Thursday 21 September 2017

W.I.

Suffolk East Federation WI News - a Monthly magazine for members
 The speaker at this months meeting was a lady who is very involved with a charity called Street Kids Direct.
She used to be a member of our WI until moving away and was pleased to see that there were more members than there used to be.
Street Kids Direct works to help the poorest children of Guatemala City. There are an unknown number of children living on the streets and many more in shanty towns on the edge of the city. On the streets they are abused, become drug dependent and prostitutes or gang members and their life expectancy is just 4 years.
Living in our soft comfortable Suffolk cocoon, we knew nothing of a life where every business pays protection money and almost everyone carries a gun and a knife. The rich live in gated communities that they never need to leave while the poor scavenge on rubbish tips.
The charity have one person there all the time and other volunteers go out to help. They spend time with the children playing games and just generally letting them be children again for a while.
They've got a centre where the kids can go and hope to have a safe house so that kids who report abuse have somewhere safe to stay until they can be found a new home because at the moment they are returned to their homes or soon murdered!.......... no Social Services there.
The volunteers usually get involved through their local churches, they don't ask for payment for speaking but we had a Bring and Buy Sale to raise some funds.

Back Soon
Sue

15 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Parts of the world are still back where this country was in the long ago past.

      Delete
  2. It sounds like a really good talk, alarming in some ways but at least you know help is being provided thanks to good folk like the speaker and those in the WI.

    So much for the WI being all 'jam and Jerusalem'. It's much much more these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm looking forward to finding out what speakers we will have next year.

      Delete
  3. So many children living in appalling conditions all over the world. I feel I just can't support everything - Medicin sans Frontiere is the one I support rather than spreading my monthly donation thinly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I just support 1 charity, there are so many out there it would be pointless to try and support more.

      Delete
  4. I just finished reading " Jambusters" by Julie Summers, maybe your WI members have read it, if not , they will all love it. The story of the W.I. during WW2.
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13544316-jambusters
    JanF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've certainly read it and have a copy, not sure about any one else

      Delete
  5. Child protection in the UK may have its faults but my heart breaks for these children who have no care from their government. I hope your bring and buy sale did well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whoops delightful! And whoops it's written on the wrong blog entry

    ReplyDelete
  7. We are spoiled here in USA and even in UK. I was in Nicaragua and it's so different there and my heart hurts for them. Children need help there as well. Sponsor them so they can go to school. Living conditions are poor, work 6 months out of the year doesn't help family much. Many work in sugar cane fields. We've got it good and shouldn't complain. Thanks for sharing this post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. My heart breaks for those poor, poor children.

    ReplyDelete