On the rubbish dump

We spent Monday with the Viva Early Encounter team, learning about what they do and experiencing some of it. The team told us about their work in several areas:

-          on the streets, building relationships with the kids, trying to persuade them that life is better off the streets

-          training the churches, to get them to reach out to the poor, to the street kids, to meet the needs that are on their doorsteps

-          working with school teachers, to train them in child protection issues, stuff that our UK teacher learn as part of their training, but is not taught in Latin America

-          developing the child ambassadors, the workshops that the children attend to build their self esteem and help them feel part of a community

-          advocacy and campaigning with local and national government

This Viva team is really committed to changing the world for street children and have a passion for what they do.

We then experienced some of their work first hand. We clambered into the minibus and headed off into the centre of the city, right next to the big market, onto the rubbish dump.  We picked our way over the stinking rubbish, past the stray dogs and saw the team from a local church who was working with the kids on the dump. I was surprised to see how young this team was, early twenties I would guess, they were singing songs and telling stories to the dirty kids in rags - no doubt clothes that they had found on the dump. They did some hand painting with the kids and each child made a bracelet to keep, telling the story of salvation with colours - Gods light (yellow), our sin (black), Jesus’s blood (red), new life (green), our baptism (blue), and then purity(white).  These kids had smiles on their faces as they joined in the fun. I looked around at the kids and wondered what the future would hold for them – would they escape this life, or remain part of this culture, with its drugs, gangs and abuse of all unthinkable kinds? At least this team were offering them a lifeline to a better existence. I pray that each of the children I saw today escapes from the squalor that we saw. I made a bracelet too, and I’ll pray often for the children I saw today.

We then headed off to a local school where the Viva team are working with the teachers, especially in the area of child abuse, what to look for and how to deal with it. These are teachers of 4-5 year olds who in this culture need to prepare the kids early for the dangers that they face. The lady from the Viva team uses puppets to get her messages across to the kids.

As a great finish to the day we had a party in the Viva office, with noisy Latin American games including a piñata, and real authentic tacos. A lighthearted ending to a day filled with challenging sights and stories.