Colombia
Noreen heard about the charity Let the Children Live!/Funvini through a friend from Walsingham and arranged to meet Fr Peter Walters, the founder, to find out more about it. Noreen's heart was touched by the poverty and slums that the young children are living in. The story that really struck a chord with her was of the young neglected children, known as Gamines, who have separated from their families, and are living on the streets, many of them sleep with a bin liner or cardboard box for cover. They range from six-year-olds to teenagers, and they are often unloved, unwanted, beaten, robbed, abused, raped and murdered.
Let The Children Live! is a UK Registered Charity through which people can respond to the needs of the street-children in Colombia. The Charity also supports projects for street-children in other countries, but because of the appalling level of violence in Colombia it is currently concentrating its resources there. It aims both to safeguard the lives of children from the violence and poverty of the streets, and to make their lives worth living by giving them love, education and a future. The Charity was founded by Fr Peter Walters who became involved with the street-children in 1982 when they helped him after he became temporarily stranded in Colombia. 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.
Let The Children Live! does not run its own projects directly but uses most of the funds it raises to support Fundación ¡Vivan Los Niños!, which is known as Funvini for short. Funvini was set up in 1994 to be the main partner of Let The Children Live! in Colombia and to enable it to finance new initiatives for the children there: it has been granted legal recognition as a Charity by the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar.
Funvini is currently helping approximately 1000 children through its various programmes. Convinced that prevention is even better than cure, Funvini not only cares for children who are already living in the street but has also created a pioneering programme to prevent other children from becoming gamines. The continuing war against drugs in Colombia has forced thousands of refugees to flee from the countryside into the cities. The barrios marginales (shanty-towns) where these refugees live are also very violent because of the constant battles between the bandas (youth gangs) and various paramilitary groups. Unemployment in Medellín is very high, and children who live in the shanty-towns are often sent out to beg or work in the street. Funvini's street-educators go out to make contact with these boys and girls when they first appear on the street. Their task is to try to reintegrate these children with their families and the school-system before they break away completely and get lost in the world of the gamines.