Lester, a young adult from Honduras, shares his story of why his mindset about children has been turned around through the work of Viva’s partner network in his community. My name’s Lester, I am 19 years old and I am a volunteer with Red Viva Honduras, especially in helping to lead its Good Treatment Campaign.* […]
Category: Safety
Light and life for Filipino children
Thousands of children in the Philippines are affected by the murky world of online sexual exploitation. Andrew Dubock travels to the country to find the light and hope that our partner network is offering. A teddy bear. A symbol of childhood, of innocence, of security. However, for Angela, a 12-year-old from the Philippines, her favourite […]
Hope for change in Mexico
BY AIXA MARÍN, CO-ORDINATOR OF RED VIVA MEXICO Mexico is a country of enormous proportions and sharp contrasts. However, despite representing more than 30 per cent of the population, children here are barely noticeable in the statistics. This invisibility of childhood and adolescence has led authorities and society in general to a misconception: that the […]
True humility in a hostile place
BY CHARLOTTE GYE Charlotte Gye is 21 years old and starting university in the UK studying nursing. Earlier this year, she spent four months living in San José, volunteering for Red Viva Costa Rica. Here are her reflections on her time there. I stood with a church leader, Pastor M, as he shared an incredible […]
An incredible force for good
BY BRIAN WILKINSON The 38 networks that partner with Viva connect 2,324 churches and 1,152 organisations – but these numbers do not tell us the real story. What has motivated and inspired me over the years has been meeting the heroes and heroines who sacrificially give their lives to serve children at risk. Over the last […]
God’s precious children deserve life
BY HANNAH BARR The last thing I listened to last night was audio from inside a US Customs and Border Protection Facility. It was children, crying, wailing. Ten Central American children who have been separated from their parents, screaming “Mami” and “Papa” over and over again. It was haunting. It was heart-breaking. The first thing […]
Safeguarding tips for parents
BY HANNAH WOODS I feel passionately about parents having confidence in the choices they make around keeping their children safe, and parents and young people being able to make informed choices they make to keep their children safe. I’m sharing here tips I’ve trialled both as a parent and a youth worker. I’ve also gathered […]
Floating Churches & Firm Foundations
BY JUSTINE DEMMER Justine Demmer, Viva’s Network Consultant for Asia, gives us a glimpse into a recent trip to Cambodia where she visited a floating church, and the children who call it home. I step outside of our accommodation in Siem Riep, North-Western Cambodia to find an open wagon drawn by a motorcycle. Our child […]
Double Impact of Global Christmas Parties
BY ANNA COX & VICTORIA PRICE More than twice the number of children attended a Christmas Party supported by Viva in December last year than in 2016. The total number of children reached was over 9,500, and incredibly, a third of these children had never encountered a Viva partner network in any way before. These […]
Challenging a Culture of Online Abuse
The scourge of online sexual exploitation continues to attack children in nefarious ways. Philippine Children’s Ministries Network (PCMN), Viva’s partner network in the Philippines, is about to embark on a programme to combat digital abuse in Dasmariñas City, near Manila – focusing on the potential of youth advocates. Dasmariñas City has the highest number of […]