Our Projects - Bolivia
Bolivian Street Child Project
Background
ASK recently decided to provide funding to the Bolivian Street Child Project, which assists children living permanently in the streets of La Paz. Most of these children have run away from home due to physical or sexual abuse, and approximately 20% have been totally abandoned by their families: the only family they know are their fellow street children.
Shockingly, the majority of street children in La Paz are agred 6-15.
Children at a home of the Street Child Project in Bolivia
These children face multiple risks that threaten their development and their lives in general. Lack of adequate shelter, nutrition, education, healthcare, and loving caretakers put them at risk for any number of medical probelms, mental illnesses, and social difficulties. The prevalence of drug abuse and unsafe sexual practices among street children only compunds the risks. Often, street children are victimized by other street children, but police and other adults are also common perpetrators of physical and sexual violence.
Outreach workers identify and build up a relationship of trust with street children in the hope that they will leave the hazardous environment of the streets and enter one of the residential programmes.
