LATEST ALALAY NEWS:
Beautiful Christmas cards for sale - made by the street kids.
Click here to find out more!

Thousands of homeless children, many aged as little as three years, sleep on the streets or in the drains of Santa Cruz. They have to steal or beg for their food in order to survive.

My name is Annie Syrett and in late 2006 I spent nearly six months in Bolivia as part of my degree course, working with Alalay, a street children’s organisation in Santa Cruz. Since graduation I have returned to Bolivia on various occasions to both work as a volunteer and co-ordinate projects.

Alalay has relatively little money, and is very dependent on donations – the staff are sometimes unpaid for long periods and money is often short for vital items such as educational materials.

Which is why I am determined to help them, and why I started this registered charity in the UK called “Friends of Alalay (Santa Cruz)”. It is unusual amongst charities in that ALL of the money raised goes directly to help the children and nothing is spent on administration and will only be spent on projects that are formally agreed between the Bolivians and us.

Donations will be used to help the Santa Cruz Centre become more self-sufficient: by improving education and skills development, by growing more food in-house, maintaining some livestock and training children in animal husbandry, baking, textiles and so on.

For 2011 our main projects are:

- to ensure the effective management and use of the new volunteer's cabin and medical centre

- to stop children going on to the streets in the first place, by renovating an old building for use as a prevention centre

- to continue with the English teaching programme

- to support more older children through vocational training and university courses

- to further publicise the charity, by use of our documentary film

When I am in the UK I speak regularly at primary and secondary schools, churches and other groups of all ages about the plight of the street kids. Please do get in touch HERE if you'd like me to talk at any event.

STOP PRESS
LATEST NEWS FROM ANNIE:

Please take a look at our 30-minute documentary 'Alalay: Children of the Cold' HERE - let us know what you think!

Beautiful Christmas cards for sale - handmade by the street children. £1.50 each or 5 for £5 (plus postage) - please contact me HERE for more information.

Alalay is featured in the latest edition of 'Nonesuch' - the Bristol University publication for friends and alumni - read it HERE (page 13).

Long-time Alalay supporter Nathan Jones is spending the next few months (!) cycling from Bristol to Japan to raise money for Alalay. He has just arrived in Istanbul and been featured in The Bath Chronicle - click HERE to read it...
Join him on this epic ride and watch his progress HERE.

We are supporting a campaign set up by previous Alalay volunteer Rachel Davies to donate £3 to sponsor a mattress cover for a street child. See more about the campaign HERE or sponsor a mattress directly HERE.

A few weeks ago I spoke at the Thanksgiving supper of the English Speaking Union (Bristol branch)- it was a great event and everyone was very supportive of my work.

Big thanks to James and Maria who have raised funds for Alalay through organising a fundraising event at home - they will see Alalay's work firsthand when they volunteer there early next year.

On the 8th November I was kindly invited to be a guest at a party to mark the participation of the LATA (Latin America Travel Association) membership at the 32nd World Travel Market. It was a great event, and provided me with a brilliant opportunity to tell a number of influential people about my work. I remain truly grateful to the LATA Foundation for their continued support of my charity.

I recently received the fantastic news that St. Brandon's School Old Girls' Society has chosen to donate a substantial sum to Alalay to be used for the educational and medical care of children. This donation will make a tremendous difference in Santa Cruz.

At the start of November I was invited to speak at St. Bartholomew's Ladies' Circle about my work with street children. The ladies were incredibly supportive of my work, made generous donations and bought lots of beautiful Christmas cards, handmade by the children. Many thanks to Bev and Sophie for organising the talk.

Cotham Parish Church has announced that Alalay is one of its named charities for the December 'away giving' budget. They have also published a short article about my work in their latest parish newsletter.

Tudor Hall School, Banbury is supporting two Alalay students through their vocational courses. Furthermore, the South Wales branch of the ESU (English Speaking Union) has once again very generously agreed to fund the English teaching course this year. I am so grateful to both for their continued support.

More examples of fantastic supporters can always be found on my "News" page HERE. Please do get in touch if you have any more fundraising ideas.

Many thanks to them all, and to the many people who have kindly set up standing orders - it is very helpful to be able to rely on some regular giving - and for all of you who have kindly given so generously.

Remember every penny helps to give a street child a brighter future.