Let the Children Live!
Let the Children Live!, founded by the English Priest Peter Walters in the mid-1990s, offers an interesting model of integrated services -- and of collaboration with other organizations. The program works in several of the comunas famous for expelling children onto the street, in order to create a civil society that will work in favor of children.
In the comunas of Medellín, boys are recruited into gangs on their 13th birthday, then forced to work as drug dealers or assassins. Wars between left- and right-wing gangs kill dozens of young men every day. Many kids leave for the street just to escape this life -- which means that preventative work can’t just be about families.
In Comuna Popular II, a horribly poor neighborhood inhabited by refugees, Let the Children Live! promotes youth activism. Peer educators organize games and sports, teach their parents about peace, and give literacy classes to kids and adults. In this way, the program creates a counter culture independent of the gangs (which stay in power because they provide the services that the government cannot: education, security, even food).
In the comuna, educators wear a t-shirt declaring “Let the Children Live!,” identifying them as neutral parties. Their safety also depends on program drop-outs who have joined the gangs -- these kids have come to trust the educators, so they tell gang leaders not to mess with them. Even so, several educators have been reassigned after receiving death threats.
Though 200 kids work as educators and activists, the situation is so horrible that kids continue to leave for the streets. Kids with no other options -- because of gang threats, a history of violence, etc -- can come to the Let the Children Live! shelter in the center of the city. Here they can play, study, eat, and sleep.
Let the Children Live! also works on the street. For kids who have been homeless for many years, program educators try to motivate them to go to another program’s drop-in center -- because they are independent, Let the Children Live! can recommend the program that best fits the kid’s personality (Bosconia, Don Bosco, Brazos Abiertos, or Claret).
In Medellín, many poor and refugee kids live or work with their families on the street. For the youngest of these kids, the program offers a sort of street pre-school. Educators gather kids from their parents, then hang out and play with them in Parque Berrío, in the city center. They put together jigsaws and play bingo, but they also learn letters and numbers to better prepare them for school. In March of 2002, a bomb exploded at scant yards from the open-air school, but classes go on. Violence is part of life in Medellín.
For the last several years, Let the Children Live! has promoted a football tournament for street kids from all the institutions in the city. The program also works closely with the Network for Street Dwellers and the Youth Police.
Fundación ¡Vivan los Niños!
Peter Walters, Fundador
Cra 50A #63-111
Medellín, Antioquia
Colombia
57 4 211 1611
fax 263 1953
funvini@epm.net.co
funvini1@epm.net.co
www.letthechildrenlive.org
www.vivanlosninos.org.co
