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 […]
Tag: Latin America
Seeking justice for all children
A heart for building a more effective child protection system in Paraguay BY ANNA BARKER At the start of last year, Ruth Sharon came to us at Viva with a strong legal career specialising in child abuse cases and a heart to make a difference. She wanted to help governments and judiciaries ensure their child […]
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 […]
Learning to listen to children
Last year, over 200,000 adults in 14 countries were reached with positive messages about treating children in their care better through Viva’s Good Treatment Campaign – more than double the number of the previous year. A total of 900 churches and organisations from 22 of Viva’s partner networks worked together to reach people in their […]
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 […]
Tackling cyberbullying and online grooming
Regrettably, in Argentina, there is a growing number of cases of online grooming and cyberbullying with very tragic outcomes. According to statistics, more than 5,000 complaints about these issues were made in 2017 in Argentina, which is approximately 14 complaints per day – and these figures are increasing all the time. There are also many […]
Why Families Matter
It’s estimated that there are 145 million registered orphans across the world, and of these only about 9 per cent have lost both parents. Many families are unstable and millions more children are separated from one or both parents due to violence, abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other conflicts. Too many children are suffering […]
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 […]
Venezuela: a road to remember
BY KAREN MORÁN Going back to beautiful Venezuela was an exciting opportunity for me that included a work and personal agenda, although in the very first day of planning everything changed. Locally, prices were rising every day (annual inflation is now more than 700 per cent), and plans forced to change, yet the hearts of […]
One global family
Anna Cox writes about one of Viva’s added values: how our family approach enables cross-cultural learning and increases expertise – and ultimately change children’s situations for the better. We’re really excited about how children’s lives are being changed by the work of our partner networks in local communities around the world – these stories are evidence that […]