BY ANDREW DUBOCK Newly-crowned Ju-Jitsu world champion Meggie Ochoa is lending her support to the programme run by Viva’s partner network PCMN to eliminate online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines. Meggie is the first-ever Filipino – and Asian – to win a gold medal at the Ju-Jitsu International Federation World Championships. She also […]
Tag: Christmas Appeal
Paraguay’s fresh approach to foster care
BY ANDREW DUBOCK “Who knows what level of influence our children might have in the future? When a child grows up in a safe and loving family this not only impacts that one child but also a whole generation.” As we talk in her backyard, Veronica tells me with great conviction about her role as […]
Empowering Patna’s girls
BY ANDREW DUBOCK It leaves a lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach. Poverty at its most raw: unstable shelters deep in stagnant water, malnourished babies, hundreds of people accessing one well of unclean water, children with leprosy. It’s particularly hard to hear about the situation for girls, who are most […]
Girls make a journey of self-discovery
BY ANDREW DUBOCK “I wish I was a boy.” Akansha’s words stuck in my head, as I grappled with the question: ‘how could any girl think like this?’ Yet Akansha’s thoughts are not isolated – according to a survey by the government’s Ministry of Women and Child Development, almost half of girls in India have […]
Ensuring these girls’ stories are different
They speak confidently and show independence in their learning. These girls are certainly not what many people would associate with the word ‘disability’. I am at the Mukisa Foundation – a member of CRANE, Viva’s partner network in Kampala – to see the difference it is making to the lives of girls with special needs. […]
Breaking new ground in Indian girls’ lives
‘Abortion’ was today’s topic. As the 30 teenage girls passed around model foetuses, and listened to the teaching, I soon discovered that most had never heard about babies’ development before – and some of the group were on the verge of adulthood.