Month of Support for 'Houseparents'; £38

A child's drawing of a family. Simple and natural.

It's not so simple and natural for all children - the street-children of Latin America (with whom the Toybox Charity works) often have taken refuge on the dangerous underbelly of their cities' streets to escape their family.

Estuardo's story...

Who can tell what the love of a Mum and Dad means to a child who has known nothing but pain from the hands of adults?

A few years ago, one of the children from the homes visited the UK. One of our supporters met him at a celebration event and this is what she wrote, "Estuardo stood for nearly ten minutes, watching a mother and her son. The boy he was watching was seven and he was sitting on his Mum’s knee, stroking her face as his Mum cuddled him and stroked his hair.

This is the opposite treatment from Estuardo’s experience of his own Mum, who had hurt him so badly, he fled from home. Estuardo obviously so much wanted to be a part of what he saw, that he began to give the son sweets, one at a time. Then he turned to look at me. As I held out my arms to him, he ran straight into my arms and hugged me. When I lifted up his young face, his eyes were wet with tears."

The work of the houseparents in the homes is to give the children the unconditional constant love of committed parents, a love they have never known.

There are children in the U.K. who do the same - and even in this rich country, homeless children are barely provided for, which is a disgrace.

Toybox works in Latin America - and its progressional plan to teach children how to live in the acknowleged community rather than in the ignored and buried world of the streets seems very well thought-out and sensible. This present {scroll to 2} is another one on the theme of fostering children - something I think I'd like to do as there never seem to be enough foster-families around. Parents for a month - if 12 people get me this item from my list, that's a whole year!

[ Toybox Charity, gifts for a street-child, www.toyboxcharity.org.uk ]