“I have more strength to fight every day”

In Guatemala, Covid-19 has brought about high levels of unemployment, reports of increased domestic violence, and limited access to health, education and protection services. Teresa lives with her 11-year-old grandson, Bautista, in Guatemala City. Working in the cemeteries provided Teresa with a steady income until the pandemic came, and the government closed the area. Teresa […]

Courage, peace & inspiration

As Covid first spread and affected the daily lives of people during 2020, Viva’s seven partner networks in India responded with emergency food relief to vulnerable communities in their cities, and began to run Viva’s Phone Mentoring Programme. In Dehradun, the capital city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand 271 families received the support of […]

25 ways you can change children’s lives in 2021

We’ve been protecting children together now for 25 years. Born from a single encounter with street children in Bolivia in the early 90s, Viva’s vision and mission to see children able to reach their God-given potential remains our focus to this day. Our 25-year milestone arrives at a time of great threat for children and […]

Church profile: Banbury Community Church

We’re so grateful for many churches faithfully supporting our work with vulnerable children. One of these is Banbury Community Church (BCC), in Oxfordshire, UK, and they told us why they are passionate about partnering with Viva. Why Viva? We’ve been supporting Viva since 2004 through an initial link with a previous BCC leader. We appreciate […]

Samantha’s story

Meet Samantha: a remarkable young woman who is achieving her dreams thanks to a programme run by Viva and CRANE, our partner network in Uganda. Discover how she is also now helping other girls to follow their passions too. The opportunities for a Ugandan girl accessing education are threatened by many factors, poverty and death […]

Top tips: how to support young people in your church

Picture the scene. A large family meal is taking place, but there are two tables. At one sit all the adults, engaged in conversation and eating politely. At the other table sit the children, complete with plastic crockery, food spilled everywhere in a scene not entirely unlike the Lord of the Flies. Sound familiar? Now […]

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 […]