Let The Children Live!

Let The Children Live! is a UK charity group through which people can respond to the needs of the street children residing in Colombia and beyond. It aims both to safeguard the lives of children from the violence, poverty and abuse of the streets, and to make their lives worth living by giving them love, education and a future.

The charity came about when Father Peter Walters founded it while temporarily stranded in Colombia. He became involved with the street children in 1982 when these children helped him during his untimely stay. Since then, he has gained first-hand knowledge of the problems of the ‘Gamines’ and of the work that is being done to help them.

The objective of the project is to contact these boys and girls when they first appear on the street and try to accommodate them with their families and arrange for their education before lose their way to the city. This project provides facilities for their basic needs like, food, education, health, personal development and human rights.

"The Colombians themselves are taking the lead in the campaign to help the street-children," confirms Father Peter. "They are making the most of their limited resources, but they need support from abroad for this work to continue and grow. Because the gamines have no one, they really belong to us all. Unless we help them, these children will remain 'disposable ones': throwaway kids with no future at all."

LTCL is concerned to help the children avoid becoming gamines. Through the Colombian daughter charity Fundación ¡Vivan Los Niños! (FUNVINI), The Pelican Project is established to help those who are just beginning to live on the streets. Years of fights and unrest in the countryside of Columbia have caused the very poor families to be forced into the shantytowns that surround cities like Medellín. Children are thus forced to work in the suburbs at a very young age. So far, their efforts have been successful, and have therefore encouraged Let The Children Live! to raise funds to set up similar projects in other parts of the city.

• Ciudad Don Bosco
  In Medellín, the British charity Let The Children Live! supports Ciudad Don Bosco (Don Bosco City), where about 700 children are taken care by the Salesian Fathers. They began with Operation Friendship, in which Street-educators approach the children and bring them to the Patio, a day-centre where they can eat, wash and play.
  
  The gamines are the most risky after dark. In seeing so, Let The Children Live! raised funds to build a dormitory and now, up to 45 children spend the night in safety. Ciudad Don Bosco also enables the children receive their primary and secondary education. The children can a range of skills in the workshop, including carpentry, metalworking, tailoring and printing.
• Hogares Calasanz (Calasanz Homes)
  Hogares Calasanz (Calasanz Homes) was established in 1994 to help the street children especially in the Pereira area. This was founded by Father Enrique Montes to provide shelter for boys and girls as well as provide protection from child prostitution.
  
  Father Enrique manages two small residential homes where the children are able to live in a normal family atmosphere. Let The Children Live! hopes to fulfill his dream of opening more of such homes for the children who are attending his center whereas they do not have a place to stay yet.
• Proyecto Alternativas
  Proyecto Alternativas is a project that provides special attention to the street children and street workers working in high-risk areas, particularly within the center of Tegucigalpa. Managed by its founder, Dr. Donald Kaminskey, they provide medical attention and food to 120 children daily. Let The Children Live! indulges in the food program which costs about 25p per child every day, (£11,000 per annum).

Contact Information:
Let The Children Live!
PO Box 11 Walsingham, Norfolk, England NR22 6EH
http://www.letthechildrenlive.org
Email: lcl@letthechildrenlive.org