Congratulations Juan Gui!

On 9th June 2000, Juan Guillermo (known to his friends as Juan Gui) celebrated his graduation from High School. This was a great event because he was the first pupil from Funvini, the Colombian offshoot of Let The Children Live! to complete his secondary education. Juan Gui's story shows the sort of transformation that can be achieved - with help from Funvini - by one of the despised, "disposable" street-children. Juan Gui's graduation marks the accomplishment of a very important stage in Funvini's work of helping to give "life in its fullness" to the children of the street.

Juan Gui is now a tall, slim, helpful young man who works in the mornings as a messenger for Funvini. But back in 1992 he was an 11 year-old vagabond who used to spend his days begging, taking care of cars, or selling popcorn, roses and toys in the street. He was one of the first children Fr Peter Walters, our Director, began to help when he started working on his own in the streets of Medellín.

Fr Peter writes:

"For Funvini and our supporters at Let The Children Live! Juan Gui’s graduation presents a new challenge: to help to give former street-children access to vocational training and higher education. Our aim must be to contribute to the formation of young adults who will build in Colombia a fairer, more compassionate and united society that won’t condemn children with the potential of Juan Gui to the sort of life in the street that he endured."

Alejandro Uribe, who now leads Funvini's team of street-educators, interviewed Juan Gui to find out how Funvini had helped to change his life.

Juan Gui, what does it feel like to be the first pupil from Funvini to graduate from High School?

I’m really happy because I never thought that I would be able to finish High School. I’m a bit embarrassed about being the first one because everyone has been congratulating me and the younger children look up to me as an example.

At what age did you start living in the streets?

I began to run away from home and to live in the street when I was eleven. I ran away because at home my elder sister treated my brothers and sisters and me very badly when she was left in charge of us whilst my mum was out at work after my dad had walked out on us.

How bad was the abuse that made you run away to live in the streets?

My sister treated me terribly. She used to beat me with sticks or whip me with electric cable. Sometimes she tied me up and I suffered so much that I decided to run away until my mum arrived at night.

Didn’t your mum do anything about your sister's abuse?

She told her off about it, but she still had to leave us in her care when she went out to work. My sister continued mistreating me, and it was even worse if I ran away. In the end I couldn¹t stand it any more and I decided to run away for good and to not return to the house.

When you were in the street, what did you do?

I went to El Poblado because it was the neighbourhood where the rich people lived and it wasn't as dangerous as the city centre of Medellín. I used to work until late at night, begging for money or doing various little jobs. I used to sleep in the entrance of a bar when they closed at about three in the morning, because there it was not so cold as sleeping on the ground outside. The cold, the hunger, the loneliness and the lack of love was so bad that I began to sniff sacol (glue) to take away some of the pain.

How did you get to know Fr Peter?

I spent a year living in the street, and then one day one of my mates took me to meet Fr Peter when he was out on Operation Friendship. He persuaded me and my friends to start going to the Ciudad Don Bosco day-centre, where street-children were given food, health-care and a chance to play and rest. I attended the day-centre for several months, but then I went back to the street again because I found it difficult to settle down. In the end I returned to the day-centre, and they gave me another chance. This time I really stuck to it and I was allowed to go on to the Ciudad Don Bosco Halfway-House. While I was in the Halfway-House, I stayed in touch with Fr Peter. Most of the other boys went home for the weekends, but the neighbourhood where my family live was very violent at that time and one of my brothers was killed. My mother realised that it was too dangerous for me to come home, so she asked Fr Peter if Funvini could look after me at weekends. I was not the only boy in that situation, and in order to try to prevent us from going back to the street again, Fr Peter started a programme of weekend activities at Funvini that kept us amused and out of trouble.

What did you do at Ciudad Don Bosco?

The day was divided into periods of play and study and I was able to go to Primary School there. When I completed Primary School, I was sent to the El Sufragio High School. I used to attend classes in the evening and during the daytime I started learning about different trades in Ciudad Don Bosco’s workshops.

How did you come to live full-time at Funvini?

Ciudad Don Bosco gets most of its money from the Colombian government, and they are only allowed to support young people up to the age of 18. When I reached 18 I was still only half-way through High School, so when I had to leave Ciudad Don Bosco it looked as though that would be the end of my education because my family could not afford to support me if I stayed on at school. But because Funvini gets its money from donors in Britain, it is not tied by the same rules as Ciudad Don Bosco. Fr Peter knows how important it is to help people like me to carry on with our education, so he invited me to join Funvini's new programme for young people over the age of 18.

How did you get on at El Sufragio High School? What were your favourite subjects?

In El Sufragio I was very motivated to study. Because of my age I wanted to complete the course as fast as possible, and I was glad that their accelerated programme let me enabled me to get through two academic years in each calendar year. What I enjoyed most was the physical education and sport. I found all the maths particularly hard, but with coaching and encouragement from the educators at Funvini I managed to get through it.

Now that you have finished High School, what are your plans for the future?

At present, I want to continue helping Funvini by working there as a messenger. It is giving me the chance to show that I am responsible and I want to be able to earn part of my keep and not to have to rely on Fr Peter and Funvini to give me everything. I am waiting to see if my exam results are good enough for me to be able to go to University. But first I will have to do a year of National Service in the army or the police.

What would you like to study at University?

Well, even if I qualify for a place at University, I will only be able to go if Funvini can help with the tuition fees. I would like to study something to do with education because when I was teaching people to read which the Colombian government requires students to do before they graduate from High School - I liked it a lot. The children gave me a lot of affection and the teachers recognised that I had a very good relationship with them, and that is very important. I would also like to study Physical Education and Sport, because I have always enjoyed sport, especially soccer.

What would you like to be doing in 5 or 10 years time? What would you like to end up being?

I would like to have my own house and a stable job in whatever field I have been trained for. I also hope that I will get married and have children, and that I will be a good husband and dad. And, of course, I want to repay in whatever way I can all the help that Funvini has given me.

One of our educators at work on the streets.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Reina Elizabeth!

To celebrate the 100th birthday of H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Fr Peter organised a party for 100 children from the streets and shanty-towns of Medellín. On 4th August two bus-loads of children who usually attend Casa Walsingham were taken to a leisure-centre in the town of Rio Negro for a day of fun, games and cultural activities.

The climax of the day came when the children sang "Happy Birthday To You" in Spanish whilst Fr Peter lit the 100 candles on the cake. They then cheered and waved home-made Colombian and British flags whilst he blew out all the candles on Her Majesty’s behalf. Finally, in order to mark the occasion in a practical way, each child was given a pair of shoes.

Fr Peter wrote to the Private Secretary at Clarence House to ask him to convey greetings and congratulations to Her Majesty from Let The Children Live! and Funvini. In his reply, Sir Alastair Hind said that the Queen Mother had asked him to express her delight at the news of the party and to send to the Trustees, Staff and all the children her best wishes for peace and happiness in the years ahead.

One Night in the City

Census gives the facts

Let The Children Live! were asked to help conduct a census of the central areas of the city of Medellín and of the neighbouring municipalities that make up the Metropolitan Area on 28/29 April 1999. The census provided a considerable amount of data, which answers many of the most frequently asked Readers’ questions.

How many Street children are there?

2,633 people were found spending the night in the streets covered by the census. Of these, 495 were female, and 2,137 were male. Thus the males outnumber the females by well over 4 to 1. In the census, 368 people wouldn’t, or couldn’t, give their ages, but of the rest, 267 were under the age of 18. Of these, 34 were aged between 0 and 6 years (16 boys, 18 girls); 52 between 7 and 12 (38 boys, 14 girls); and 181 between 13 and 17 (146 boys, 35 girls). This gives a total of 200 boys and 67 girls. (Only 13 people claimed to be over 65: people who live in the street don’t usually live to a ripe old age.)

267 children may not sound an awful lot in a city the size of Medellín, but of course they did not include the children who were spending that particular night in any of the various night-shelters and hostels, nor those who were in streets not covered by the census. Fr Peter points out that the 267 children by no means represent the whole child-population of the streets: they were just those who happened to be found in those particular areas on that particular night. And during the day time the number of children in the streets increases greatly with the arrival of the working children who spent that particular night at home, but who are at high risk of being absorbed into full-time street-life.

Are most Street-children boys?

As with the adults, the child street-population is predominantly male. This is why most of our photographs of children actually living in the street are of boys. For a combination of social, economic and cultural reasons, in Colombia, girls are less likely to take to the streets than boys: and for most of those who do come on to the streets, prostitution is the usual way to survive. Most of the girls and women who become prostitutes live in the residencias where they work and so they no longer figure in the street population. (It is very difficult for them to get out again, partly because of the lack of an alternative source of income, and partly because of pressure from the men who control them.)

Although most of the children who live in the street are boys, our street-educators provide care and support for the girls as well, and we are currently engaged with two other organisations in trying to set up a project for girls who are on the verge of prostitution. We also work at the preventative level in the shanty towns with some of the children who are in danger of taking to - or of being thrown out onto - the streets, so overall we are working with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls. (Most of the other organisations that work in this field are single sex only: we are quite unusual in catering for both sexes.)

300 of those questioned did not reply when asked what form of identification - if any - that they had. Of the remaining 2,333 people, 709 had adult identification documents, and 79 had children’s documents (birth certificates, Baptism certificates or junior identity cards), and 314 people had no form of identification. Many of the 79 people with junior documents were actually now adults, so many more than 188 of the children had no identity document. This is very important, because without some means of identification, a child can’t go to school and, as a non person, is effectively excluded from virtually all social benefits. One of the most important parts of our work involves trying to sort out these vital identity documents.

Thanks a Million, Michael!

Let The Children Live! was founded 18 years ago. The total income over this time has recently topped one million pounds.

Helping to reach this impressive landmark and a supporter for much of the time, has been the Revd. Michael Rear. Honorary Treasurer to LTCL Fr Michael has relinquished the post after 7 years of service. He told VIVANT!, "When I became Treasurer, the Charity was extremely small, whereas last year our income was over £180,000. It is a matter of great thanksgiving that we have managed to help so many children." He added, "But the work must go on - the need and the scale still so very great." Happily Michael has agreed to continue to serve as a Trustee of the Charity.

Our new Treasurer is Mrs Gill Wood. Donations should continue to be sent to:

Let The Children Live!
PO Box 11 Walsingham
Norfolk
England
NR22 6EH.

Our Christmas Card

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 60 pence p & p and may be ordered from our Walsingham address. Please enclose full payment with your order and make your cheque or postal order to: Let The Children Live!

Our Trustees

Let The Children Live! is a Trust registered with the Charity Commissioners. All major decisions concerning the Charity are made by a Council of Management, with the oversight of the Trustees.

Presently serving as Trustees are Mrs Margaret Walters (founder-trustee), Miss Paulette Brown, the Revd Michael Rear, and Canon Stephen Gregory, (chairman). Management Committee and Trustees all serve without cost to the Charity.

Colombian Law requires finance sent into the country to be passed to a properly constituted Colombian charity. Hence Funvini, with Colombian Trustees, was set up. The two trusts work in close conjunction to ensure that all funds go to support the Street children.

Pilgrims Welcome!

Visitors and pilgrims to Walsingham in Norfolk will now be able to visit our shop on the High Street. This initiative is manned and self-funded by members of our Walsingham local Branch. If you're ever in that part of the world, please do visit!