Lucy Cox reports on how the first phase of Viva’s family phone mentoring programme reached thousands of families during 2020. Viva’s family phone mentoring programme was designed about a year ago as a response to the growing and alarming Covid-19 crisis – specifically to reduce violence and abuse of children and to provide psychosocial support, […]
Tag: Costa Rica
5 ways Community Centres are helping families
BY LUCY COX In Latin America many families have been hit hard by the pandemic. Viva’s partner networks are coming alongside these families to help them pursue a brighter future. Community Centres are a new initiative which have been set up by our partner networks in Costa Rica and Mexico, offering holistic support to families […]
Making dreams a reality
Growing up without loving parental support, teenagers in Costa Rica are left depressed and confused about what the future might hold as they enter adulthood. Joel Porras writes about how a mentoring programme, run by our partner network, is giving them hope of a brighter future. A quarter of homicides in Costa Rica take place […]
A clean start for children in Costa Rica
In a Costa Rican community controlled by drug cartels, local church leader, Bella Flor, has spent the last two decades bringing holistic transformation to the lives of children and families, whilst also getting her hands dirty by cleaning up the local environment. Bella Flor talks to us about her motivation, her challenges and how being […]
Local saints: Arturo’s story
In faith, Arturo has stepped out to pastor a pioneering youth church in Alajualita, the least developed city in Costa Rica. Many children living there have six or more siblings, and spend much of their time in often-dangerous work. Arturo soon realised that education was the only way to break the cycle of abuse and […]
“You will help me fulfil my dream”
BY FRAN HALL Through our partner network, Red Viva Costa Rica, we’re proud to have been working hand-in-hand with PANI (Patronato Nacional de la Infancia), the government’s autonomous national child welfare agency, on a pilot project that is building processes to enable children leaving care homes to thrive in the future. Despite being one of […]
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 […]
Changing times in Purral
BY MOLLY BEEGOO Over the last decade, crime rates have plummeted in Purral, an area of Costa Rica’s capital city, San José. As Molly Beegoo writes, one key reason for this change has been an increase in churches collaborating together and reaching out to those in need. South America is infamous for its high crime rates, […]
A link in the chain for disability in Costa Rica
For the first time, the Costa Rican government has funded its children’s department to set up a project specifically focusing on helping children with disabilities, supported by Viva’s partner network in San José. Brenda Darke, a regional consultant for Viva on the issue of disability, outlines the situation in the country, the encouragements from the […]