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Bury Lawn School Students give presentation to
Dr Phyllis Starkey MP

The Toybox team were priveledged to witness seven students from Bury Lawn School, Milton Keynes given a presentation about the situation of street children in Latin America on Friday 11th December. Also present was the MP for Milton Keynes South, Dr Phyllis Starkey.

Watch the video and read about the event from the MK Citizen

The team, Tom, Esther, Annette, Nicola, Alex, Nathan and Kynan were set the task of designing and developing their own awareness-raising campaign about street children in Latin America.

They gave a heartfelt presentation filled with stats, stories and street children. Having researched the presentation for 6 weeks as part of their global citizenship classes, the students said that they really enjoyed the experience and are keen to continue supporting street children in the future.

Dr Starkey said to the students "We are all members of the human race. We do and should have a sense of responsibility, one for another in our own country and across the world."

The students were presented with certificates to mark their hard work and participation, presented to them by Dr Starkey.

Dr Phyllis Starkey with Andy Stockbridge

Andy Stockbirdge, Toybox Chief Executive said "Toybox is delighted that Dr Starkey could join us, and we are very happy to have found another ally in support of the most disadvantaged children living on the street."

The Toybox Team were really pleased with the time and effort that the Bury Lawn group put in and look forward to seeing them again soon!

Watch the video and read about the event from the MK Citizen

Click here for more information about Bury Lawn School

 

Toybox across the country

The Toybox team have been working hard throughout the UK to take the plight of street children out into the community.

This year, Toybox had a presence at Clan Gathering up in Scotland, New Wine, both Newark and Shepton Mallet, Soul Survivor in Shepton Mallet and Grapevine in Lincolnshire. Featuring stories of the children on the streets, Toybox crafts and details on how to become a child sponsor, the Toybox stands at these events inspired many people to get involved. Many of the event delegates were inspired by the fact that the Toybox Ambassador Scheme helps children to know more about their rights and how they can make a difference in their own lives.

"It sounds like the children on the sponsorship scheme are able to give something back as well as receiving" (New Wine delegate)
Read more about the Toybox Ambassador Sponsorship Shceme

Toybox was proud and delighted to be able to spread the word at all of these events, and hopes and prays that more people will be made aware of how much need there is in Latin America, and how they can help.

If you were at any of these events and have any comments about the Toybox presence there, please email them to: jessica.reynolds@toybox.org

 

Toybox visits No.10 Downing Street!

The Toybox team went to Downing street on the 1st December 2008 to present a petition calling for more International support and priority for Latin America.

A representative from No.10 came and received the 1,114 names of people supporting our cause - unfortunately Mr. Brown was a little tied up to receive them himself...!

Alastair Welford, chair of trustees, and Andy Stockbridge, CEO of Toybox, handed the petition over to a Downing Street official at midday on Monday 1st. “We really welcome the opportunity to draw attention to this very important issue,” said Mr Stockbridge. “Even a small amount of funding can go a very long way in Latin America.”

Mr Welford recently dyed his hair pink and orange – the Toybox colours - to raise awareness of the issue of street children. He said: “I have just returned from Bolivia where I met so many children on the streets. Our thanks go out to all who signed this petition. Today your voice has brought news of the street children in Latin America to the corridors of power here in the UK. Thank you.”

Toybox team meet new Guatemalan Ambassador

Toybox Chair of Trustees, Alastair Welford and Toybox CEO met with the new Guatemalan Ambassador, Mr Alfonso Fahsen, to speak about the work of Toybox in Guatemala.

The topics discussed included the increasing of partnership between Toybox and the Guatemalan Government and how we can work together. The needs of street children in Guatemala City and the political situation in Guatemala were also discussed, and the team were encouraged by their talks together.

Toybox is delighted to have met Mr Fahsen and look forward to working together with him and his colleagues in the future.

Alastair and Andy also had the opportunity to meet MP Tony Baldry at the Houses of Parliment to talk about how the work of Toybox was developing and the importance of support for work in the poorest communitities in Latin America.

Tony particularly noted that very often Latin America is forgotten and regarded as a 'middle income' country. However the disparity between rich and poor is greater than in ay other part of the world. Overarching statistics hide huge injustice in poverty particularly in urban situations. As a result of his observations, Tony encouraged us to persue a range of options and to look to hold the Government to account in terms of its support of Latin America.

Mayor of Milton Keynes opens Toybox Office!

In a delightful Latin American themed evening of fun, the Mayor of Milton Keynes opened the new offices of Toybox, the charity that helps street children in Latin America. The opening took place at the Bletchley office on the evening of the 26th June.

The Mayor said that hearing about the plight of Latin America’s many street children brought a tear to her eye. “Without charities like Toybox the Milton Keynes community would be a poorer place. Each one of us needs to think about what we can do to make life better for children on the streets in Latin America.”

The Mayor’s visit was part of a special Interactive Open Day at Toybox which saw the offices transformed to engage all the senses. Visitors enjoyed making their own Latin American tortillas with salsa and guacamole provided by Discovery Foods – another Milton Keynes based organisation. Visitors also experienced life on the streets, wrote messages to the children that Toybox works with, and took part in a quiz.

Toybox helps children like Jose who says “I’m 18 now.  I never thought I would get this far in my life. I ran away to the streets when I was a child because it wasn’t safe for me at home.  It was scary there and I was alone.  But then a group of people from Toybox found me and told me they could help me. I joined one of the boys’ homes and have lived there ever since.  I got an education, a family and friends who really care about me.  I want to graduate and do something special with my life.”

Toybox charity calls for more to be spent on street children in Latin America

The vital first step in helping street children is to reach them as soon as they arrive on the street. Once they join the street culture it is much more difficult to save them. That was the message to an All-Party Parliamentary Group at the House of Commons on Tuesday, March 25 attended by Baroness Gloria Hooper, Richard Younger-Ross MP, Mark Lancaster MP and Russell Brown, MP.

Andy Stockbridge, chief executive of Christian charity Toybox, told the meeting:  “Once on the street, the journey back into mainstream society is very difficult.”

He described work done by Toybox in Bolivia where there are an estimated 2,500 street children. Around seven per cent of the children were there because of poverty, the others cited physical abuse (40%), parental death (18%), abandonment (16%), psychological abuse (13%), and lack of financial resources to support them (7%).

“We found dedicated leaders, but lack of resources, recognition and available help – these are the projects that are under the radar, they never receive international funding. But they are the ones connected to their communities and the children at greatest risk – the ones that are able to help.”

 “Support and changes at policy and international levels are needed if children’s rights are really to be recognised and upheld across Bolivia” said Mr Stockbridge.

Toybox are also calling for more government funding for schemes to help street children in Latin America. The charity wants an assurance that the UK government will increase funding to region, which is currently very low (only £84 million for the whole of Latin America from a total aid budget of £5.4 billion).

Angela Murray, Advocacy Coordinator for Toybox said: “We are particularly concerned that DFID will not have a Regional Assistance Plan (RAP) for Latin America in the future.  We believe that this will make meaningful engagement far more difficult."

She concluded: “A lot more could be done for the street children of Bolivia and for Latin America. It is vital that we act soon and ask our government to help.” 

An Evening with Adrian & Bridget Plass

Humour, humility and hope were in the air as Christian authors Adrian and Bridget helped Toybox celebrate 15 years of God's love in action with street children. Worship was led by Soul Survivor's Ben Cantelon and the evening was hosted by Ali Martin, also of Soul Survivor, with around 400 supporters at St Albans Vineyard Church.

"A child being ignored when he or she is suffering is very hard to come to terms with," says Adrian, on his blog from Bolivia. " We went to a square where the homeless gather and it is one of the most horrific things I have ever seen. People are in a desperate state."

Andy Stockbridge, Toybox Chief Executive said, "Toybox has seen the lives of thousands of children change over the past 15 years. The whole evening was a testimony to God's leading and guiding over the life of Toybox and the firm and enduring commitment to the street children and chldiren at risk in Latin America.

Adrian made a comment about saying 'yes' to these children. Everything we do has its focus on this, transforming the realities of life for many children yesterday, today and many more in the future, in our vision to see a world where no child has to live on the street."

Watch out for more opportunities to hear Adrian & Bridget speak on their experiences with the street children of Latin America, following their visit with Toybox to our partner Viva Latin America in Bolivia and Peru.

 

You are very important!

Alfredo Mora is the Regional Director of our partner, Red Viva, and is based in Costa RIca.  Alfredo was here just recently for a conference and was able to visit us in the office, where he gave us a message for our amazing supporters:

"Please encourage all your supporters and tell them: 'You are very important!'"

Alfredo also shared with us some shocking statistics regarding street children in Latin America: 

"There are 40 million children on the streets in Latin America.  There are around one million beds for these children in projects designed to help them. That means that for every street child we are able to take care of, a further 39 still need our help.

"In addition, around 80,000 children in Latin America are killed each year, in their own homes. Thank you for your work. It is the work of angels."

 

New Book from Toybox!

We are pleased to announce that Toybox has a new book which came out last autumn!  Through the Eyes of a Street Child: Amazing Stories of Hope was written by Angela Murray in partnership with street children and former street children with whom Toybox has worked in Guatemala and Bolivia. 

What makes this book special is that the children have been involved in writing it.  They have taken the time to tell us their own stories about their own lives, in their own words and from their own perspective.  Their words are both challenging and inspiring. 

The book was published on 21st September 2006.

To celebrate the release of the book and the amazing stories of hope it contains, Toybox held 4 special events around the country. They took place in Gerrards Cross, Bucks, Carlisle, Sheffield and Felixstowe. 

We hope that this book will be a useful tool for you as you work with us to raise awareness of the street children of Latin America.

 

 

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