Happy 10th Birthday, Funvini!
The children being helped by Fr Peter to spell out Funvini's birthday message
On the hot, sunny morning of 31st August 2004 some 650 happy, excited children made their way to a recreation centre in the city of Medellín, Colombia. They were gathering to celebrate the 10th birthday of Fundación ¡Vivan Los Niños! (Funvini), the Colombian offshoot of the British charity Let the Children Live!
The original plan was to start with a group photograph in which the children would form the words "Funvini 10 Años"; but the heat was so intense that this had to be given up. After a few snapshots everyone rushed back to the shade for a drink before getting involved in the day's celebrations.
"This was the first time that the boys and girls from Funvini's various programmes had ever assembled in such numbers," explained Father Peter Walters, the charities' Founder. "Although we knew from our records that we were currently working with more than 800 children, actually seeing so many of them in one place brought home to all of us the extent to which Funvini has been able to grow over the last 10 years - thanks to the generosity of the supporters of Let the Children Live!"
When Fr Peter went to live in Medellín in 1994 he started work alone, but over the years he has gradually built up a team to help him. Funvini now has 25 employees, including street-educators, teachers, psychologists, social-workers and support staff.
Ten years ago, Fr Peter's bedroom at his Seminary served as Funvini's office, and all the work with the children had to take place in the street. Now the centre of Funvini's activities is at Casa Walsingham, a large house which has recently undergone a lengthy series of improvements to turn it into a 'school for going to school'.
After her recent visit to Medellín, Pauline Allan, the Secretary of Let the Children Live!, said, "Casa Walsingham is a place where children are loved and cared for and where many of their needs are met."
"We now need more funds to enable Funvini to provide more services in a new wing which will include a medical consulting-room and a basic dental surgery. There will also be a lift to give disabled children access to all of the house's facilities. I understood the need for this when I saw a boy and his wheel-chair having to be carried up 50 steps!"
Some of the children come to Casa Walsingham regularly to have a proper meal, to learn to read, to have help with homework, or to join in a variety of artistic and sporting activities. Others, who are busy working in the street, only come occasionally, in order to see the psychologists or the social-workers.
But Funvini's educators are not confined to Casa Walsingham: they go out into the streets and shanty-towns looking for the children who are most in need. Pauline was especially moved by the condition of one such 'disposable' child. "He was so little and fragile; so damaged and so alone," she remembered.
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