life Inside issue 1
The transforming power of education
Plus: Hope for page 4 Syrian children Child poverty‌ page 10 in Hong Kong? Krish Kandiah on page 15 fostering and adoption
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VIVA IS LAUNCHING A
CHRISTMAS MATCH APPEAL TO PROTECT AND RESCUE NEPALESE CHILDREN FROM TRAFFICKING © World Bank
Every year, thousands of children in Nepal are trafficked. Cynically targeting poor households, traffickers offer the tantalising hope of a regular income to struggling families and then sell children into bonded labour or sexual slavery. Viva’s partner network CarNet Nepal has a track record in alerting local communities to these risks and rescuing children from abuse. Together we want to: ■ Help mothers set up small businesses and generate an income for their families ■ Get children back into school, keeping them safe from risk ■ Spread the anti-trafficking message more widely to local people ■ Give rescued children shelter and trauma counselling ■ Share expertise from this programme with other partner networks around the world
Make a gift by cheque or online at www.viva.org/christmasappeal and your gift will be matched by a small group of generous Viva supporters. Anything you give will inspire lasting change in the lives of children in Nepal. Thank you. 2
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EDITORIAL One of the many good experiences I have had since moving to Hong Kong has been getting to know Christine’s extended family. Her grandmother, now in her 90s, still lives in the border town of Sheung Shui. Rob Lilwall National Director, Viva Hong Kong In the tumultuous 1940s and 1950s, she raised four children on her own (after sadly being widowed following the Second World War). She had to also earn a living running the small family business, but what was most amazing was that she achieved all this having never been to school, and having never learnt to read or write. Hong Kong is a different place now – with education much more widely available. Christine and the other grandchildren have had opportunities that were undreamt of a couple of generations ago. Not only is education valuable in its own right, it also helps people break out of the poverty cycle. A sobering fact, which may be less well known, is that in some countries like Nepal, school also has an important role to play in keeping children safe during the day, away from the threat of traffickers. As you can see opposite, we’re launching a Christmas appeal to combat the trafficking and sexual exploitation of Nepalese children. A small group of generous Viva supporters has pledged to double gifts made – more details are available at www.viva.org/ christmasappeal
In this issue you can also read how Viva’s Kezia M’Clelland is working with churches in Lebanon which are helping to provide schooling for Syrian refugee children (page 4) and Hilary Wilce shares five tips for helping children to thrive at school (page 12). Closer to home, Lucy Rowe, a new member of the Viva HK team, shares what we have been doing to address the needs of children in Hong Kong (page 10). There is so much need, but also a great deal that can be achieved when people work together. The actions we choose to take can re-write the future. By giving children the gift of an education they have power to change their future, and that of their communities for generations to come.
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There are 600,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon
CHILDREN AND CONFLICT – BEHIND THE HEADLINES The media can paint a heart-breakingly bleak picture of children affected by war. But there is hope. Viva’s Kezia M’Clelland describes her work with Lebanese Christians as they reach out to Syrian refugee children and families, and why she believes a more positive story needs telling. The news over the last few months has been filled with painful accounts of the huge impact that conflict has on the lives of children. We saw the number of children killed in Gaza rise to over 500,1 heard that 50,000 children could die from malnutrition this year as a result of violence in South Sudan,2 watched as thousands of children became refugees in northern Iraq, and learnt that more than 2 million children in the Central African Republic are caught up in conflict and in urgent need of protection and aid.3 Perhaps we donate to charity, pray, or share a story on social media, but it can seem more and more difficult to feel that anything we do can make a difference in these desperate situations.
As we commemorate the First World War 100 years ago, it’s clear that the days of wars fought between nations by armies on clearly defined battlegrounds are a thing of the past.Today, violence often takes place within countries and across borders, with little distinction between soldiers and civilians. Children are caught up in violence and can be killed and injured, used as soldiers, subjected to sexual violence, separated from family members, kidnapped or tortured. In addition to physical harm, the experience of living through instability or witnessing violence can have a lasting psychological impact. While children in many parts of the world are living in difficult circumstances, children in fragile and conflict-affected states are more likely to live in poverty, miss out on education, and lack access to basic healthcare.4
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IDENTIFYING SAFE PLACES A HEART FOR CHILDREN Now well into its fourth year, the Syrian conflict has caused 6.5 million people to be displaced inside Syria, and more than 3 million to flee the country. 1.2 million refugees, half of them children, have registered across the border in Lebanon.5 For six months, I worked with Viva and Food for the Hungry to support the work of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD) with Syrian families. The stories people told me were disturbing and heart-breaking. I heard about children in Syria being recruited to fight, being injured or killed by shelling or sniper fire, girls being kidnapped, and children arriving at displacement camps alone. Many schools and hospitals have been damaged and destroyed, and families struggle to find enough food. In Lebanon too, while families may have escaped from the direct threat of gunfire and shelling, children remain at risk. In a poor area of Beirut, I met a six-year-old girl called Nada who shyly presented me with a beautiful rose from the bunch she was holding. Nada’s mother explained that her husband has been unable to find work in Lebanon, and so instead of going to school, Nada goes out alone every day to sell flowers on the street. When I spoke with a group of children about the crowded area of Beirut they live in, they failed to identify any safe public place to play, saying that, “there is lots of trouble – people fight, using weapons and knives”. Children in the Bekaa Valley, where a large number of refugees live in informal tented settlements, spoke longingly of the full lives they left behind, with one teenage girl telling me, “I have Syria in my heart – we are all missing Syria”. Many parents are too exhausted by the struggle of daily life to provide the support that children are seeking.
Hearing these difficult stories over and over again would have been overwhelming if there hadn’t been another, very different and less often-told story being written at the same time. LSESD is partnering with 18 churches and faith-based organisations in Lebanon, as well as two networks of churches inside Syria, to provide displaced families with food and other support. As I met with these Christians who are freely giving their already stretched time and resources to support people who have historically been considered their ‘enemy’, I was more and more amazed by what God is doing in and through them in this situation. One church has started a primary school reaching 200 children who were out of school; others organise regular children’s activities and each clearly demonstrated a heart for helping children. However, most were feeling out of their depth in the face of the huge needs children faced. I worked with LSESD to organise training to help them think through how they could better target their programmes to meet the needs of children, and how to put policies and procedures in place to keep children safe. It also provided an opportunity for partners to meet together, share their experiences and encourage one another. Viva’s strengths in working with smaller Christian organisations and churches meant that we were able to design and deliver relevant training which had a significant impact; participants were excited to talk about new programmes for children that they might create, and were quick to recognise the risks children faced and how policies and procedures could help to address these. Most participants said that this was their first time to receive this kind of training and could see ways that they would put it into practice straight away.
Kezia M’Clelland visits a family in their makeshift shelter 5
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THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH In today’s world, our attention is quickly drawn from one crisis to the next. The media and our attention spans seem able only to focus on one situation at a time. Whether Syria is currently making headline news or not, the situation for the children caught up in the conflict is unchanged. Churches were already there before the conflict and they will stay, long after international attention fades. Currently, much of the support given for children in emergencies is directed to larger international NGOs, but they are not always succeeding in reaching the most vulnerable children in the way that smaller, local churches and organisations can do.6
children in the most difficult circumstances. With conflict and natural disasters having an increasing impact on children,Viva is well placed to play an important part in developing the Christian response through local organisations to support children in emergencies.
By supporting these churches and organisations, we make a permanent investment in equipping local communities to make a difference for
Kezia M’Clelland is Research and Programme Development Officer of Viva Africa, and worked in Lebanon for six months in 2014.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have witnessed and played a small part in the story of hope which God is writing in the midst of darkness and despair, and I’m looking forward to seeing where God will take us next as we seek to bring Viva’s experience to help more of the world’s most vulnerable children.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/11056976/The-children-killed-in-Gaza-during-50-days-ofconflict.html 2 http://blogs.unicef.org/2014/07/28/south-sudan-nutrition-crisis-ahead/ 3 http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/Emergencies/central-african-republic/ 4 World Bank (2011), World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development 5 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/29/us-syria-crisis-refugees-idUSKBN0GT0AX20140829 6 Healy and Tiller, Where is Everyone? Responding to Emergencies in the most difficult Places (Médicins Sans Frontières, July 2014) 1
All photos © Food for the Hungry / Angela Howard
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Enjoying a lighter moment amongst the darkness and despair
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LET US
PRAY
The World Weekend of Prayer (WWP) is an annual prayer event which brings together Christians from across the world, who learn about the power of prayer and how God changes the situation for children as a result. This year, tens of thousands of Christians worldwide prayed for vulnerable children on 7-8 June around the theme of ‘childfriendly communities’. In Costa Rica’s capital city, San Jose, just under half of the 25 churches who participated are not yet members of the Viva partner network. In total, 2,000 people across the country prayed, including 1,300 children and the event inspired 100 church leaders to consider the needs of children. Pastor Gilbert Barrantes organised Renacer Church to collect and distribute food in the homes of the poorest families in the community.
“We recognise that prayer is also to act, so we believe that our work begins with prayer and continues with action,” he said. In Mwanza, Tanzania’s second biggest city, almost 50,000 Christians, two-thirds of whom are under 18 years old, in over 25 churches, took part in the WWP. Together, children raised their voices to God through prayers, drama, sports and songs. One woman, Mama Rachel, was so moved by praying that she has
Praying for child-friendly communities to become a reality in the Philippines
now become a volunteer childcare worker at her church. In Hong Kong, over 2,000 children and adults across various churches joined others in prayer. “We have seen churches and communities not only lifting up and praying for local children, but also seeking to learn more about and pray for children around the world,” says Lucy, from Viva Hong Kong. WWP prayer bookmarks were produced for the first time and Bea Petty, a children’s intern at St Aldates Church, Oxford said, “The bookmarks were great for the children to take home and a great way to encourage them to pray for children around the world.” Proof indeed that no matter the age, background or mother tongue, anyone can turn to God in prayer, confident that he listens, answers and acts.
SAVE THE DATE Join us for the
World Weekend of Prayer next year on 6-7 June 2015. More details nearer the time at worldweekendofprayer.com 7
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ŠPatricia Andrews 8
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DOORSTEPS Reaching children and vulnerable families close to home Whilst Viva’s core programme work has historically taken place in more developing countries, Viva’s offices both in the UK and Hong Kong have been challenged by the increasing needs of children in our own contexts. It has forced us to ask the questions: What about the children on our doorstep? What is the response? How can we work together for children in Hong Kong? Whilst Hong Kong has a thriving economy and efficient systems of operation, it has one of the highest gaps between the rich and the poor in the world. With a significant number of families living in poverty, there are high risks of child abuse, neglect and exploitation.Keen to share its 20 years of experience in this area, Viva has been identifying areas in which it can have an impact for children in the city of Hong Kong.
In November 2013, Viva HK delivered our first successful Child Protection Training, with over 60 delegates. One year later, we have held various workshops to develop child protection policies, and support NGOs to identify children at risk issues and encourage them to work collaboratively. In order to be able to further this work and gain a real understanding of the situation for children growing up in Hong Kong, Viva wanted to use its tried and tested mapping tool to conduct extensive organisational research and field interviews with organisations and churches to identify the wider needs and response specifically to children in poverty in Hong Kong. The general research identified a segmented society with an increasing disparity between the rich and the poor, with 1 in 4 children growing up in poverty in Hong Kong.
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“There is a 5-person household, with three children, living in a very small unit. As it is too small, they have to move all the things out of the flat at night when sleeping; and in the morning move everything back to the flat and on the bed and everywhere. It’s an extremely small space for living.” Yuen Wai Ming, Service Supervisor, Agape Community Care Centre In many families both parents work long hours and children are often left unattended for extended periods of time, meaning children are exposed to the dangers of street life. This contributes to family defragmentation which, along with poor physical, development and mental health, are some of the key risks identified for children growing up in poverty here.This is often exacerbated by the high density of the population and cramped living conditions. Migrant families are particularly vulnerable as they have ‘limited’ social service provision and other support is not always available or known about. Refugees are prevented from working until their cases have been heard; therefore the children in these families are living in extreme poverty situations and have little hope for their futures. With education being a key measure of success in Hong Kong, there are stark differences between the needs and educational experiences of those from wealthier families, who feel a great deal of pressure to succeed, and those from poorer backgrounds, who can often be taught in a language different to their own that they do not understand. Poorer families find it hard to buy books and uniform, and pay for transport to school; there is often no space in their homes to keep school equipment.
The government’s mixed market approach to service provision, enjoyed by thousands of NGO service providers, is making an impact. However to tackle the root cause issues fundamental to Hong Kong will require a greater collaborative community response to address the likely gaps, duplications and community engagement that is necessary. We were encouraged that the initial findings indicate that on average 43% of churches in Hong Kong were involved in some kind of response to the poor. Of these churches, 9% were involved in outreach to children, which most often took the form of mentoring or help with education. The trend was for churches to partner with an NGO to involve their congregation in outreach work. There are however some very good examples of church-born ministries that exist independently or as charity arms to these churches. Our plan for 2015 is to build on our work in this area – to see children safe, well and fulfilling their God given potential through the power of collective action in Hong Kong. If you would like to know more, be part of this or respond to some of the issues raised, please go to viva.org or call the office on 2745-2900.
“Education with equal opportunity is the most important vehicle for social mobility in Hong Kong, but now it may not be able to prevent intergenerational poverty due to the lack of support for children living in poverty.” Professor Chou Kee-Lee, The Hong Kong Institute of Education
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© US Dept for Education
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WAYS TO HELP YOUR CHILD THRIVE AT SCHOOL
A good quality, well-rounded education is of crucial importance to a child’s development – it forms the foundation to many Viva programmes across the world. However, it shouldn’t be just down to teachers; parents have a role too, as Hilary Wilce explains. How do we go about creating a climate that makes children want to learn? From the thousands of hours I’ve spent in schools, I know that parents have more power than anyone to motivate their children to study, but that they can’t force school success by helicoptering around over every detail of their child’s life. Instead, they need to provide the kind of secure, thoughtful, encouraging environment at home, from which children can go out and forge their own successful way through school and beyond. Yet although this sounds simple, it’s not that easy to pull off. Here are five practical ways to help your child do well at school. 1. Teach the magic word ‘yet’ As in, “I haven’t yet learned how to tie my shoelaces.” Or “I haven’t yet understood electromagnetic induction”. Seeing learning as an optimistic, positive process boosts success. 2. Move bedtime forward Canadian teachers report more restlessness, volatility and frustration in 7- to 11-year-olds who get half an hour less sleep than their classmates. US researchers have found that high-school students who achieve lower grades get 25 minutes less sleep than students getting A and B grades. Sleep is vital. It processes learning and regulates health.
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3. Read together According to UK researchers, children who read for pleasure make more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10
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and 16 than those who rarely read, and reading for pleasure is more important than either wealth or social class when it comes to doing well in school. 4. Learn something yourself This means you are modelling what enjoyable, rewarding learning looks like. Also model how difficulties in learning can be overcome with cheerful fortitude! 5. Do nothing If your child acts up in class or fails to do their homework, let them take the consequences. Experiencing the results of actions is essential to good learning. Shielding your child from every bump in the school road will produce a passive, dependent learner. Hilary Wilce is a former education columnist with The Independent, and a personal development coach. Her latest book is The Six Secrets of School Success. www.hilarywilce.com @HilaryWilce This is an abridged version of the article, ‘How to help your child do well at school’, published in The Independent on 25 June 2014, and reprinted here with Hilary’s permission.
DO YOU AGREE WITH HILARY?
What works with your children? Email us at hk@viva.org with your reflections on this article.
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STORY-TELLERS, ROLE MODELS, MENTORS… © Ben Russell
A good teacher’s influence can reach beyond our childhood to help form our opinions and values as an adult.
A selection of Viva staff around the world tell us which teachers they still remember and why. Joel, Network Consultant in Bolivia Mr Julio Trejos. He was full of fun and wanted to help make our dreams come true. He said “Dreaming is free, but efforts must be made to fulfil the dreams”.
Martin, Head of Mobilisation Mrs Bartalutzi. She read ‘Where the Rainbow Ends’ to the class over a whole term, a story which I never forgot and gave me my passion for telling stories.
Lucy, Viva Hong Kong Mrs Styles. She taught all the things I loved and she was cool – a great role model. I won the Religious Studies’ prize that year – whereas previously I hadn’t thought myself to be very academic.
John, Network Development volunteer (UK) Mr Railton. He only had one arm after an operation, but still involved us all in fine choral music with specially adapted piano pedals. He always had time for me in lunch breaks.
Justine, Network Consultant in the Philippines and Cambodia Mrs Beukes. She was kind, encouraging and used innovative ways of teaching. By the end of my year with her I was reading fluently.
Mim Friday, Network Consultant in Uganda Mr Law. He gave me a one-on-one mentoring session that included kind but firm discipline and turned me from a lazy to a hard-working student.
Cian, Finance and Office Manager (UK) Mr Davis. He was passionate about numbers and logic, and inspired my life-long love of maths. He gave up his own time to teach a group of us an extra GCSE as he wanted us to achieve our full potential.
Mark, CEO Mr Selley. He was fair, had a very dry sense of humour and let me get away with late homework for a term whilst doing the school play! 13
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GIVE THE GIFT Every child has the right to be safe, well and able to fulfil their God-given potential. These three Viva programmes provide children with the opportunity to do that.
DISASTER RESILIENCE – PHILIPPINES
The Philippines ranks in the top five most disaster-hit countries on earth. After the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, Viva’s partner network PCMN was already there before international aid arrived. It mobilised churches to respond and its sustainable approach is focused on long-term rebuilding. Most importantly it was ready: in the six months before the typhoon, PCMN trained church volunteers to give trauma counselling to children in emergency situations.
Around half of children in Nepal drop out of school before reaching the lower secondary level. This exposes them to abuse and to being trafficked and sexually exploited.
TACKLING ILLITERACY – NEPAL
In partnership with local churches, Viva’s partner network CarNet Nepal aims to inspire parents about the benefits of school, to protect children from harm and to strengthen families. Child development centres help children with homework, meals and recreation.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT – INDIA
In Delhi, thousands of children are forced into exploitative labour and an estimated 50,000 children sleep on the streets. Viva’s Quality Improvement System (QIS) is a capacity-building tool used by our partner networks in India to train members who work with children at risk. QIS introduces international quality standards and principles, and increases awareness for church-based projects to have legal registration with the government, which ensures that the Christian response is seen as credible.
Visit viva.org/giveagift to inspire lasting change in children’s lives 14
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OPINION: KRISH KANDIAH
WHY EVERY CHILD NEEDS A
HOME FOR GOOD
He had had eight homes by the time he was three years old. He had been passed around from one family to another. When the social workers got involved, the only piece of information that his prospective foster carers were told about him was that he was ‘a biter.’ My family were those carers, and you can imagine the questions that were going through our minds when we received the emergency call. Something clicked inside me as we reflected on the situation this little boy was facing.
The Home for Good initiative has been running for two years now, and has recently been founded as a charity in its own right. We have been approached by scores of local authorities who are keen to work with local churches.
‘Biter’ is an insufficient description of any person. There is more to all of us than the worst thing we have ever done. We are all made in the image of God and worthy of love, respect and compassion. We welcomed this little boy, and he turned our lives upside down in the best ways possible.
We have been encouraged by a groundswell of Christians and churches who are wanting to put fostering and adoption front and centre as part of the church’s compassionate response to children in need.
Where you live there are hundreds of children in care. Many of them have been separated from their brothers and sisters, or are travelling a long way to get to school because there are not enough foster carers to cope with the demand of unprecedented numbers of children coming into the care system. Many of the children coming into care are going to be available for adoption, but sadly most adopters are going to consider them unadoptable because they are older (over 3+ years old), in sibling groups, and many have additional needs.
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We are delighted to be working with Viva in Oxfordshire to map the church’s response to children in need, and how churches can be further encouraged to engage in foster and adoptive care. Please visit www.homeforgood.org.uk for more information on how you and your church can be involved in a movement that is seeking to change the culture of adoption and fostering; and find every child that needs one a home for good. Krish Kandiah is President of London School of Theology, and Founder and Director of Home for Good.
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NO
NEW STREET CHILDREN IN OUR CITY!
Local government officials in Cochabamba, Bolivia have boldly stated that there are no new street children in their city – thanks in part to the influence of Viva’s Early Encounter programme.
By uniting projects and organisations with expert local knowledge and a wide variety of competencies, Early Encounter both rescues children already living on the streets and protects many more at risk of ending up there.
Yerko Areralo, Viva’s Network Consultant for Bolivia, says, “These children are the leaders of tomorrow – they will make Cochabamba a better city and Bolivia will be a different country because these lives have been changed through the work of Early Encounter.” Early Encounter is funded through a significant partnership with Toybox.
Viva, General PO Box 9053, Central, Hong Kong
FACEBOOK.COM/VIVATOGETHERFORCHILDREN Mixed Sources Product group from well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fibre. www.fsc.org Cert No. SA-COC-09174 Front cover: main photo © Patricia Andrews; inset photo © John Cairns
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t: +852 9860 9766
HK@VIVA.ORG
VIVA.ORG
Viva is an operating name of Viva Network (Hong Kong) Limited. Viva Network (Hong Kong) Limited is a company limited by guarantee and registered charity with company no.1657942, and registered in Hong Kong SAR at 21/F, Sunshine Plaza, 353 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
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