Issue 3	The Newsletter of LET THE CHILDREN LIVE!	Spring 1997
Contents:
	Bello Education, Food, and the Future
	Gerson Rest in Peace
	Schools Resource Pack Publisher Wanted
	Proyecto Alternitivas Dr Donald Kaminskey's work in Honduras
	The Adult World of a Street Child Leanda Reed
	Dream Come True! A street child dreams of visiting England, where footballers go...
	Donations & Fund-raisers - Some of the ways in which money has been raised

Hello Bello!   (Important Note: During the Summer of 1997, the Bello project evolved into the Pelican Project, and is no longer located in Bello)

Bello (pronounced Bay-jo), is a town on the outskirts of Medellín which suddenly experienced a huge population import, resulting in a lot of children at high risk. After careful assessment, the Bello Project was set up both to prevent further family disintegration and to re-integrate these children into family, schools and community. The Project currently looks after some 70 children daily. On Mondays to Fridays 30 come to our Day Centre from 8.30 to 4.30, and are fed three times daily. We also support at least 40 children in the street, some of whom are given a meal each day. This work at a preventative level is breaking new ground, and has won interest and support within the local community, and from the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF). The programme started in the Street in 1994. After 18 months the need for a base had become urgent. So last May we rented a small house. We have kept things going thanks to your response to the SOS with the last edition of VIVANT!   Education Whenever possible the children are encouraged to go to school. However, there are not enough places, and some have run away from school. Our street-educators try to get the children to resume studies. Many children have learning difficulties (which is sometimes why they left school). Let The Children Live! educators have the skills to assess, to give individual help, and to reintroduce a child back into the system. Each child's health is checked: Let The Children Live! pay a doctor, dentist, optometrist, audiologist and a psychologist to see each child. Improvements have been recorded in the attendance, behaviour and academic progress of children who were previously disruptive, with sporadic attendance. Lack of school places leaving 30 boys and girls without tuition means we need two more educators. To develop our work with families we also require a third extra member of staff. We could not survive without education students from the local university who provide academic tuition and help children with behavioural problems.   Feeding Initially, a local Church project in Bello offered to feed the children, but unfortunately was not able to provide the quality or quantity stipulated by the Family Welfare Authority. Let The Children Live! was asked to rescue the situation last autumn. Thanks to the generosity of VIVANT! readers the gap was closed, but we face an ongoing need. We also fund a part-time nutritionist as many children are small for their age due to malnutrition. "It's not just a question of giving any sort of food," says Fr Peter, "their diet must be balanced to help repair the damage done".

The Future We seek a permanent base with proper kitchen facilities. We still have no deep freeze and cannot afford the extra £1200 it would cost. We need more cooking facilities and extra space for this. Our present premises are rented, and it would be difficult to adapt these. Thus we need a more suitable building with greater security of tenure. We also need premises to provide dormitory accommodation in family units of 10 - 12 children, who need more personal support and who cannot take, or adapt to, life in a larger institution. Units like this have been pioneered by Fr Enrici in Pereira - whom Let The Children Live! also supports. Medellín has nothing like this. Meanwhile the local authority in Bello has asked us to look into setting up a Day Centre especially for the more hardened glue sniffing gamines. Although there are fewer in Bello, since most leave for the city centre of Medellín, such a project could prevent their departure and further. Through our daughter Charity, Fundación ¡Vivan Los Niños! (FUNVINI), which is registered as a charity in Colombia, we are exploring the setting up of a first Colombian support group in a more affluent area to help provide the rent for Bello.   STOP PRESS...   ICBF Funding Cut Back   Fr Peter Walters, the Director of Let The Children Live!, was informed on 19th May that the ICBF (the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare) are ending their monthly contribution of some £2,865 (US $ 4,550) per month to the Charity's project in Bello. This drastic cut will take effect from 1st June and it threatens the project's very survival, but apparently the ICBF need to use this money to fund a programme for young offenders. The ICBF claims that it will be able to find places in other organisations for about half of the 80 children cared for by the project, even though there are no other projects that provide the same level of care in Bello. Despite their poverty, the remaining children will simply be abandoned unless Let The Children Live! is able to supply the funds to keep the project going. "For a charity as small as ours, this cut is a very severe blow," Fr Peter admits. "Our pioneering project in Bello has been such a success that we were planning to expand our work into other parts of Medellín. Now our staff, who have looked after these children so well over the last three years, are bracing themselves for the tears of those who will be taken away by ICBF officials at the end of May." "Our priority now must be to ensure the welfare of the remaining children," Fr Peter emphasises. "These children have put their trust in us, and we must not let them down. Let The Children Live! will do all that it can to find the money to continue to care for them." "Unless the shortfall can be made up by new donations from our supporters, we shall have to make drastic cuts of our own," he warns. "For example, I have already had to send a message to Proyecto Alternativas in Honduras to let them know that we can no longer guarantee our funding for their programme with which they feed more than 100 children every day." "We rely on God's help and the generosity of our supporters to help us overcome this crisis," Fr Peter concludes.

GERSON - Rest In Peace   Pauline Allen   In a corner of the Cemeterio Universal in Medellín, where burial plots of the poor lie neglected, one grave alone stands out from the rest. A brick surround encloses a garden of small plants and, on a marble slab at the head, a picture of the Virgin and child keeps watch over the words:   Gerson de J Alvarez Mayo 4 1996   Gerson Alvarez was just 18 when he died. I first met him in summer 1995. Looking about 15, he was living in the Hogar, the Halfway House run by Ciudad Don Bosco, but finding it difficult to settle down. With two other boys, who were also tempted to return to the streets, he was offered help by Let The Children Live! In spite of all the care, Gerson left the Hogar in September 1995 and went back to the streets. And there, on the streets, Gerson was such a help to me. Having broken my ankle very badly, I was confined to wheelchair and crutches. Whenever he saw me, Gerson would rush to offer help. No one was quite as good at supporting me as I hopped around. When my wheelchair needed lifting, Gerson would not drop it. Fr Peter tried to help Gerson, but when it was discovered he was already 18, problems arose. The Colombian Institutions, like Ciudad Don Bosco, are only able to work with children. At 18 Gerson was considered to be an adult. He needed to be in a small family type community, offering more individual attention to difficult youngsters - the sort that Let The Children Live! would like to found. If such a home existed, Gerson might have settled there. But this is still a dream, awaiting the money to see it realised. So he stayed on the streets. The last time I saw him I bought him a pizza for his supper. Just 11 months later, I was taking flowers to his grave. Gerson was killed on May 4, last year. He had committed a robbery, using a toy gun, but the man he robbed was a real criminal with criminal friends. Some time later a car drew up, a man called him over to the car and stabbed Gerson through the window. He died in the street. It took 3 days to trace those who knew him - the staff of Let The Children Live! José, one of the Charitys Educators, identified him, for he had no relatives in Medellín. The Charity also arranged his funeral, and Fr Peter buried him later, the spot marked by the gravestone that now bears his name. One boy who saw Gerson murdered, is known by his nickname El Ruso (the Russian). Last year, El Ruso was attending the Patio and occasionally the Albergue - when he wasn't high on glue. One year on, he seems to have moved permanently onto the streets, though he is often to be found outside the Patio. He sleeps in the corner, just round from the front door. At night he's cold, especially when it rains, but, like Gerson, he can't cope with life in a large institution and the pull of the streets is strong. He, too, needs a smaller more family-type home to help him leave the life of the streets and the glue. At 16, there are few, if any Institutions able to help him. He's already too old! Tall, good-looking, and with so much potential, El Ruso is on the streets, his life going to waste. Like Gerson, he was always kind to me, never once asking for anything; and only ever showing affection and concern for my welfare. He was so anxious that I shouldn't be robbed and showed me how to carry my bag and guard my purse. It was a privilege to buy him a meal, which he ate with surprisingly good manners, after saying Grace! Every day I wonder if I will see El Ruso when I return to Medellín, or if I will be visiting his grave too. For the terrible truth is that if we don't get them off the streets, the violence will, and there will be more Gersons and more graves in the Cemeterio Universal.   Pauline Allen is Chairman of our Doncaster Branch. The Albergue is the night-shelter - Let The Children Live! partly funded its construction. The Patio del Gamín is the Day-centre at Don Bosco City, also supported by Let The Children Live!

Schools Resource Pack   A Resource Pack for Secondary Schools about the street-children in Colombia has now been written for Let The Children Live! and we are looking for help in publishing and marketing it. This pack has been written in response to many requests from schools. Its aim is to help teachers to give their pupils a clear understanding of the plight of street-children, particularly in Colombia, and to present the work of the Charity to them. As they learn about the lives such children lead, and the issues raised (Suffering, Human Relationships, Justice, Poverty etc.) students will be able to consider their own attitudes, values and beliefs. The pack offers a planned topic, which is aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4. Work tasks are suggested, but they could be adapted or extended to suit the needs of individual teachers. It could be used to provide a complete module for work on street-children or, as part of work on related topics. Within Key Stage 4 it can be used for both exam and non-exam work. We hope that students will also be prompted to take action on behalf of the street-children they learn about.   Where will it fit?   An obvious place is within the R.E. Syllabus which, of course, must adhere to the requirements and guidelines of the Local Agreed Syllabus. So, would this particular topic be compatible with those requirements? The answer is - Yes. A random sample of 60 Agreed Syllabi was studied and, in all cases the subject matter was found to be compatible with their requirements. The 2 Model Syllabi, produced by SCAR, were also studied and, again, there was compatibility. In addition, advice has been taken from an OFSTED Inspector, who is also an Advisory Teacher for R.E. In her opinion, the material in this pack is entirely compatible with the requirements of an Agreed Syllabus. If you have ideas about how the pack could be published and marketed, please write to: Miss Pauline Allan Let The Children Live! P.O. Box 11 Walsingham Norfolk England NR22 6EH or e-mail her at: lcl@LetTheChildrenLive.org

Proyecto Alternitivas Proyecto Alternitivas is run by its founder Dr Donald Kaminskey, in the centre of Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, working with street-children and those at high risk - paticularly in the market places. Back in 1984, Let The Children Live! Director Fr Peter Walters was invited to a meeting of the World Health Organisation in Geneva to discuss street-children and substance-abuse. Dr Kaminskey, a speaker at the conference, invited Fr Peter to visit Tegucigalpa where he heard of a crisis. Food was desperately needed every day for 200 very young children between 2 and 7 years old, but there were no funds for this. Prior to the setting up of Proyecto Alernativas some children had died from malnutrition. Since then Let The Children Live! has paid for approximately 30,000 meals each year! Dr Kaminskey stresses both the need for street-workers being properly trained and the importance of actually working in the streets. Proyecto Alternativas is not a day-centre project. Instead teams, all with some medical or first aid qualification, work in pairs on the streets, running street-clinics. Mothers are employed as cooks, running feeding canteens in the covered market place. Dr Kaminskey has visited Medellín and spoken at a conference, sponsored by Let The Children Live!, sharing his methods with our street-workers and other organisations in Colombia. Now our street-workers are trained in first aid. The training course which Let The Children Live! sponsored, was also attended by street-workers from other charities.   Please note: since 2001, Let The Children Live! has ceased to fund the Honduras/Tegucigalpa feeding programme. "Caring and Sharing" now fund a more limited project themselves.

The Adult World of a Street Child   Leanda Reed   I sit, tapping my feet to the sound of salsa, on bus 253 to Aires, the neighbourhood where Ciudad Don Bosco is based, contemplating the last ten months that I have spent in an enchanting country full of the extremes and passions. This is my last ride up through the windy narrow streets jostling for space amongst the hundreds of brick houses that clamber up the hillside trying to reach the sky. It is time to move on before embarking on the final year of my Hispanic Studies course at University. The farewells have already begun and the faces of all the children seem to be burning a hole in my heart. How sad it is to leave so many friends who have given me their unconditional love and respect and who have been denied so much happiness in the cruel urban jungle which is their home. During my ten months here, two street-children have been shot - ones I thought would really be able to leave behind the adversities of life on the streets and who would stay in Ciudad Don Bosco for many years.   Street-children are very used to death. It is so common that their only reaction is a morbid fascination for details. Death is just another part of the harsh reality for these children who no longer have the innocence of youth but who physically cannot take on the maturity and responsibilities of being adults. I, too, have become accustomed to death, something I thought would never happen. This frightens and puzzles me - how can such a rich culture and such friendly people exist alongside so much blood, violence and death? By the age of twelve or less, some of these children are already addicted to drugs, have been abused sexually, and have many contemporaries who have been murdered. Let The Children Live!, through the various institutions that it supports, provides some light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Thanks to the Charity many children now have a roof over their heads, clothes, food, and the chance of an education that allows them to begin to respect and value themselves. I asked a boy why he wanted to keep on studying in Ciudad Don Bosco. He replied that he wanted to be 'someone in life'. For this disposable society, made up of those living on the streets or in extreme poverty, just to be valued as a human being becomes a very big priority. These children have psychological scars so large that just by looking into their eyes one senses an infinite sadness. But they are still capable of giving much love despite rarely having received any affection themselves. With our help they can begin the long, painful process of rediscovering their childhood and put aside the adult world for a more appropriate time. More about Ciudad Don Bosco...

Dream Come True!   Street-child, Arley, asleep on a Medellín pavement, dreamed he crossed the seas in an aeroplane to visit England, where footballers go. Awaking, he realised it was a dream, and sniffed more glue for consolation. But he never forgot this dream. Arley became one of the children helped by Let The Children Live! He pleaded with Director, Fr Peter, to take him to the UK. Downcast as it was not financially possible, Arley tore off his glue-stained shirt - "If you can't take me, take this, so that something of me has been." This became a prop on Fr Peters next speaking tour. Arley has been in the care of Ciudad Don Bosco and Funvini, since June 1995. Thanks to a generous and anonymous donor, a plane ticket appeared. So Arley came for the visit of a lifetime and his dream came true! He saw various parts of Britain as he accompanied Fr Peter on his tour of engagements, and enjoyed meeting everyone, especially people of his own age. Arley says, Muchas Gracias! (many thanks!) to Let The Children Live! and he asks you to help his friends.   Donations & Fund-Raisers   It is impossible to list all our donors, but (when you supply a name and address!) we always thank you. Here are just a few of the ways in which people have raised money:   Churches Together. Eleven Nottinghamshire churches around Hucknall, Linby and Papplewick are uniting to Let The Children Live! in 1997. Methodist, Anglican and Baptist Churches are be working together, and on their own, to raise awareness of our work and also raise money for us. The things that unite us are greater than those that divide us, and we are so pleased to be a part of one Body.   Coffee Cup Cash. Saturday morning shoppers at Downham Market dropping in for coffee raised £143 in response to the problems at Bello highlighted in our last VIVANT! Organiser Jess Flower even made an appeal on local radio. Our thanks to supporters everywhere for these steady fund-raisers. Please keep it up.   A Bridge Too Far? Not for Bristol Branch members wearing red Let The Children Live! bibs. Before the new Second Severn Crossing suspension bridge opened to traffic last year, thousands took given a once-only opportunity to walk across to raise money for their chosen charity. This raised £1000 for us, and spurred 10 members to walk 30 miles to the Pilgrimage Festival at Glastonbury a month later.     Cards Galore. Andrew Gilmore's and Ron Stark's recycled greeting cards raised £3167 last year for Let The Children Live! Quality Christmas, Easter, birthday, get-well, plain and other occasion cards, all sell at 35p. Icons, figures of Our Lady of Walsingham, and fine plaques are all sold in aid of Let The Children Live! Call at their High Street house in Walsingham and see their display. Please bring or send your old cards. They also do superb B & B. Write to Ron and Andrew, Shields, 21 High Street, Walsingham, Norfolk, England NR22 6BY.   Finally, many thanks to Phil Dodd and the Anglican Parish of Prestbury, Cheltenham, who edited and funded this edition of VIVANT! on behalf of Let The Children Live! as a gift to the street-children.   Our thanks to each and every one who help us Let The Children Live!

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