BY ANNA COX “Something was missing in our work, but we found it with Viva.” I have recently returned from Viva’s annual Latin America network meetings held in Mexico – and what a privilege it was to be there. This was my first international visit since I started working for Viva one and a half […]
Tag: Latin America
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, […]
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 […]
Heartbreak and hope
BY LIZ CROSS Four children were playing on the streets of Guatemala City when they were approached by a man who offered them food to coax them into his house. Three of the children regularly attended workshops run by Viva’s partner network, Viva Guatemala, and knew not to trust the man. But the other boy, […]
Finding life in the cemetery
Liz Cross, Viva’s Supporter Care Co-ordinator, writes about her recent trip to visit Viva’s partner network in Guatemala City and about finding positive stories in difficult places. A cemetery is one of the last places I expected to be standing when visiting Viva’s partner network in Guatemala City. However, over 2,000 people live on the […]
Over 4,000 children attended a Viva Christmas Party
BY ANNA COX Thirteen networks around the world hosted 27 Christmas Parties in December with support from Viva. The events brought children of different backgrounds, churches and organisations together for a day to celebrate God’s love and care where they were able to hear the Christmas story and learn valuable lessons to improve their understanding […]
Supporting care-leavers in Honduras
BY ANNA COX At Viva, we believe that every child should grow up with a loving, caring and supportive family, yet sadly this is too often not the case. Adoption provides the opportunity for children who – through death, addiction, emotional, psychological or economic reasons – do not have a family that can care for […]
Revisiting the Christmas Match Appeal 2015: Make home a safer place for children
Thank you so much to all who gave to our Match Appeal last Christmas! Ten months on, we wanted to share one way in which Viva has been tackling the issue of domestic violence and abuse in Central America.
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 […]
Absent fathers: the pain of separation
One morning I got into a taxi: I was in a hurry as usual! After an exchange of greetings and asking me where I wanted to go, the taxi driver, who had given my lifts on a number of previous occasions asked: “Forgive my curiosity, but aren’t you a professor?”