Christmas on the Street

Christmas time for the Street child is time of special danger. Increased drunkenness results in more violence. Casa Walsingham attempts to ensure that all the children in its care are safe and cared for at this time.

In Colombia Christmas festivities begin in the evening of 7th December when every house is illuminated with lighted candles in the windows and the Christmas lights are switched on. Street children look on with bewilderment and some envy. Let the Children Live! tries to bring some happiness. All the 450 children we support receive presents and come to parties at Casa Walsingham.

Traditionally, the nine days leading up to Christmas are times of carols and parties. Fr Peter goes out with the Street educators to give the children their presents and to join in the fun. Children who live in the Street receive a small present - sweets & a small toy - anything more valuable would be stolen or could get them involved in a fight. Children from the shanty town receive sweets, a toy and some clothing - often a T-shirt. Children being educated at Casa Walsingham receive a pair of shoes or jeans as well.
Sadly, we cannot afford to give shoes to every child this year.

Toys are very popular with the teenagers. Many have hardly any experience of having any toy of their own. They are just as excited as the younger children to receive and play with them. Our psychologists point to the importance of play - even at a delayed stage.

Costs of shipping gifts from Britain are high. Reluctantly we ask supporters not to send presents for the children, as we cannot afford the shipping. All presents are purchased in Colombia, so gifts of money for these are most welcome.

Let The Children Live! wish you a happy Christmas and a Blessed New Year. We ask you to remember the Street children and the work at Casa Walsingham.

The Cost of Care

The recent Trustees' annual report to the Charity Commisioners states:

In 2000 the Charity met its objects by making donations in cash and in kind to a total value of £176,984 to support organisations working to relieve children and young people in Colombia and Honduras. A further £24,159 was expended on fieldwork in fulfilment of these objects. Thus about 89% of expenditure was devoted to the activities of Let The Children Live! abroad. The sum of £7,602 was spent on development education in Britain, so in all about 92% of expenditure was devoted to the objects of the Charity. The remainder was incurred by the costs of administration, appeals and employment for the Charityıs work in Britain.

Currently the Trustees are pledged to send £12,000 per month to maintain the work at Casa Walsingham. This ensures daily care for 450 children, supported by 17 Colombian street educators, teachers, psychologists, social workers and support staff. At their autumn meeting, the Trustees reluctantly decided the level of funding to be sent to our projects in Colombia in 2002 would have to be held at the same rate for the third year running.

Fr Peter said, "a few weeks ago we had the equivalent of £250 in Colombia with £3000 of bills and wages due to be paid the next day. If the monthly funds from the Trustees had not arrived that afternoon, we should not have been able to meet our obligations."

This lack of a reserve margin is making the work very difficult for Fr Peter.

"All the time we are having to adapt our priorities and, sadly, are having to keep children on the Streets waiting to come into Casa Walsingham".

The Trustees constantly have the dilemma of under-spending on fundraising and administration in order to send money donated directly for the care of the Street-children. 2001 has proved even more difficult in keeping funds flowing evenly and we have been unable to build up any reserves. We ended last year with a balance of £3,279. Our Treasurer predicts an even smaller final balance this year.

Mrs Margaret Walters, one of our Trustees, pictured with Street-educators on a recent visit to Casa Walsingham

Our Trustees

Mrs Margaret Walters
Miss Paulette Brown
Revd Michael Rear (RC)
Revd Canon Stephen Gregory (CofE)

The Trustees willingly meet their own expenses and freely give their time to the Street children.

Where There's a Will...

Some of our supporters have left requests that in the event of their death, donations in lieu of flowers might be made to Let The Children Live! This generous forethought is greatly appreciated.

Let The Children Live! badly needs larger sums for capital projects and for emergency reserves. One way of providing these is through legacies. Would you consider making the Street children beneficiaries from your Will? And so let your concern for them live on. Forms of Bequest are available free from:

The Treasurer
PO Box 11
Walsingham
Norfolk
England
NR22 6EH

Casa Walsingham Update

Let The Children Live! hopes to continue to convert Casa Walsingham into a School.

Fr Peter explains, "the idea is not to separate the Street-children from the school system but to provide a half-way house to prepare them to be integrated into ordinary school."

A child from the street often finds it difficult to adapt to school routine and teachers often find it hard to cope with their behaviour. In the past this has led to clashes and even expulsions. Let The Children Live! wants to prevent this.

The money needed for structural alterations ran out at the end of February. Since then, no further alterations have been done. The lack of funds also delayed the admission to Casa Walsingham of new candidates from the Street. Fortunately the archdiocese of Medellín has recently opened a food bank to help non-governmental organisations like Funvini (Let The Children Live!'s Colombian arm). Funvini's food bill has reduced and enabled 17 new children to join the Casa Walsingham programme. We urgently need to renew the roof, and to install more showers and classrooms.

Stop Press - Arley Hernández

It is with great sadness that we record the death of Euler Arley Hernández on 3rd November 2001 at the age of 22. He was shot when he witnessed the murder of a friend in the city of Arauca: his killer died shortly afterwards in a battle with the police.

Arley was the first street-child Let The Children Live! took into care when Fr. Peter started working full time in Medellín in 1995. Of all the hundreds of youngsters whom he has helped since then, Fr Peter considers Arley to have been both the most challenging and the most rewarding. The high points of his life were the two occasions on which Fr Peter brought him to Britain and he had the chance to meet and thank many of our supporters around the country.

There will be more about Arley in the next issue of Vivant! Please pray for him and for Fr Peter and all his family and friends at this time of sorrow.

All Because of the War

With 15 bags on their backs, each containing a dozen lemons, Liliana, Glenedis and Sandra walk up and down the streets in the centre of Medellín offering citrus fruits to all the passers-by for 1,000 pesos (30p) a bag. In spite of their ages, 8, 10 and 13, they are already experienced traders. It's a good day - they work for at least 6 hours, and make more than 8,000 pesos which helps to buy food for their family.

The story of why such young children have to work and spend a large part of each day surrounded by the dangers of the street - traffic, alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves and prostitutes - is a story of war. A story of the war that has torn Colombia apart for more than 40 years and which has, in the last decade, resulted in acts of utter madness.

In the words of the girls:

"In our family there are seven of us: our mother, father, and 5 children. We were born in a region of Colombia close to the Caribbean sea where our Father had a farm. Life there was really good."

"Then, 3 years ago, the war between the guerrillas, the army and the paramilitary groups began to affect the area where we lived. Everything became very dangerous. We couldn't go out to play like before, and we couldn't go to school, because the school was in an area controlled by the guerrillas and where we lived was controlled by the paramilitaries."

"Things became very dangerous and we had to leave. Although it wasn't true, the paramilitaries thought our Father had co-operated with guerrillas, and we learnt that they intended to kill him."

"We packed as much as we could, and in the early hours took the bus to Medellín, where our grandmother lived. When we first arrived it was very hard because there were a lot of people in the house and before we always had enough to eat, but here we didn't. A neighbour helped our father by giving him a box of cigarettes to sell in the street and so he began to work here in the city. As for us, we didn't have school places because we had arrived halfway through the school year and all the places were full. We also had to start working in order to help find enough money to live."

"We worked in the street for a year selling things until the teachers from Funvini began coming to where we were working. Only because of their help we have been able to work less. Later on, thanks to help from Funvini, we were able to go back to school."

"Now, the 3 of us are studying again and we don't work in the street so much. We want to carry on studying and, God willing, some day we want to be secretaries or doctors. And when the war ends we hope to be able to go back to our the area of our birth and work there."

In addition to going to school, Liliana, Glenedis and Sandra also go to Casa Walsingham for several hours each day.

Liliana, Glenedis and Sandra are amongst this group of Street-children outside Casa Walsingham

Interview conducted by Alejandro Uribe Tirado, a former Street-Educator with Funvini. Translated by Pauline Allan, who also met the 3 girls earlier this year.

Our Christmas Card

Available again this year, this Picture of Our Lady of Walsingham and the street-children of Medellín was kindly painted for Let The Children Live! by Jane Taylor, the artist who illustrated The Disposable Ones, our Secondary Schools Resource Pack. It has been reproduced as a high-quality Christmas card (7"x 5") by former street-children at the graphic workshop of Ciudad Don Bosco in Medellín.

The picture expresses the spirituality that underlies the work of the charity. On the right are the ruins of the mediaeval shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Walsingham, the village where Let The Children Live! was founded. To the left is the Coltejer Building which dominates the skyline of Medellín. In the foreground some street-children, protected and embraced by Our Lady of Walsingham, are giving the Christ-Child one of their friendship bands.

Packs of five cards cost £2 plus 50 pence p & p and may be ordered directly from our Walsingham address. Please enclose full payment with your order and make your cheque or postal order to: Let The Children Live! (There is a postage and packing discount on orders of 20 packs or more - please ask.)