Education Bolivia Project #4209

Rescuing children from a life on the streets

by Kaya Children International

Project Report | Apr 9, 2012
Kaya is Changing Lives

By Sarah Porter | Executive Director

I take my last evening walk before I head back to the States... Passing my local street children’s haunts, it is fairly empty tonight. Out in the corner of my eye, I see a small child crouch in front of the movie theater. I realize it's Marcos ... only I thought I had already saved him from the streets and brought him to an orphanage... Now I find the child glassy eyed, high on paint thinners, seemingly full of bravado and contempt, but in fact as fragile as... a lost child.

“Hey, Marcos... What are you doing here?”

“The streets are better than that crappy orphanage that you sent me to.”

I wonder, what went wrong? Where are all of the clothes that I got for him? Why did he choose to come back to the streets? My heart drops, my pride swells up out of arrogance for failure, but more importantly I am sad. I’ve failed... what was I missing? The answer was right in front of me. I understand in my heart that the typical ways of dealing with kids on the streets is simply not working, and was never going to work.

These children are so completely lost and broken, they need to be healed from the inside, they need more than just a roof over their heads -- they needed love, consistency, well-designed and specific wrap-around care.

Chi Huang wrote those words in 1998 when he was just beginning to understand the explicit needs of the children he was already caring for on the streets of La Paz. The children, their frustration and their desperation broke his heart and changed his life. He started a movement which is now Kaya Children International.

Over the next few years many more children echoed the idea, build us a home that will help us heal. That’s when we, as a group, pulled together and built these children a home, and then another. The results have been overwhelmingly positive. We, with God’s immense blessing, have succeeded in meeting the extraordinary needs of street children by listening, learning and implementing our beliefs. We have stayed true to our original calling by listening with our hearts, and acting with conscience. Your partnership through that process has been irreplaceable.

1. Street Children need us.

2. Kaya's holistic care is effective and enduring.

3. Your support is essential -- we could not fulfill our mission without you!

For more than 12 years, supporters like you have empowered Kaya to develop and implement this new model of care, and we know, it works. We rescue street children and welcome them into an environment that heals the whole child, customized to their individual needs. Kaya’s children receive comprehensive care including medical, clinical, educational and recreational activities. We also do everything we can to demonstrate, in word and action, Jesus’ life-changing love and power to each child. In some cases, we are reconnecting children with their families and facilitating healthy relationships. Today, the Kaya program goes far beyond what any orphanage can provide.

Your generous donations provide the resources Kaya needs to save, support and improve the lives of street children; teaching them self-sustaining life skills, and the opportunity to heal. As a Christian organization providing services overseas, Kaya depends on the consistent generosity of donors like you. Please consider a gift to Kaya Children today.

Back to all project reports

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.