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COVID-19 crisis in Central America

At the present time the world is facing an unprecedented crisis and, as a result, many countries have implemented drastic measures in order to cope with the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

In Central America we have been in lockdown for the last few days with government-imposed curfews and massive shortages in the shops of the most basic supplies. This is now true for many countries around the world.

Food supplies to high-risk families

Thanks to your donations we have been able to buy supplies for the 70 families we are caring for in Guatemala and Honduras. Each family will be receiving a large care package for the next two weeks that will include some of the basic food supplies that the families need in order to survive.

Big Rethoric Hometown Ran

Even the all-powerful Pointing from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies.

Protection Home offers refuge to runaway child

The doorbell rings at the Street Kids Direct Protection Home in Guatemala City and when Duncan answers it he finds little Kevin is standing there in the street and looking very hot, covered in sweat and looking down at his feet in embarrassment.

Another street death in Guatemala City

One of the young people that we had worked hard to keep off the streets, enter into rehab and consider how he could achieve his childhood dreams, sadly passed away at the central hospital here in the capital this week.

Christchurch, shows their support

Sunday 5th April 2020

Thank you to Christchurch in Tunbridge Wells in the UK for showing their support of our work on Palm Sunday by featuring us in their service today.

Our history with Christchurch goes back to 1981 when Duncan arrived in the town and became a Christian there.

Shortly after, Duncan began to help run the church youth club and from there went to theological college and then to work as a youth worker at St.Leonard´s Church in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire. It was there that Duncan received the challenge and call to work with street kids and in 1992 moved to Guatemala and began working on the streets of Guatemala City, the capital.

Thank you Christhchurch for your amazing support over so many years.

WATCH THE SERVICE HERE

Thank you for your donations

Sunday 11th April 2020

Thank you to all those who have responded to the appeal for food parcels for families affected in Central America by COVID-19

We are so very thankful to all those who have donated online to our appeal for basic food supplies for 70 vulnerable families in Honduras and Guatemala. We will continue to deliver food over the next few weeks and support the children with their at-home schoolwork and offer counselling to those who are finding these times very difficult.

Your support really does changes lives, thank you.

WATCH THANK YOU VIDEO HERE

Watch Damaris´ very moving story

Monday 20th April 2020.

14-year-old Damaris wants to tell her story of hope that has risen out of the most difficult of childhoods.

Damaris lives in Guatemala City and for years suffered neglect and abuse. Now her life is very different and despite how hard it is for her to tell her story, she does so leaving us feeling very excited about her future full of hope.

Thanks to your support this work is possible.

WATCH THE VIDEO

A miraculous healing from the rubbish dump

Saturday 25th April 2020.

Danilo tells the story of what happened the day he mistakenly drunk acid.

Danilo now has committed his life to helping other children going through the challenging childhood he experienced on the rubbish dump in Guatemala City.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Rhys & Will cycle challenge

Rhys Aitchison and Will Vyse had planned to fly 8760km to Guatemala City in May this year to volunteer with Street Kids Direct to support vulnerable children in Guatemala and Honduras.

Unfortunately due to Covid-19 their trip was cancelled and with Guatemala's borders still being closed to travellers, Rhys and Will have decided to attempt to cycle one tenth of the distance (876km) to raise money for Street Kids Direct.

Rhys and Will said: "Anyone who knows us will be very aware that we are not professional cyclists but we have began our training with a ride to London and a few 50km rides so fingers crossed! We will set off from Amersham and hopefully arrive at the Lake District within 3/4 days before turning round and heading back to complete the distance. We will keep you updated with regular video updates but you can also track our progress and see how far we've covered each day on this page."

Rhys and Will plan to complete the trip around mid-July, but this will be dependant on lockdown measures being eased and campsites being open.

All money raised will be donated to Street Kids Direct who work with children experiencing extreme poverty in Honduras and Guatemala.

SPONSOR THEM HERE

Land´s End to John O´Groats Challenge

BACKROUND BY SUE

I have had the privilege of working in an environment that sees raw life, where nothing is hidden from sight and the reality sometimes hard to face.

I do believe that working together with others who hold a common aim and purpose together achieve change. The areas of safeguarding and prevention are not just words but when put into practice can transform lives.

Working with street kids has been on my heart for many years as well as Central and South America. Sometime between 1998 and 2001 there were stories coming out of Honduras and Brazil of the horrors street kids were facing and I followed the stories through other non- profit organisations who were trying to affect change in very difficult circumstances. I became aware of street kids direct over the years and have been interested in the projects and work they do as they not only deal with kids physically on the street but also support - schooling, family life, health. Focusing on prevention is key. Also reading the success stories, it’s not about a quick fix but about long term change, a new direction in life, a chance of a life with opportunities and choice.

So to my challenge..........

I plan on walking the length of the UK, Lands End to John O’Groats using as many national trails and long distance footpaths as I can. I was planning to do this as one epic adventure but due to covid which has affected us all I have decided to bring the trip forward and attempt it in stages using whatever leave I can.

Total mileage on paper is 1428 and I would like to raise a pound a mile, so allowing for diversions rounded up to 1500.

THE ROUTE

SW coast path south side Lands End to Plymouth, Wembury 170 miles

Devon coast to coast incorporating the Erme Plym trail and The Two Moors Way, Wembury to Lynmouth 117 miles

SW coast path north side Lynnouth to Minehead 22 miles

Somerset Way, Mineheqd to Bath 116 miles

Cotswold Way, Bath to Chipping Campden 102 miles

Heart of England Way, Boughton on the Water to Cannock Chase 101 miles (overlap with Cotswold Way)

Cannock Chase Heritage trail, Cannock Chase to Rugeley 10 miles

Staffordshire Link, Rugeley to Thorpe 27 miles

White Peak Way circular (part of) Thorpe to Edale 35 miles

Pennine Way, Edale to Kirk Yetholm 268 miles

Scottish National trail, Kirk Yetholm to Milngavie 143 miles

West Highland Way, Milngavie to Fort William 96 miles

Great Glen coast to coast, Fort William to Inverness 74 miles

John O'Groats coastal walking trail, Inverness to John O'Groats 147 miles

Planned start date is July 2020 provided restrictions for camping/staying overnight are lifted.

Further updates will follow, so please follow me on my journey...............

SPONSOR SUE HERE

Rescued

Two young boys are rescued from abuse and taken to the country to live with caring relatives.

Thanks to your support, this work is possible.

Help us save Brayan´s sight

Brayan is a high-risk kid in Guatemala and needs our help urgently to save his eyesight.

Brayan and his siblings suffer from various challenging sight problems and lost the sight of his left eye and now his right eye is at great risk. We need to get him an urgent operation and this will cost £500 and includes the medication and glasses he will have to wear afterwards.

Please do help us help this boy.

Thank you.

DONATE HERE

Annual Report now available online

The Street Kids Direct Annual Report 2019-2020 is now available to download.

Homeschooling begins in Guatemala and Honduras

Despite the challenges thrown our way due to COVID19, the projects we support have overcome the difficulties and continue to make a huge difference to the lives of the children. Although schools have closed for the year, the easing of government restrictions means that Proyecto Alas, Honduras and SKDGuatemala are able to provide homeschooling in its place.

At the mentoring centre in Proyecto Alas and both the Mentoring Centre and Protection Home in Guatemala, children will recieve support with school assignments and homework. They'll also recieve access to the internet for schooling which most don't have access to at home and small group study sessions with the help of wonderful volunteers.

Homeschooling is now a vital way to ensure that the children have access to education and resources, and it is with your help that makes this possible.

If you'd like to support the projects we work with, you can donate here.

Thank you!

Progress at Centro Opp

Lots of progress has been happening at the Protection Home in Guatemala thanks to incredible funding from friends.

The kitchen arrived last week ready to be installed and decorating was happening this week to get the music room and others all ready. The music room looks really jazzy....! Above Centro Opp, Casa Alexis welcomed the teenage boys for a day of fun activities. This highlights the tangiable difference that funding makes, as without the Protection Home and the safe space it provides, these boys would likely be hanging out on the streets as schools are currently closed.

Keep an eye on our page to see the latest progress and funding needs for the Protection home. There are still so many exciting plans for this development in order to impact the lives of the vulnerable. Thank you for all your support so far!

Kids fed at Go Guatemala

Due to amazing generosity during Radio Christmas, Street Kids Direct can support Go Guatemala for another year!

Go Guatemala can feed over 120 kids every day, supplying them with a healthy meal and time together round the table. This costs approximately £25. Children often arrive at the project without having eaten breakfast or even since the day before, meaning that this provision is essential for their health and wellbeing.

These meals are dependent on support given to the project and is one example of the incredible difference your funding and support makes. Thank you!

Go Guatemala are based in Zone 18 of Guatemala City and run many weekday and weekend programmes for vulnerable children. Click here to find out more.

Juan Carlos and Heydy join Casa Alexis

Street Kids Direct Guatemala is excited to welcome Juan Carlos and Heydy to the Casa Alexis Protection Home in Guatemala City. They will be running the Protection Home as house parents, including the day to day running of the Home to being there for at-risk children in emergencies. They are both in Mission Training with WGM, and have the vision to explore mission opportunities in other countries in the future in partnership with SKD.

Juan Carlos already helps with many areas of SKD, including the supporting of our partner projects in Guatemala and working with Ben Soden on the Street Team.

We are so pleased to have them with us and know the Home is in capable hands!

A Hope for Girls Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world hard this year, throwing new challenges at countries and exacerbating old ones even further. It has also given countries, organisations and individuals an opportunity to reflect on these challenges and seek solutions going forward. For us at SKD, it has highlighted the value and importance of our Mentoring Programme.

One of the greatest challenges over the past year world-wide has been the closure of schools for several months. Thanks to the availability of technology, for most of those in the Global North such as the US and UK, this meant a shift towards online-learning fairly rapidly. In the Global South however this transition largely did not occur, with many countries closing schools in line with lockdown measures but with the provision of little or no alternatives in its place. The impact on education has been great, and it has given rise to many children falling behind or out of school completely.

This picture is true in Guatemala. As the pandemic continues to take its toll on Latin America, the impact on children and schooling has been widely felt. Guatemala and Honduras already have the lowest average number of schooling years in Latin America. A child in Guatemala completes only 6.3years of school in their lifetime, compared to the UK where we complete on average 14. With the COVID-19 pandemic school closures, the average number of school years a child in Guatemala completes is expected to drop by a further 1.3years. This would mean that the majority of children who enrol in primary school will not make it to secondary.

For girls, the statistics are even lower. In education only 4 out of 10 children in school are girls, and only 5.7% of girls who start school in Guatemala go on to progress to university (2014-17). When this is coupled with the prevalence of physical and sexual violence at home, the risks that face girls and youth are increasing due to the pandemic and the closure of schools. Every 107 minutes, a girl faces sexual or physical violence, often by their parents, and school is usually the only brief opportunity of escape for them.

But here at Street Kids Direct we believe that there is always hope, and that every child has potential and deserves the opportunity to flourish. It is this motivation that is behind the development of our Mentoring Programme and the belief that it has the opportunity to change lives forever. We have seen many girls’ lives transformed by having a weekly place of respite and safety, and the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for such a programme. We currently have 42 children in the SKDGuatemala Mentoring Programme, with 18 of those being girls.

By providing at least one hour of mentoring a week, a mentor is able to provide a child with support in their education, their social lives and also their general well being. By having an adult in their life that is reliable and supportive, with no pressures of life's responsibilities, the girls are given the chance to explore what they love, have fun, and make dreams for their future.17 of our girls are also enrolled in education and have been able to continue studying in the past year.

We are so encouraged by this and given that extra confidence that Mentoring is a truly effective way of supporting both girls and boys in their education and lives. In 2019, only 73% of children enrolled in school in Guatemala achieved a pass and moved up to the next grade. In contrast, of those in our mentoring programme in both Honduras and Guatemala, 100% of children passed. In their latest exam results, the average mark of our children was 98%, far surpassing the national pass rate in Guatemala and an incredible achievement!

The benefits of education not only transform a child’s future, but they also provide hope for the country too. In Guatemala, 34% of the population are youth. This means that the country is dependent on today’s youth to ensure the country's future and workforce. Despite the need for an educated youth, the school system is largely ill-equipped to provide such opportunities in Guatemala. We are therefore hopeful that although our contribution may be small in comparison, we are transforming lives that will long impact children, families and the country now and in the future.

Thank you for your generous support. The funding that we provide to our partner projects means that we can support the adoption of programmes such as mentoring and transform the lives of street-children and at-risk children and youths.

Written by: Emily Williams; UK Volunteer: Projects and Communications Officer.
If you would like to hear more about the information that has been discussed above, you can email Emily at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she would be happy to chat!

Walking the Thames Path for Alexis Curson

We are so pleased to support the group of friends who are walking the length of the Thames Path in memory of Alexis Curson. Alexis supported Street Kids Direct for many many years and was a dear friend of ours, and we are very thankful that the team walking the path have chosen to raise money for SKD in memory of Alexis.

The team are walking the 184miles in stages, starting at the Thames Barrier and will finish at the source, in the Cotswolds. So far they have completed the first three stages and have walked to Chertsey, raising £100. We are supporting them all the way!

If you would like to join the team in remembering Alexis and support their walk, you can donate to their giving page here. You can also follow their journey at @walkingforalexis on Facebook and Instagram.