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 […]
Tag: life magazine
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 […]
A life saved
It is hard to place a value on the difference Viva’s phone mentoring programme has made so far. It has not only been life-changing for families, but life-saving too – as this short testimony from the Philippines clearly illustrates. Lockdown has created a lot of space for introspection: for looking back at our lives and […]
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 […]
Supporter profile: meet Rosey
During lockdown, I noticed how many folk were putting out unwanted stuff for the taking. So I decided to put out our excess plants. They all went! I enjoyed doing this so much, that I thought I would continue, but to ask for donations to Viva. I had just retired and had slipped into depression. […]
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 […]
“I have lived through radical change”
Antonio from Oruro, Bolivia describes the positive impact of Viva’s partner network when he was a child – and why he still believes in it today. Read his testimony and watch it in the video at the bottom of the article. My name is Antonio. I study in Oruro. I am 21 years old and […]