise eased off the glue as we interacted with these children and eventually had a reasonable chat about his life which involved abuse in every way, abandoned (yet hoping his father would return) .… just awful. He said his birth had not been registered which meant he could not find work and the Government did not recognise he existed .. he lived in fear that the Police would capture him and his friends and take them away to a place that he described was even worse than where he was now living!!!
It was another boys 17th birthday and we had brought cakes from the Esperanza Viva project we visited the day before for him. Birthdays are a ‘big deal’ in Latin America and frequently are a time when life is evaluated. When we arrived this boy was in uncontrollable tears and sniffing glue. It appeared as if he was trying to forget everything on ‘the day’ when he would be evaluating his life … his birthday! The other children with him clearly cared for him and encouraged him to participate with the cake and hearty renditions of ‘Happy birthday’ in English and Spanish. He smiled for a while …. As we left the team with these children we saw him cutting his forearms with a knife. This is such a dreadful situation and simply is NOT RIGHT.
We visted an extremely poor community on the outskirts of Cochabamba where a Church called Hermoso works with 100 plus children preventatively. They provide food, education, counselling, and spiritual support, all very necessary to prevent these high risk children from living a street life. This Church has benefited significantly from training and grants from Red Alert and is now reaching all these children which a couple of years ago had no help!!
We visited Projecto Emanuel where Jonnie has also been working. This is a project in the Red Light area of Cochabamba where it is estimated there are in excess of 10,000 prostitutes. This project cares for the children of prostitutes and provides very, very necessary support as these children are involved with cleaning the brothels and are at high risk of being drawn into a similar way of life, trafficking or street life. When we visited this project last year Red Alert had helped the project register 500 children’s births with the Government. Gorretti, the project leader, is an amazing lady who runs the project from her home. She visits the Mothers as well to support them and encourage them to change their lives. She is so committed and a wonderful person. It is people like Gorretti who have a clear calling and passion to work with children that Toybox support through Red Alert. Gorretti knows the needs of this community best and is in the process of fund raising locally to build a refuge for the most at risk children of prostitutes.
Cochabamba is a colourful city in a lovely climate in some ways beautiful….. BUT!
Alastair & Debbie
Thursday 19 May 2011
Guatemala City Red Alert
Guatemala Red Alert is a City-wide project that does two main things:
a) Identifies and works with local projects helping street living, street working and 'high risk' children. Helping the local projects and people do what they do better and enabling them to work with more children.
b) Links or networks these existing local projects and people together with Churches, other organisations, civil society groups and Government (where possible).
The local Red Alert team, supported by Toybox and linked to Viva Latin America, are involved in many activities such as providing training to run projects better, improving care for children, improving facilitates for reaching more children and applications for grants to improve the work. In supporting and funding this work Toybox enables local people to develop, improve what they do and reach many more children thereby producing locally driven change by those who know best ... the people of Guatemala. Viva provide consultation which is necessary for the work and a link through their wider networks to other networks.
We went to Project Tabatha, which we visited last year. This project cares for children whose parents work the city rubbish dump for anything they can live on and in some cases live on the dump itself.
This is a desperate situation for children. We heard news of Chillis, who we met last year, who had lost her toes as rats had eaten them at night in her rubbish dump home. Chillis is now almost 2 years old but was not at the project the day we visited when we visited remains well cared for. We met another little girl whose family live on the dump who regularly attends this project. She looked well and was pretending to do the washing!
This project has clearly benefitted from the training and grants provided by Red Alert as there are more children cared for and they appear to have even better care. This was very encouraging as this project serves children from an horrendous environment …. Guatemala City rubbish tip!
As we left the project we drove along the main access street to it this area which is difficult to describe; the smell, the filth, the salvaging that is going on in this area to gain an income. Mattresses are stripped for their metal springs, cars bodies were laid around with very little left that resembles a car, heaps of plastic, twisted looking people many of whom were drunk or high on glue. At one point a very smart top of the range white BMW drove past us. Drugs are trafficked in this area …… Project Tabatha is well placed and it is a privilege for Toybox to serve these committed people working there. They declare huge gratitude to God for what they have and that they can keep going with their work. We so respect these people who strive in this harsh environment.
Near the vegetable and fruit market there is a ‘holding dump’ from which the rubbish is then transferred to the City Dump. We visited this and have to say were totally shocked by what we saw. There are 70-100 children living under plastic or small tin sheds. The smell is horrendous.
Alastair visited this place 4 years ago when 6 Children came off the street one very wet night. During the day the full desperateness of this place is so visible. The people are rummaging through the rubbish for food or anything they can salvage. Children bath in containers of stagnant water and play with bits of rubbish that they find.
We feel our words cannot describe this horrendous place sufficiently. We joined a Church who are visiting this place with support from Red Alert. Red Alert have managed to obtain permission from drug dealers and gangs for a Doctor, who is giving his time and medication for free, to treat approximately 30 families once a month. This allows Red Alert, the Church people, and the Doctor to begin building trust with the people on this dump.
At the same time children at risk of abuse or health-wise are identified. The Church wants to start a day centre at the dump for the children so they are not amongst the rubbish whilst the parents work. They want to teach the children, support them, help them with their health, give them life skills and help them spiritually. They are working hard to raise resources to deliver this. Red Alert is supporting them and guiding them in this and we pray that a day centre can start soon in this horrendous place.
The Government does have ‘homes of good will’. These do not live up to their name. Children who have escaped show signs of torture, maltreatment and tell horrible stories. From time to time children are ‘rounded up’ and taken to these Government ‘homes of good will’ …. this is a street child’s worse fear!!! When Toybox offers opportunities for supporters to take part in advocacy please do so. Please see the Toybox website for advocacy work.
We visited a new Projecto Stephen. This serves the children of a small town on the edge of Guatemala city called Satelite. This project started 3 months ago and so far has 23 children. Most of these children
come from single parent families and are either left at home to fend for themselves during the day or taken to work with their parent, often to a market stall, at best. The project leader, Cindy, translated for Alastair on a previous trip which, as she visited different projects God inspired her to start this project. Early days, but we look forward to hearing news of it’s progress.
“Mi Especial Tresoro” project has twelve girls who have had the most horrendous experiences of abuse resulting in street living in most cases. In some instances court cases have resulted in the girls being taken from their parents. Two girls shared their experiences with us and we listened to their stories of abuse on every level on a scale difficult to imagine through tears.
The stunning part about these 2 girls was their expressions of forgiveness of their abusers, which they declared was because Jesus leads their lives now. They clearly still felt pain over the past, but we believe genuine forgiveness had occurred. One of them had met her abuser!! An absolutely incredible project that has grown from caring for 7 girls last year to 12 girls now. Training and grants from Red alert have been a contributor to this and it is good to see the grants put to such good use. This is just what Toybox hopes to see happen … local people with a passion supported to reach more children.
Red Alert told us many stories of children who have come off the street and are now being cared for. ‘Samuelito un reto para vivir’ is a project organised by a small Church in a very poor local community. This project now benefits from Red Alert support and is run by a young lady called Laura who is so committed to these children.
Through this work a child was identified as being at HIGH RISK. Pedro was a working child, humping bricks in a local foundry near his home. He told us last year that he didn’t go to school as he didn’t like it and anyway needed to work to help his family. He was so thin with arms like sticks and vertebrae sticking out of his back. At 10 years old he had a very enquiring mind and asked us lots of questions about England and wanted to know what it was like to go in an airplane. We talked for ages and he really struck a chord with us. Some you just cannot get off your mind and Pedro was one of those children that encapsulated for us one of the reasons why we care for the children of Latin America so much. So we did what we only could do back in England so far from Pedro’s situation; we prayed for him. That he would be protected from abuse, that he would be able somehow to go to school, that he wouldn’t have to work all day, that he would have enough to eat. Imagine our joy this year then when we heard that Pedro is in a safe home, going to school and can’t believe his ‘fat’ tummy! He got to the end of his tether eventually and told the people at the project that he was not happy with his life. His mother apparently was forcing him to work, even though she was not prepared to herself, and was giving him alchohol to numb his hunger pangs. Through the work at the Samuelito project he attended he received information about the good treatment that children should expect, and realised that his life was not as it should be. Please continue to pray for Pedro as, at the regular monthly visits his mother makes she tries to persuade him to come home as “the family need him”. He also needs prayer to help him catch up with his school work. He will be receiving extra help from the Educators who visit his home to help him and others like him, but it takes perseverance, especially when like most 11 year old boys he would rather be playing football than doing his lessons!
We visited a group of street children near the city dump. These were a sad group and a harsh reminder of the importance for Toybox to work on many levels, be it prevention, long term street children, advocacy in their countries and advocacy in the UK.
There were all ages in this group and some 22 year olds two of whom Alastair knows. Many thousands of children lives are changed by Toybox work. This was a hard reminder that not every child is successful. Alastair knew these two young men from his earlier trips to Guatemala (8 to 5 years ago). These two had reverted back to street life.
We spoke at length with the two young men about what had caused them to return to this life which was personal to them so will not write about this. Suffice to say the two boys asked us to pray for them and declared that they knew they needed to revitalise their faith, which they both acknowledged they had. They freely said that they wished to pray again for a change in their lives. Please pray for them …. It was very hard to leave them!!!
We left Guatemala with many mixed emotions. Easter day with Lauda was hard and uplifting, Pedro’s new life gives us hope for many other children in similar situations, Fundacion Castillo are brilliant and Red Alert we are delighted to see are having many, many successes …. Obviously some desperate situations and as ever walking away has been extremely difficult……
Alastair & Debbi
a) Identifies and works with local projects helping street living, street working and 'high risk' children. Helping the local projects and people do what they do better and enabling them to work with more children.
b) Links or networks these existing local projects and people together with Churches, other organisations, civil society groups and Government (where possible).
The local Red Alert team, supported by Toybox and linked to Viva Latin America, are involved in many activities such as providing training to run projects better, improving care for children, improving facilitates for reaching more children and applications for grants to improve the work. In supporting and funding this work Toybox enables local people to develop, improve what they do and reach many more children thereby producing locally driven change by those who know best ... the people of Guatemala. Viva provide consultation which is necessary for the work and a link through their wider networks to other networks.
We went to Project Tabatha, which we visited last year. This project cares for children whose parents work the city rubbish dump for anything they can live on and in some cases live on the dump itself.
This project has clearly benefitted from the training and grants provided by Red Alert as there are more children cared for and they appear to have even better care. This was very encouraging as this project serves children from an horrendous environment …. Guatemala City rubbish tip!
Near the vegetable and fruit market there is a ‘holding dump’ from which the rubbish is then transferred to the City Dump. We visited this and have to say were totally shocked by what we saw. There are 70-100 children living under plastic or small tin sheds. The smell is horrendous.
Alastair visited this place 4 years ago when 6 Children came off the street one very wet night. During the day the full desperateness of this place is so visible. The people are rummaging through the rubbish for food or anything they can salvage. Children bath in containers of stagnant water and play with bits of rubbish that they find.
We feel our words cannot describe this horrendous place sufficiently. We joined a Church who are visiting this place with support from Red Alert. Red Alert have managed to obtain permission from drug dealers and gangs for a Doctor, who is giving his time and medication for free, to treat approximately 30 families once a month. This allows Red Alert, the Church people, and the Doctor to begin building trust with the people on this dump.
At the same time children at risk of abuse or health-wise are identified. The Church wants to start a day centre at the dump for the children so they are not amongst the rubbish whilst the parents work. They want to teach the children, support them, help them with their health, give them life skills and help them spiritually. They are working hard to raise resources to deliver this. Red Alert is supporting them and guiding them in this and we pray that a day centre can start soon in this horrendous place.
The Government does have ‘homes of good will’. These do not live up to their name. Children who have escaped show signs of torture, maltreatment and tell horrible stories. From time to time children are ‘rounded up’ and taken to these Government ‘homes of good will’ …. this is a street child’s worse fear!!! When Toybox offers opportunities for supporters to take part in advocacy please do so. Please see the Toybox website for advocacy work.
We visited a new Projecto Stephen. This serves the children of a small town on the edge of Guatemala city called Satelite. This project started 3 months ago and so far has 23 children. Most of these children
come from single parent families and are either left at home to fend for themselves during the day or taken to work with their parent, often to a market stall, at best. The project leader, Cindy, translated for Alastair on a previous trip which, as she visited different projects God inspired her to start this project. Early days, but we look forward to hearing news of it’s progress.
“Mi Especial Tresoro” project has twelve girls who have had the most horrendous experiences of abuse resulting in street living in most cases. In some instances court cases have resulted in the girls being taken from their parents. Two girls shared their experiences with us and we listened to their stories of abuse on every level on a scale difficult to imagine through tears.
The stunning part about these 2 girls was their expressions of forgiveness of their abusers, which they declared was because Jesus leads their lives now. They clearly still felt pain over the past, but we believe genuine forgiveness had occurred. One of them had met her abuser!! An absolutely incredible project that has grown from caring for 7 girls last year to 12 girls now. Training and grants from Red alert have been a contributor to this and it is good to see the grants put to such good use. This is just what Toybox hopes to see happen … local people with a passion supported to reach more children.
Red Alert told us many stories of children who have come off the street and are now being cared for. ‘Samuelito un reto para vivir’ is a project organised by a small Church in a very poor local community. This project now benefits from Red Alert support and is run by a young lady called Laura who is so committed to these children.
We visited a group of street children near the city dump. These were a sad group and a harsh reminder of the importance for Toybox to work on many levels, be it prevention, long term street children, advocacy in their countries and advocacy in the UK.
We left Guatemala with many mixed emotions. Easter day with Lauda was hard and uplifting, Pedro’s new life gives us hope for many other children in similar situations, Fundacion Castillo are brilliant and Red Alert we are delighted to see are having many, many successes …. Obviously some desperate situations and as ever walking away has been extremely difficult……
Alastair & Debbi
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