10 0 2 w ie v e R l a u n n A
Delhi, India
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
P14 P10 P8
P6
P4
Harare, Zimbabwe
Kampala, Uganda
P18 P16
Oxford, United Kingdom
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Wisconsin, North America
Viva Review 2010
Earlier this year I sat in a crowded slum in Kampala, Uganda, wondering how I could help a frightened little girl called Esther.* She had been accidentally hit in the eye a few weeks before my visit, and was starting to lose her sight. Esther’s mother, Lydia, had taken her to hospital, but they couldn’t afford the necessary treatment. Lydia only earns £1 a day, and she uses that to feed, clothe and house her four children. However, she is unable to find a better paying job because she cannot read or write, as the education system that taught her struggled hugely for money and teachers. This deficiency is true across Uganda’s school system, and is mostly due to a lack of investment from the government behind it. Suddenly it’s a lot bigger than just helping to fix an eye. In order to really change Esther’s life I would have to change the people and places that shape it. The family, the community, the city, the whole country.Yet this Review shows that when we work together we can not only change the individual lives of vulnerable girls in Cambodia (page 4) and school children in Zimbabwe (page 10) but also strengthen hundreds of churches across East Africa (page 14), challenge entire cities in Bolivia (page 16) and begin to influence whole countries like India (page 6). When we work together an awesome power is unleashed! And maybe it starts with just an eye. Maybe it starts with just one compassionate person, determined to act, like the doctor in our Kampala network who agreed to treat Esther and managed to stop her going blind. However, when we add other willing people, when we combine our skills, contacts and resources, we can have a force for change that is more than just the sum of its parts. We can one day watch Esther bring up little girls of her own in a place safe from the dangers that characterised her childhood.
So as we take a look back over this year, across time zones and country boundaries, through city networks and into the lives of real people, I hope you will be encouraged and inspired by what you find. That when we act together we can do more than just save an eye: we can build a better world for children.
unity quality
Where Viva’s city-wide networks are helping people work together for the children of their communities ■ Where Viva Equip is empowering people to offer children care that is professional, loving and truly beneficial 2
Patrick McDonald Chief Executive
3
*Any children referred to in this Review have had their names changed in accordance with our Child Protection Policy