An estimated 40 million children live on the streets of South America. The poorest country in South America is Bolivia, which is estimated to have several hundred thousand children who are in high-risk situations and who live, work and sleep on the streets.

These are children who either have no parents or other adult carers, or whose parents are too alcoholic, drugged or poor to care for them. So they have to survive on their own. Many of them work 12 to 16 hours a day in informal labour such as sweet-selling, shoe-cleaning and windscreen-washing. They may receive up to 50 pence a day for this work, if they are lucky. Mostly they just beg and steal to survive, or they starve and die on the streets.

Many girls at 12 or 13 years of age become child prostitutes and, due to a lack of contraceptive advice and availability, many of these young girls have at least one baby. Most street children are functionally illiterate because they left or never went to school.

A quarter of all of them are aged 3 to 11 and either live on their own on the streets or are supported by older siblings.

From other official surveys, 80% of street kids inhale glue and nearly 60% of adolescents appear addicted and consume alcohol regularly. Most use solvents as a form of escapism, which also helps to stave off hunger pains. A bottle of glue costs less than 4p in the cities. Solvent sniffing can cause sudden death, and has effects including damage to the heart, kidney, brain, liver, bone marrow and other organs. It also may cause problems during pregnancy. These inhalants are physically and psychologically addicting and users suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Nearly two thirds of the Bolivian population (mainly the indigenous people) live in poverty, with about one third having an income of less than 50 pence a day. Infant mortality in Bolivia is among the highest in South America and one in ten children die before their 5th birthday.

Remember, EVERY penny that you give will go directly to Bolivia to find, accommodate, feed, care for, love and educate the street children in the care of Alalay.