Miguel's dream

“Life is not easy, and as children we have faced many people treading on our dreams. But with my songs I am saying that whoever you are and whatever has happened to you, you can live your dreams.”

Miguel Arevalos has helped to lead several nationwide campaigns against child abuse, he is a singer and songwriter for a local band and he will soon begin presenting his own TV show, broadcast to 150,000 people in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Miguel is also just about to celebrate his 15th birthday.

4-14 European Prayer Conference: empowering youth through prayer.

“Seeing the synergy between prayer and activism was a great awakening!”

Our International Prayer Co-ordinator, Chrissie, recently had the privilege of seeing what children can accomplish for their nations when you just give them the chance.

Friday 18th - Tuesday 21st February witnessed the 1st European 4-14 Consultation of Children in Transformational Ministry, hosted by Viva and Hope for Europe. 4-14 gets its name from a variation on the 10/40 Window theme. It refers to the fact that children between the ages of 4 and 14 are the most open and receptive to every form of spiritual and developmental input.

Chrissie says, “This is an opportune window for a previously silenced group of people to become key figures of transformational ministry. God is calling us to alter the way we view children and to respond to their importance and rightful place in his kingdom.”

NOW in Kampala, Uganda: child-friendly voting!

This news is coming straight from Kampala where, as you read this, projects and churches from our partner network have taken to the streets to encourage voters to consider the rights and needs of Uganda's children.

In the light of the upcoming elections for a new President and government (Friday 18th February) the network are conducting an advocacy campaign encouraging citizens to think about children when they vote. They have been asking questions such as: Do you recognise the importance of today’s children? Will the person you vote for be the best person to lead the next generation into the future?

December December the month to remember... in Kenya

In the Manyatta slum, opportunities for children to stand up and be heard by crowds of over 800 people are pretty rare. Yet that’s exactly what 12-year old Gaya got to do at the Viva Christmas Party in his community just a few weeks ago.

Gaya’s church is part of our city-wide network in Kisumu, Kenya, and so when the network decided to hold a Christmas Party he was one of more than 700 children to attend the festivities. The meal they ate together provided a welcome change from the daily fare of maize and beans, the presents they received were, for many, the first toys they had ever owned and the games were enjoyed by attendees of all ages.

December December the month to remember... in India

When our city-wide network in Delhi, India, held a Viva Christmas Party a few weeks ago they gave every project attending the chance to perform. Songs, dances and dramas were played out by more than 100 children for the entertainment of their peers, including 13 children from a project that helps young people with autism and other disabilities.

“For these children it was a totally new experience” says Viva India staff member Gary Kamaal. “Not just that they were invited to perform in front of so many people, but to perform alongside other children and be given equal status - that was so amazing and wonderful to them. You could see in their faces they felt so special, and they really loved doing their act.”

Children Stopping Child Abuse

There are some moments in life you just can’t beat. Running around Cochabamba’s equivalent of the Houses of Parliament with kids from the Fundacion Emmanuel project (the ministry for children of prostitutes that I was telling you about in my previous post), campaigning for good treatment of children last week was definitely one of them. 

Try saying this to twenty irrepressible children: “This is an important government building so you need to be good. Don’t run and don’t shout!” It just didn’t work. They went nuts, and who can blame them? 

The Good Treatment vaccination campaign is all about children voicing their rights. They approach adults with recipe cards. On one side are the ingredients for good treatment of children: a bit of respect, understanding, a portion of humour, an abundance of tolerance, a piece of patience, and others. On the other side is a space for the recipient to write his or her name, sign and date – and voila! – they’re vaccinated. Along with the card and a leaflet, they receive a sweet.

Switching it up - Police in for Child Questioning!

On my first day in Kampala, I was taken to the Old Taxi Park. It was a dizzying maze of hundreds of small minibuses, known locally as matatus, and we were trying to find the one that would take me to my placement hosts. There is seemingly no system of getting in and out, and I was actually knocked by the side mirror of one as it was squeezing past us to get out. I remember thinking ‘What have I done? Where have I come to?’ My sales job in the UK was, a week after finishing up with the company, a lifetime away.

Yet a month later I had mastered the matatu system and there I was navigating my way to Stand Up Uganda, a community organisation that helps disadvantaged people, all by myself. The organisation is a member of Viva’s partner network in Kampala, the Children at Risk Action Network (CRANE). They told me “Pick a taxi at the matatu stage and then after the big junction look for the small white sign, after the garage and opposite the white building”. After passing what I assumed was the big junction, panic rose within me as I saw a garage, and then a white building and then another garage, and then a white shop… but then, looking across the road, that small white sign gleamed at me. I had made it!

Like Mother... Like Daughter?

I’ve been volunteering with Viva in Bolivia for the last few months. (You may have seen my personal blog already.) I live with a local family in the city of Cochabamba, and work in different projects that are members of the Cochabamba network Viva set up with ongoing support from Toybox. So far the network is working out nicely for me because I get a taste of so many different kinds of projects and can really get a feel for how Christians are responding to children at risk in Bolivia.

One of the projects I’ve spent some time working in is a project called Fundacion Emmanuel that cares for the children of women involved in prostitution. This may sound like a very specific ministry, but these children have very specific needs. The project is open three days a week. They’d love to be available to the children every day, but they can’t afford it. They usually have 20 children a day, between six and 14 years old. There’s one boy and 19 girls! Good thing I was there to provide some male companionship.

Children Fighting Bad Treatment

The Child Advocates are getting down to business. Recently 61 of our Bolivian child ambassadors and youth leaders met in Cochabamba for their 6th Annual Meeting, a weekend of planning, leadership activities, devotions, and of course a talent show. 

Viva’s Child Advocates (Protagonismo Infantil in Spanish) have been causing a stir around Bolivia. Their Good Treatment campaign ‘vaccinated’ more than 28,000 adults against child abuse this year, and the advocates themselves are often arranging interviews with radio hosts, television programmes and government authorities to get word out about treating children properly and respecting child rights. 

Viva’s city-wide networks throughout the country provide the platform for these little leaders to get together and talk about successes, plan out strategies and events, and learn from one another – at neighbourhood, city and national levels.

Attention World!

Over our World Weekend of Prayer, more than 2000 vulnerable kids from Viva’s network of projects around Cochabamba, Bolivia flooded the streets of their city.

First they met for a prayer meeting in the stadium, then they unleashed their advocating power by marching through the city with banners and balloons. Everyone noticed! Local authorities, businesses, and government bodies ‘woke up’ and started asking questions about the kids living on their own streets.  

A few thousand kids who have caught the spirit of advocacy are literally changing their entire country.