Friends of Alalay (Santa Cruz)

Last evening I had the pleasure of speaking to an assembled group from the Church of the Good Shepherd Ladies’ Group, Bishopston. The ladies (and one honorary man!) were very supportive of my work, had some great future ideas and even made some early Christmas card orders! Thank you to Joanne and the rest of the group for making me feel so welcome.

September is a busy month for Friends of Alalay in terms of fundraising. This Sunday (8th September) supporter Laura Swan will be competing in the Run to the Beat half marathon [sponsor her great running effort here] and later in the month Jay and Oliver will be cycling across Europe and Asia, also for the Bolivian street children! [Find out more here].

Finally, we recently sent out our latest newsletter telling much more about current goings-on in a one-page summary. You can view it here and see previous editions here. Do contact us if you’d like to receive our newsletter in the future.

Thanks for your continuing support – we couldn’t do it without you!

Early yesterday morning (Friday 23rd August) a fight involving gas canisters (which led to a fire) broke out in the high-security jail of Palmasol in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Currently the facts are rather sketchy, but the BBC reports that at least 29 people have died and 50 are injured. Read more on the BBC website here. Among the dead was one young child who was badly burned.

I’d always known that many of the children living at Alalay had parents or relatives locked up in this jail but I had never before taken the time to investigate the reality of life in this “prison town” of approximately 3,500 inmates. And as soon as I did investigate, I was horrified.

Back in 2005 the BBC reported in “Bolivia’s Prison Children” about the children living inside this barbed wire enclosure, but it seems that six years on, not much has changed, and hundreds of children still live behind bars with their parents in the most gruesome conditions. Palmasola, like many other Bolivian prisons is vastly overcrowded. According to many sources, prostitution, drugs and violent attacks (often resulting in death) are rife, and the gangs and most serious offenders rule the corridors extorting and controlling other prisoners. The only “lucky” inmates are those with money who can afford to buy a cell with en-suite bathrooms and televisions (for prices as high as $10,000). The rest (and I suspect, many of the Alalay children’s relatives) sleep in the gutter, surviving on a gruel-like food served once a day. Apparently four out of five prisoners never face trial, and without the money needed to bribe, they never leave.

Many of the children at Alalay may have fortunately escaped living within this reality, for which I am eternally grateful. But we must continue to work with those children still living on the streets, offering them the safe haven of Alalay and a positive future, rather than them ever ending up in a place like this.

Find out more about the Palmasol prison here:

• “Three Days in Hell” – written by an American who managed to visit the prison in 2012
• “Police: At least 30 killed in Bolivia prison melee“
• “Las cárceles en Bolivia: Una verdadera bomba de tiempo” (in Spanish – “Prisons in Bolivia: A real time bomb”)

I had a great time at the recent event held by the Embassy of Bolivia in the UK to celebrate the 188th Anniversary of the Independence of Bolivia. We had fresh salteñas to eat, “Agwa” (an alcohol made from Bolivian coca leaves!) to sample, and an amazing display of dances in traditional costumes to watch. I met many Bolivians who now live in the UK and talked with them about their fantastic country – generating lots of new contacts! Thanks to the Bolivian Embassy for the invitation.

A quick reminder that tomorrow (Saturday 17th August) is the Marshfield Village Fête at which we will have a stall selling lots of as-new items to raise money for the street children. The event is held at Marshfield Village Hall, Wellfield Road, near Bristol, from 1pm-4.30pm and includes live music, BBQ, bar, bouncy castle, dog show, pony rides, balloon race, entertainment displays, face painting, craft stalls, cakes, raffle and lots more!

Just click here for a map showing you how to get to Marshfield. We look forward to seeing you there!

I’ve just received the exciting news that band “The Mighty Vipers” are going to be giving an amazing 10% of all their profits from gigs and sales of merchandise to Friends of Alalay!

Describing themselves as:

Blending calypso, reggae and soul with a punk rock attitude the Vipers are out to get the dancefloor shaking. As a seven piece outfit the majority of the band have been working together for 10 years as Catch-It Kebabs; a project that enjoyed successful UK/European tours and two studio albums. The same upbeat attitude that fuelled the Kebabs is now a major part of the foundation of the Mighty Vipers.

Do check out their website here, listen to some music and make sure to catch them at a gig soon (like the UK’s “biggest piñata festival” at the Beaver Works, Leeds on 3rd August!)

We know it’s a bit early in the year, but our Christmas preparations have already started! We have just received an amazing donation of high quality card and envelopes from the wonderful Alfred Harris Bookbinders [seen in photo on right]. This card will soon be winging its way to Pronta Print, Fishponds, where it will be printed with the Alalay logo and message for a special price…

And then we will be finishing them by adding beautiful designs, each individually hand-painted by an Alalay ex-street child… And this pile of card will be transformed into 1,000 exclusive Christmas cards ready for sale! Get your orders in early this year – they will sell out! Please contact us regarding orders.

Huge thanks to Deborah Curtis and her friends for organising a fantastic jumble sale for Alalay recently in the Cornmarket, Faringdon. Together with a dedicated team of helpers, they managed to spread the word about Alalay and raise a great amount of money for the kids – just look how many donations they managed to collect!

I was very pleased to be invited to a Latin American Charities Forum organised by the LATA Foundation last week. It was a great opportunity for me to meet representatives from a variety of organisations working in Latin America, and we were able to share lots of thoughts, challenges and ideas for the future.

Find out more about the event and the charities involved HERE.
[Photo credit: The LATA Foundation]

Annie with Nelida Fuentes and Angel David Cortez Villegas at the joint welcome reception

I was thrilled to recently be invited to two events organised by the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) for a visiting Bolivian Parliamentary delegation. On Monday I participated in a working lunch to discuss the issues of street children, with representatives from Toybox charity and the Consortium for Street Children, alongside Craig Whittaker MP, Pauline Latham MP and Lord Dholakia.

On Tuesday I was invited to a joint welcome reception for the delegation with the Bolivian Embassy, Canning House, the Anglo-Bolivian Society and members of the BGIPU.

Both events were a fantastic way of meeting a number of people with a keen interest in Bolivia and the street children, and I was able to have lots of fruitful discussions regarding future projects and ideas. My thanks to the BGIPU for the invitation.

On Thursday I will once again be traveling to London to take part in a Latin American Charities Forum organised by the LATA Foundation – another opportunity to share ideas, challenges, concerns and knowledge with similar organisations.

Annie with Rick Nimmo, Director of BGIPU
Houses of Parliament terrace

The Bolivian delegation was composed of: Lucio Marca Mamani (First Vice President, Movement for Socialism), Galo Bonifaz Silvestre (Movement for Socialism), Angel David Cortez Villegas (Social Alliance), Nelida Sifuentes (Vice President, Movement for Socialism, Chiquisaca), Eugenio Rojas (Movement for Socialism, La Paz) and Eduardo Maldonaldo (Movement for Socialism, Potosi). It was a pleasure to meet them and I hope that we can work together in the future.

We have recently received a tremendous donation of useful medical supplies for our medical centre in Alalay – which will save lots of money as we often need to buy more materials. We want to get them out to Santa Cruz as soon as possible, and have been offered space in a supporter’s suitcase who is traveling to Alalay later this month. However, we need to get them from their current location (Bristol) to Durham so they can be taken.

Does anyone have any contacts heading to Durham this month (June) who might be able to put an extra suitcase in their car and drop it off for us?!

Please do contact us ASAP if you think you might be able to help.