Friends of Alalay (Santa Cruz)

This coming Friday (10th June) we are very proud to present:

Bristol-based choir “The Harlequin Singers”
in a fundraising concert for Friends of Alalay

St. Peter’s Church, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4LD

Doors open at 7pm

Admission free – retiring collection and bar.
Remember – every penny raised goes directly to help the children to help themselves.

The concert will feature the usual wide range of wonderful choral music from the choir, and we thank them greatly for their support. Please do come along, listen to beautiful music and help us raise money for these fantastic kids – giving them the chance of a much better future.

Read more about the choir and the concert HERE… Or just pop in and enjoy!

We were really thrilled to hear from Alalay that world-class cellist Michael Jones has once again chosen to support our work with Bolivian street children.

Michael first visited Alalay in 2012, where he played a magical concert to our children – the vast majority of whom had never even seen a cello in real life, let alone been allowed to touch one! He followed up on this visit by offering his incredible talent at a fundraising concert back in Bristol, where we raised over £6,000 in one night! Read more about the 2013 concert and see some photos HERE.

Michael recently returned to Santa Cruz, and played a fundraising concert in Bolivia at the reknowned Lorca Cafe, before joining Alalay for “street work” (going and speaking with children still living on the streets, to encourage them to visit Alalay when they are ready). See a video below of Michael’s wonderful playing – he has such amazing talent and we are so pleased with his continuing support of our work – our very sincere thanks to you Michael!

Today, the 12th April, is “el Día del Niño” (Children’s Day) in Bolivia. A happy occasion where children and adults celebrate together. There are special events, processions and parties in schools, presents and games galore, and generally, just a very happy atmosphere! And for the Alalay kids it will be no different – they will be wearing freshly washed clothes, celebrating and playing with their classmates, and simply enjoying being children.

We are so happy to be able to support our children every single day – giving them the opportunity to once again enjoy their childhood and forget the many horrific experiences through which they may have suffered. The photo below (taken by the very talented Ben Ashmole Photography during their visit to us) demonstrates this perfectly – some of our younger boys and their housemother enjoying a good giggle together during teatime!

Happy “Día del Niño” to all Bolivian children today, wherever they may be.
May they all find a safe place to call home.

We were delighted to be asked by Alalay to once again support all of the oldest children through their vocational training courses this year. This is the fourth year that we have helped these adolescents through their training in courses as diverse as nursing, car mechanics, cookery, dress-making and computing, and we couldn’t be more proud of them! These are kids who so easily could be begging on the streets or selling their bodies for pennies, yet instead they are studying hard to give themselves a better future. These young men and women are in the stage of beginning to become independent from Alalay: finishing their secondary education, studying a vocational subject of interest to them, setting up a bank account and saving up to buy basic necessities for their future houses, so that when they are ready, they are fully prepared to leave Alalay. Although even when they physically leave the centre, they will always remain part of the large Alalay family and often pop back to say “hello”! Thanks to the wonderfully talented Ben Ashmole Photography for the beautiful image (above) of some of our oldest supported girls busy doing their schoolwork.

In other news, this is advance warning of a very exciting concert taking place later this year. We are thrilled to announce that Bristol-based choir The Harlequin Singers will be performing their June Concert in aid of Friends of Alalay. The concert will be held on Friday 10th June at St. Peter’s Church, Henleaze, Bristol, and promises to be a real treat! Read more about the choir and the concert HERE.

It was recently Carnival in Latin America – a huge event celebrated in a variety of ways in each country throughout the continent. It incorporates three-four days of parties, dancing, dressing up, music, food, drink and much more! In Santa Cruz de la Sierra it is no different – involving three days of people dressing up in long overalls and partying in “garages” (basically open areas in the centre of the city surrounded by big walls where people normally park their cars!). You pay to become a member of a certain “garage” and then you get free food and endless supplies of beer. Or you can wander round the centre and party in the streets – where the Santa Cruz tradition is to throw paint at you… or beer… or petrol.. or whatever people can get their hands on!

It is a great fun event but very noisy, loud, drunken and often rather dangerous. Many of the kids have alcoholic parents and it is clearly very risky for them to be in the city during Carnival time. Instead, they are all invited to a special “retreat” together with the Church out in the countryside, and it is something to which kids really look forward. We were fortunate enough to have two of our current fantastic volunteers go to the retreat with them this year, and I think it was a great (if rather intense!) time for all.

And whilst all of this was going on in Latin America, we were busy in the UK too – giving a talk to Stockwood Women’s Institute – it was a great opportunity to once again share about our work with Alalay and how they truly rescue these kids and offer them a new life. Many thanks to all the ladies for such a warm welcome. Please see photos of both events above – just click on them to enlarge.

Our recent fundraising concert was a fantastic success – a great number of people attended, the music was superb, and we raised well over £2000, which will go directly to help the street children supported by Alalay to help themselves!

Our very big thanks go to everyone involved in the planning and organising of such a great evening (we could not have done it without you!), the wonderful Niall Hoskin and Stephen Browne (photos below) for so generously giving up their time and talents, and to every one of you who came along and supported – you really are helping to make a difference to the lives of some of the most forgotten and desolate people on the planet.

A very Happy New Year to our wonderful supporters, from all of us who work together to support the Alalay kids – giving them a better future away from the streets.

We are very pleased to invite you all to our upcoming Winterreise (‘Winter Journey’) concert, supporting Friends of Alalay and its work with Bolivian street children:

Music is by Franz Schubert to words by Wilhelm Müller.
Featuring Stephen Browne (piano) and Niall Hoskin (baritone)

Doors open at 7pm. The bar will also be open before the concert starts and afterwards.

No charge – retiring collection for the street children

We look forward to seeing you there! Please do spread the word – feel free to click on the flyer to download and share it.

With less than a month to go, here is a quick annual reminder that we still have some beautiful and unique Christmas cards available for sale, each individually designed and painted by an ex-street child now supported by Alalay. They cost just £1.50 each, or 4 cards for £5. Please just contact us for more information.

On another note, many thanks to the St. Francis  Ladies’ Group for such a warm welcome and generous support when we recently spoke with them about Alalay and its work with street children – please see a photo of some of the ladies to the right. Your support is very much appreciated!

We were recently fortunate to have British Councillor Alexander Stafford visit Alalay to see our work and meet our children. Read more in Alexander’s own words:

“As a Councillor in West London I have been privileged to spend time with the Alalay Foundation in Santa Cruz. I visited both the Casa de Ninos in the city, as well as the Aldea outside Santa Cruz. During my stay, I engaged with the children, staff and volunteers, seeing first hand the challenges of their work, as well as the many opportunities it has created. From the work of Jose in convincing the children to come off the streets in the first place, to the daily zumba lessons led by volunteers, which give the children the opportunity to build confidence and awareness. Alalay offers hope and opportunities, which many of the children would not normally have.  Above all, the sense that I got was one of warmth and community spirit. From the warmth given to the children from the motivated and inspiring staff and volunteers, to the sense of community fostered between the children and every member of the Foundation.

I was honoured to be asked to give Alalay a presentation on UK politics and the roles and relevance of politicians, which was received with great interest and enthusiasm. I also presented to the Foundation specially commissioned portraits of HM Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of a member of the UK Parliament, Andrew Rosindell MP, with whom I had discussed the visit.

I left Alalay with a far greater understanding of some of the challenges facing young children in Bolivia, as well as an appreciation of the different solutions possible. Although many of the issues faced by children and young people in the UK initially appear different from those in Bolivia, there are many shared needs and hopes. From nurturing a sense of belonging, to feeling part of a wider community and learning the skills to support them later in life, these are some of the universal values of childhood.  

I will take these lessons and experiences back to my political work in the UK and do what I can to both raise the profile of Alalay and to continue my work to support children facing difficult circumstances around the world. I hope that this is the start of an enduring and constructive relationship between the area I represent in the UK and the children in Santa Cruz”.

We thank Alexander for so generously giving up his time to be with us. We look forward to working more with him and his constituency in the future.

Our kids have often seen too much.

They may have been taken to dubious nightclubs aged six, sent around to pick the pockets of the inebriated locals; been locked in a small room for three days with a younger sibling and no food wondering whether their mum would ever return; been treated like a slave, beaten daily and forced to sleep outdoors in the dog’s kennel; or lived in a cold, dark, rancid drainage canal with older kids constantly plying them with glue and at constant risk of rape, because the streets somehow seemed safer than home*.

Yet, it is so important to remember that despite all that they have been through, the horrific things that they have seen and experienced in their short lives, that our children are just that: children.

Alalay offers them a home, food, education, opportunities, a sense of belonging and love, but it also provides them with the chance to be a child again – to smile, run, laugh, sing and play. To enjoy spending time with their friends and momentarily forget about their past. Here are some of our kids just enjoying being kids on recent days out…

*All of these stories are based on real events that have happened to our Alalay kids.