Thanks to your support we have been able to open a new mentoring centre in Guatemala City.

The centre is based in Santa Faz, a developing slum on the outskirts of the city.  We are renting a small shop that we have converted into a safe space for the vulnerable children and youth we work with in that area of the city.

After many years waiting for a shop or a home to become available to rent we found a small shop that is situated in front of the park (photos below) and also almost opposite the school where many of the children attend.

We have begun weekly mentoring sessions on a Sunday, homework and support sessions on Thursdays and Fridays and a new youth group on a Friday evening.

It is an exciting development for the work in Guatemala and the local community have rallied round to help support and volunteer.  The plan is to explore ways we can start a small business there to support the monthly rent of £100.

The park opposite offers us a great facility for games, sports and larger meetings and has become a much safer place for the children now the gang situation has improved in the area.

Your support really does make a difference and impacts the lives of many more at-risk children that are now being reached through this new centre.  Thank you.

In 1991 the BBC broadcast its popular Sunday evening Everyman documentary programme and one programme in the series has impacted the lives of thousands of children in Central America. 

The programme was called `They Shoot Children, Don´t They?´and highlighted the torture and killing of children on the streets of Guatemala City, in Guatemala, Central America.

That dark Sunday night Duncan Dyason was on his way home from running a youth group at his church in Amersham and turned on the TV not knowing the programme was to be screened and could not believe what he was watching.

The programme and the plight of the children living on the streets changed his life and the following year Duncan moved to Guatemala City and began to work on the streets with the organisation that was featured in the TV documentary.  The rest is history!

The full programme is now available to watch on our YouTube channel and on VIMEO thanks to Judy Jackson who directed the programme and gave us permission to share the video.  Her commitment to bringing the desperate situation of the torture and killing of street children to the world stage led to the reduction of children living on the streets and the establishment of many programmes to help the children.

Today Guatemala does not have any children living on the streets and we are thankful to Judy for the hard work she and her team did to make this documentary.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO HERE

One of the projects that Street Kids Direct has supported for over 10 years is the Go Guatemala ministry in Guatemala City.  The dedicated team of volunteers work in the notorious zone 18, which is infamous for its gang membership, kidnappings, extortions and gang warfare.

Pastors Alex and Evelyn, together with their children and a huge team of volunteers reach out to around 120 at-risk children and youth and provide them with a support structure that helps them thrive, stay in education and make good decisions about not going into the gang.

Street Kids Direct are committed to helping Go Guatemala and will continue to provide funding that will cover the rent of the building they are using for their outreach. Thanks to funds raised on Radio Christmas we have been able to make this possible.

This year Go Guatemala will be extending their work thanks to being given a licence from the Guatemalan government to establish a school on their premises.  The school will offer two shifts for local children, a morning shift for fee-paying children and an afternoon shift for children in their programme who won´t need to pay.

Alex is adamant that the children get the very best education and get the support they need to cope with the trauma they live with on a daily basis.  “So many of the children see family members go into gangs and die at an early age”, Alex explained.  “We talk to the children about what is happening in their lives and how to cope with abuse, violence and the daily threat of the gang” he added.

We are hopeful that we can help raise further funds to convert part of the building Go Guatemala are using into school rooms.  Street Kids Direct are excited to partner with this innovative project and we hope that this year we will see the establishment of its specialist school for at-risk children in zone 18.

Over the last two weeks we have been able to offer a safe refuge to a lovely family who grew up and lived in a dangerous part of Guatemala City.  

The boys were struggling because the local gang were trying to recruit them.  When the older boy refused the family started to get voice messages telling them exactly what would happen to the whole family if the boys didn´t accept the offer to join the gang.

The recordings of the death threats helped the family demonstrate to the authorities that they were at great risk and so came to the Casa Alexis home in the city for a couple of weeks until safe passage was offered to them in another country.  We wish them well and hope that they are able to thrive in their new environment and we are pleased to be able to play our part in keeping them safe.

Your support saves lives, thank you.

The Alas project that Street Kids Direct supports in Honduras has reported that 4 of the boys in the mentoring programme have passed the entrance exam and were offered places in prestigious residential Christian school, El Sembrador (“The Sower”).

The boys are some of the most academically capable in Alas, but are from some of the most difficult circumstances. In early February, Steve Poulson drove a bus packed with the boys, their mothers and all their supplies (including mattresses!) the three-hour trip from Talanga to drop the boys off at the school. They seemed to adapt extremely well at first, but after only one month Steve got a call that none of their uniforms fitted.  This was a good thing as now they were actually eating three proper meals a day and had gained weight! However, after the Easter break the boys struggled to go back to into their studies at school, which affected their behaviour. The one who struggled most was Carlitos. Just 24 hours before arriving at El Sembrador for his first day of class, Carlitos was about to join the local gang in Talanga. In the end, he decided to go to El Sembrador to study instead.  At just 13 years old, Carlos is used to his independence and has struggled to submit to authority and rules at El Sembrador. He also continues to be distracted by an offer from his older brother to help him get to the USA illegally.

It is clearly not an easy decision for the boys to move away from their home town and study in a residential unit, but they are adapting and changing and your support makes this possible. The latest news is that they are all doing really well and we are expecting good half-year grades.  We will keep you posted of their success.

While I was there I needed to spend time thinking about the mentoring session I had with the older boys on my return. Our theme was ´How we see the World´ and the basic idea is that we all see the world and other people through our eyes of culture, race, religion, experience, age and gender. I wanted the boys to begin to explore how we could consider seeing the world through “other eyes” and also to see people as God sees them.  Stick with me!

Our text was from John´s Gospel and recounted the time Jesus met a woman at a well.  From all perspectives she was a Samaritan, a woman and someone who was drawing water from a well at the hottest part of the day.  So many questions came from this encounter.  But Jesus was able to see something far more profound in her and that led us to talk about how we could also look around us and try to see people as God sees them.  What is it we can see when we begin to look more profoundly at a person´s life.  What can we learn? It was a very interesting session indeed and we finished by watching the same scene on The Chosen and if you haven´t see this I would recommend it highly.

The thought came to my mind this past week while in Honduras as I sat and watched the kids that come into the mentoring programme in the Alas centre in Honduras.  One group was watching a cartoon on TV and enjoying it thoroughly, the rest were sitting at a large table and colouring and doing homework, all being helped by staff and volunteers.  But, one little boy sat alone.

I sat next to him and watched him colouring a sheet of paper.  It was interesting observing him work and I studied his concentration and couldn´t help but notice the black dye on his hands and face.  The dye was also on his clothes and he had obviously been using dye for his or another person´s clothes or for colouring wood.  Maybe he was a worker.  It was interesting just watching him for a while and asking the question of what more could I see about his life.  Why was he sitting alone?  Why was he so dirty, not just his clothes but days of ingrained dirt in his skin.  I guessed his age at around 6/7 and this was later confirmed to be 6. I wondered what he would tell me about his colouring and maybe more information about his life and family.

Children have this amazing way of telling you so much without even speaking and I was keen to listen and learn. His concentration was intense and he would not be enticed to play a game that two children were playing near him and was not drawn to the loud noises that came now and again when new children came into the centre. Not once did he smile or look at me.

After a short while I decided to engage and asked if he would like some help.  He nodded and I picked up some of the colouring pencils and started to sharpen them for him.  I was then invited into his world and now I was allowed to join him in colouring the sheet, with a special attention to stay within the lines, something he was also very careful to do.

I then learned his name; Jefferson and he was 6 years-of-age.  He remained focussed on the sheet and would not look up or look at me.  He seemed content and felt safe and I wondered if he had come alone to the centre, how long he had been coming and why he was there.

It was sometime later that I was told a little of his story.  When he was much younger his mum left the family home and took him with her to live with another man.  He now had a new dad and like any young child this transition is a very hard one to make.  Also he was now living in the mountains and so was isolated and powerless to contact his father.  As time went by it seems his mother lost interest in him and he found himself being shipped to his grandmother in town.  Another move and another loss.

Jefferson had come to the mentoring centre with his two aunties, both of whom are young children and not able to look after him.  So he spends his time in the streets begging and trying to get by – and he is 6! 

I spent a very special hour with a very smart, resilient and focussed kid.  He is packed with potential and I am sure with some love and care would eventually come to smile.  For now the project is doing what they can to get him into the mentoring programme, but the spaces are few and the budget tight.  I am hoping they will take him in and offer him what his demeanour and behaviour are shouting out loudly for – I want to be loved.

My time in the centre did end on a happier note when I was asked to play connect four by little Derek (photo at the top of the article) who is 5 and can´t stop smiling.  Despite his infectious laugh, engaging personality and winning streak I could not stop thinking of Jefferson who was now nowhere to be seen.

The work we do in Honduras and Guatemala is vital and reaches kids that many overlook. Your support really does make a difference and can change the trajectory of a child´s life.  Thank you for your interest, for reading the blogs and for your support. It´s good to know you are there.

Duncan Dyason is the founder and Director of Street Kids Direct.  He first started working with street children in 1992 when he moved to Guatemala City and founded The Toybox Charity.  His work has been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and he was awarded an MBE the year he celebrated working over 25 years to reduce the large population of children on the streets from 5,000 to zero.  Duncan continues to live and work in Guatemala City.

 

I certainly know the reality of the world of children living in poverty as that is where I grew up.  It was my personal experience as a child who survived by eating plants and fruit from other people´s gardens.  I understand the way poverty limits your choices and entices you into thinking that life can never get any better.

Sunday was a great day!  I met the four teenage boys I mentor in Santa Faz on the outskirts of Guatemala City and, together with Carlos who now helps me run the group, we began to explore how our thinking determines our behaviour and life choices.  It was true, the boys confirmed, that your life will always move in the direction of your most powerful thoughts.  The more one thinks about something, the more likely one is to put those thoughts into action.

It was a rather deep session to be honest, but I could see that the boys loved hearing about my own childhood stories of having the voice inside saying “do it” and the voice of reason that makes you consider the consequences of doing it.  I am glad that my mistakes and failures can now be used to great effect and can help children understand how their thinking can determine their future.

We finished with the game Spite that the boys did not want to end and asked if we could play it next time we meet.  They were happy, had been challenged and had enjoyed their first mentoring session in the new centre in the middle of town.

We are now renting, for just £100 a month, a small shop that is so perfectly situated across from the park and next to the school and police station that only God could have made this happen.  The “CasaClub” centre will open more and more as we recruit and train volunteers and are hopeful that we could start a small business there in order to cover the costs of running this.

As always, Carlos and I walk the boys to their homes.  All have homes that are made of tin and the floor is just dirt and not one has a flushing toilet or running water.  But that is all they know and they are happy and just love the weekly sessions and can´t wait till we meet again.

On dropping home one of the boys we meet his little brother on route and I could see his was distressed.  He is 10, tiny and is the most at-risk kid we have here due to his high-connection to the street and the local gang.  He has never showed much emotion in the time I have known him and keeps a guard up that always seems so impenetrable.  Today, however, was different.  He was crying and when I stood next to him it was as if years of tears he had pushed down deep came to the surface.

I hugged him and allowed him to cry and tell me what was going on.  He is one of the few that has a mum and a dad, even though the mum feels very much like a single parent. Just four hours before meeting him his dad had been arrested and taken to the courthouse and sentenced to an indeterminate time in prison.  His world was destroyed and he had to face the fact that things were now going to be different.

We walked him home and his older brother was now in tears and both boys were struggling to know what to feel and what to do. They could not understand why their dad had been arrested and it seemed to be about a permit for him to operate a taxi, something that is rare for someone to be locked-up for here in Guatemala.  I knew there would be time to get to the bottom of this, but for now the boys needed support and comfort.

Their mum seemed to be in shock and had gone out to try and find some food for the boys, who hadn´t eaten much all day. Their lives, like all the kids we work with, rely on a daily shop for food depending on what has been earned that day.  They have no stock of food in their home, nothing to fall back on if things get difficult.  Things are always difficult and Carlos and I could see that we needed to go to the shops and buy them some food for the evening and for breakfast.

Later that evening I ate very little and was concerned for the family and how they were now going to cope.  How you feed two growing boys on less than £2 per day I just don´t know. Living in poverty greatly diminishes your choices and places you at the vulnerability of others.

We will do our best to support while they put themselves at the mercy of the local loan sharks in order to raise the £500 needed to pay the fine for their dad to avoid a jail term.  Furthermore, the arrest and imprisonment will be recorded and so this will further impede any progress the family wishes to make.  The boys will also live with the stigma of their dad being a “criminal” and I know that other children and some adults will shove that in their faces in the coming days.

I hate what poverty does.  I hate the way it treats people, crushes them and makes them feel they of no worth. What is does do in further cement my commitment to helping kids living in poverty and at risk of street life. Thank you for reading and for your support of our work here, it means so much more to me today.

Duncan Dyason is the founder and Director of Street Kids Direct.  He first started working with street children in 1992 when he moved to Guatemala City and founded The Toybox Charity.  His work has been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and he was awarded an MBE the year he celebrated working over 25 years to reduce the large population of children on the streets from 5,000 to zero.  Duncan continues to live and work in Guatemala City.

 

In Guatemala over 109,000 children dropped out of education during the first year of COVID, according to UNICEF, and many of those children may never return to school.  So many have started informal work and some in dangerous conditions, while many others have strengthened their connection to streets, which is very concerning for us.

This past week the charity has been able to participate in graduation ceremonies of children and young people who have been helped to stay in education thanks to your support.

In the New Year all the children we have been self-educating will return to the national school system and we will look at ways we can continue to support their formal education as our make-shift school in Guatemala will now return to a mentoring centre.

Watch the video here

The SKDGuatemala team have been supported by students from the Social Services Department of San Carlos University in Guatemala City to help trial a new parenting programme.

The programme helps parents understand the impact the decisions they make have on their children, how to effectively parent, how to best support their children and help keep them safe and reach their God-given potential.

Thanks to Paula, the Coordinator of the Mentoring Centre in the city, the work of supporting the children and their families in their own homes is proving very effective.

Within 48 hours we had two such calls over the last two weeks and the first was from one of the guys who lives in the streets of Guatemala City, informing me that Erica is lying on the streets and not moving. We had been with her a few days before and she was her usual self – happy, smiling and trying to wind us up.

I have known Erica for over 20 years and have seen this young teenage girl grow up on the streets of the capital and in an area that is well-known for a whole list of activities that I would rather not go into right now.  It is here Erica grew up, learned life´s hardest lessons and quickly was assumed into the culture of street life. Her survival mechanism led her to becoming a young mum and drug addict and then suffering from various sexual infections together with regular beatings, hunger, cold and her fair share of traffic accidents.  The impact of all this led her to lose control of her limbs and was left completely unable to walk.

Every visitor that walked along the fifth street in La Terminal eventually came across Erica and would always comment on her smile and her joy at being greeted and loved. She would often ask us for a drink of Coke and was very specific about what type of Coke she required and might even send back to the shops the visitor who bought her the wrong brand!

Sadly her body could just not cope anymore and gave up its fight and freed her from her day-to-day pain in this life.  She spoke often about going to heaven and trusted that God would forgive her bad choices and offer her the eternal home she often dreamed would be there for her one day.

Like so many in the streets, death is close and when it comes we have a well-rehearsed plan in place that ends with a funeral and yet more moments of reflection for those still alive.

Erica was loved and tried to love much.  We miss her and walking down the fifth will never be the same now as one can´t help but glance to “her spot” and remember the joy she always expressed when she saw your face.

No sooner had we returned from the cemetery the phone rang and my friend Oscar is crying on the other end.  Oscar started with me in the mentoring programme when he was 10 years of age, but I have known him almost all his life.  He is now crying on the phone and trying to tell me that his brother-in-law is lying on the floor dead and does not know what to do.

I head over to the tin shack where he lives and ask Juan Carlos, who works with us on the streets, to meet me there and help.  On arrival I discover the 37-year-old lying on the concrete floor of the tin shack.  It is hard to see as there are many people standing over his body, together with his wife Maria and her three children.

So many of the children we work with come from very fractious families. The reason why most kids take to street life is because of the state of their family. These three children are not the exception and sadly I know well the phases they will now go through over the coming hours, days and weeks.

The youngest boy, Daniel, is 7 and continues to lift back the curtain that is being used as the door for their home.  I watch him over the next two hours and every time he comes into his home he just stares at his dad´s hand, the only part of him you can see as he is covered up by a sheet. The next eldest is Jonathan (photo), who is 9, and he seems to understand a little more than his younger brother that his dad is not getting up this time. The eldest daughter, Vivian who is 13, is coping by looking though her dad´s phone for photos and posting them on his social media account.  With each photo there is a pause as she remembers happier days.

The funeral is the following day and we arrange everything as the family are unable to think straight right now.  What they can do is focus on one thing, the wake, as we arrange for the body to be collected, prepared and re-dressed and delivered back with all the things needed for the family to spend the night grieving together.

Later the following day and after the funeral I visit the family to see how they are doing and to offer our support.  Thankfully some good friends in both the UK and Guatemala have sent in donations to cover the cost of the funeral, so that is one thing less for Maria to worry about.  What I discover is that they are three months behind with their rent and have no food whatsoever in their shack.  Thanks again to a generous donor in the UK we have been able to sort out the rent, buy some food and help them think about the coming weeks as their children start school again.

The family will need ongoing support and guidance and I can see more children now entering into the mentoring programme. Being there is sometimes all we can do, but it is often all we need to do.  Thanks to your support we can be here and be the extended hand that expresses your love to vulnerable children and families.  Once again, thank you for your support.

Duncan Dyason is the founder and Director of Street Kids Direct.  He first started working with street children in 1992 when he moved to Guatemala City and founded The Toybox Charity.  His work has been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and he was awarded an MBE the year he celebrated working over 25 years to reduce the large population of children on the streets from 5,000 to zero.  Duncan continues to live and work in Guatemala City.

 

It is here we work and where our first mentoring centre is situated. It is notorious for many things and certainly my afternoon and evening walk through the alleyways yesterday was not without its moments of risk, excitement, joy and challenge. Your eyes need to be open to what is going on as so much happens that your mind often struggles to take it all in.

I am visiting three of the children who have been in the mentoring centre this week and I am wanting to see how they are doing.

I come to the point in the 4^th street where it becomes lighter and the street wider and you can almost be forgiven for not noticing the small metal door between two shops.  It is half open and is dark inside, but as I walk in and up the steps I come to the upper level where hundreds of people live in squalid conditions, surviving in tiny concrete rooms with no windows, no bathroom and very little ventilation.  The corridors are full of children playing, running up and down and enjoying their childhood as only children can.

As I get to a corner two children run out and meet me.  Little Estuardo is holding up his arms and wants, as always, to be picked up and hugged.  He is getting heavier now and soon is leaning back and looking into my eyes and asking me how his new mentor is.  His sister introduces me to their cousins, two young identical twin boys.  The mum now hears I have arrived and comes out of their room and smiles and asks how Juan Carlos (Estuardo´s new mentor) is doing.

Doña Flor, the mum, has fought hard over the years to keep her kids off the streets.  It has been a battle and their new home is now farther away from the drug addicts that used to grace their doorstep, but it now comes with new challenges.  Cooking is done outside in the corridor, toilets are for rent further down by the steps, together with showers, but it costs and every trip is another expenditure and over a week this starts to become quite a sum.

She was smiling and telling me about how much she had enjoyed the seminar at the mentoring centre today.  She tells me how much she learned about how to manage money, the importance of saving, ideas of how she could generate a second income and the challenge to not fall into the various traps that are circulating around La Terminal that place people living in poverty in greater debt.

I leave and move on to visit another family.  Leaving is not easy and takes time as the children ask for one more swing, one more hug, one more… well the list goes on.

I pop into see Carolina who had called me because she is distraught and needs to ask for advice.  Out of the blue someone called her the other day and said they were a relative that was now living in the USA.  It was clearly a scam but she was sucked into the story of a distant cousin who was coming back to Guatemala and was sending her a suitcase with phones and cash in and could she arrange to transfer him money to pay for the flight home.  Slowly, and over three days, the caller convinced her to borrow money and send it because when the case arrived she would be paid back and earn so much more.

Carolina borrowed from here and there and made the transfer to the USA and then discovered that the suitcase hadn´t arrived and the number was now out of service.  She was heartbroken as she thought she was helping her relative and was now facing years of paying back the £400 she had borrowed.  She sat and sobbed and said she was more upset that someone had fooled her than thinking about the huge debt around her neck.  She wished she could have seen what was coming and now has to re-build her life all over again.

Just a few hours or wandering around La Terminal and spending time with two families opens my eyes again to the reality with which thousands of people navigate each day.  When you are living in poverty your options are few and every decision you take can lead so quickly to further poverty, abuse and pain or can slowly lead to growth and freedom.  I know the team here work hard every day to bring more people along the path of freedom, walking with them and helping them make the best decisions they can to keep their children off the streets, out of gangs and in education.

Duncan Dyason is the founder and Director of Street Kids Direct.  He first started working with street children in 1992 when he moved to Guatemala City and founded The Toybox Charity.  His work has been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and he was awarded an MBE the year he celebrated working over 25 years to reduce the large population of children on the streets from 5,000 to zero.  Duncan continues to live and work in Guatemala City.

 

A few weeks ago I took little Jonathan to the doctor as he was suffering from parasites again and the doctor wanted to do some more tests to see why he was so small for his age. He is not eating much and struggles to make any progress with his height and is clearly not happy and this is leading him to become rather down and can lead to being bullied and other issues around his self-esteem.

Today though I am with Antoni, a new boy who has started to come to the mentoring centre.  He does not know me well as he has only seen me once on my return from the UK recently. It is clear that he is excited about being in the mentoring centre and is focussing hard on a worksheet that is helping him learn to form letters.

During the pandemic he was studying from home.  However, he had no access to the educational materials as he has no internet and so his mum was trying to find ways to keep him in school even though they were closed.  The Guatemalan government decided to pass all children on the books despite many not learning anything at all.

Antoni is now 13 and can´t yet read or write.  His mum and older sisters run a small food stall on the street in La Terminal and he has grown up there and sees the streets as his home.  Due to his high connection to the streets and seeing he was at risk, the street team decided to invite him to the mentoring centre.  He now comes every day and is clearly flourishing with his education as he sits with me and helps me with a word search on my phone.

Today I walk him back from the centre to where his family are getting ready to prepare some snacks for the evening commuters before they walk home to the room they rent in La Terminal, all seven of them.

It is great to spend time getting to know Antoni´s mum and sisters and their story is heart-warming and is another long story of how her family moved from the countryside during the civil war to the city.  The mum is clearly working hard to support her children and the long hours takes their toll on her, but she smiles and tells me she loves caring for them but has been concerned that Antoni is in the streets all the time.  Having him now attend the mentoring centre has changed his life and put him in contact with other children and with caring adults who have helped him see that he can achieve his God-given potential.

Despite being 13 you would think Antoni is 10.  His body is very small and frail and he tells everyone his date of birth in order to give credibility to his story of why he is so small.  It is doubtful he will grow much more but with the support we can offer he could gain some weight and might increase in height when puberty hits.

Thankfully we have had a visit from the British Ambassador, Nick Whittingham, who was accompanied by David Rutley MP.  The visit coincided with a large donation of vitamins for children, arranged by the embassy from Drogueria Italiana here in the city.

The vitamins will be given to the children and their families and the supply will be enough for the next six months.  There is also plenty to share with various other projects in the city that work with children at risk.

Handing out vitamins to the children each day is only one solution to helping them recover from years of malnutrition. It is part of the package we can offer to keep children focussed on their education and not take those early steps to street life.

Antoni enjoys his daily vitamins and we are hopeful that he will continue to commit to learning with us this year and then next year start school full-time.

I know I say this a lot, but your support really does help us reach these kids and make a difference in their lives.  Thank you and please do pray for Antoni and I am sure that over the year we will see him thrive and grow.

WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO HERE

Duncan Dyason is the founder and Director of Street Kids Direct.  He first started working with street children in 1992 when he moved to Guatemala City and founded The Toybox Charity.  His work has been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and he was awarded an MBE the year he celebrated working over 25 years to reduce the large population of children on the streets from 5,000 to zero.  Duncan continues to live and work in Guatemala City.