"54 YEARS PROTECTING VULNERABLE CHILDREN/COLOMBIA"

.. I get up at eight in the morning and my grandmother gives me a cup of coffee or chocolate. Ready to play with the leather ball stolen from somewhere. When we get to the court there are almost always others like us already playing, who scores a goal, who kicks, what championships, what football-tennis, we play in full sun and we want that game to last all day, we never get tired. Now I don't like studying, I don't have a computer or internet and I can't take virtual classes, I think next year I'd better find out if I work at the street selling something, or washing cars, studying like that is not my thing. (Samuel 11 years old)

Living on the street is a MISERY. The innocence of children is perverted by absolute poverty. Without education, the warm leather of a soccer ball can be replaced by the icy iron of a pistol. Perhaps, behind his bare feet, his taciturn eyes and that yellow skin, there are only the scenes of death and desolation that are lived day by day in the dusty streets.

All of us who work with poor children know very well the filth, disease, violence, and exclusion felt on the street. There are many investigations on the possible social causes of street activity: poverty, lack of education, violence, deterioration of the family, sexual abuse and many others are the causes for a child to prefer to live as homeless.

Every boy and girl on the street is an individual person, with particular wants and needs. In Colombia, boys go out to the streets to seek adventure and freedom, but girls do not have this option, they come to the streets looking for money for their families.

It was found that in Latin America, almost 100% of children living on the streets have experienced some type of violence. Whether from the family, the gangs, the guerrillas, the police, the school ... the children say they prefer to live on the street for fear of death, abuse, or the forced recruitment of a relative or neighbor.

""With your help this Christmas, we can save many children from living on the streets""