With their general election this coming Sunday, Bolivia is a busy place right now anyway. But Alalay in Santa Cruz is busier than most. Their Real Madrid sponsored socio-sporting school (read more about the project here) is due to open later this week… And as well as this, Alalay’s regional co-ordinator Ximena Rojas Landivar is one of the main organisers of an International Street Children’s Conference, bringing together many different organisations from around the World which work with highly vulnerable street children and adolescents. The conference aims to share statistics, experiences and ideas whilst continuing to develop vital links between organisations and offering a stronger voice to advocate for the rights of these children. More information and photos of both of these important events will be available here as soon as we have them!
The Alalay kids are also being kept busy: going to school, playing, doing housework and homework, and also spending more time learning lots of interesting crafts, as can be seen in the photo below (which shows some of the youngest welcome house girls hard at work). The idea is that the children will learn many skills during their time living at Alalay, and then when they are old enough, alongside finishing their schooling, they will begin to either work in the bakery or make jewellery for sale, giving themselves a small income. As well as learning about the importance of work and gaining useful practical experience, they will be encouraged to save some of this money, ready for when they become independent. Find out much more about the stages of Alalay’s work with children here.
