Bolivia - Political and Economic Instability 

Bolivia continues to go through a period of political and economic instability. The country is politically divided and going through many difficulties and has recently approved a new constitution by referendun in the midst of diverse political positions which are tending to divide the country rather than unite it.

Inflation during 2008 was just under 12% for the year and is expected to be 25%+ this year. This is creating severe economic hardship especially within a country which is recognised as the poorest in South America. With the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and other global economic factors, Bolivia is being plunged into a deep recession in which the poor, once again, are the ones who are suffering most.

As a result of these factors, we are seeing more and more children and young people on the streets of the city of Santa Cruz, in an attempt to survive through either working on the streets of through crime, violence, drugs and prostitution.

In the last 19 years we have been here we have seen the situation for street children worsen and the quantity of children on the streets increase astonishingly. No actual statistics are available, but when we first came to Bolivia there were just a few areas in the city where you would find street children, but now they are on every street corner trying to make a living.

With the increased numbers we have also seen the age of those that live full-time on the streets come down, so our focus now, instead of being children between 12 and 18 years of age, we now focus on children between 8 and 18 years of age, who live full-time on or under the streets!

OPERATION RESTORATION

A Ministry of Youth With A Mission working with street teenagers to give them a future

Operation Restoration seeks to reach out to teenage street children who live full-time on the streets of the city of Santa Cruz and who survive through crime, violence, drugs and prostitution, by offering the youngsters an alternative to life on the streets. We do this through our: 

Street Teams - working on the streets and in the drainage canals

Mobile Medical Post - offering First Aid and dental care to those still on the streets

"El Toborochi" - Reception Home

"El Camino" - Restoration Home for boys

"El Alfarero" - Restoration Home for girls,

Reintgration Home

First Contact Work consists of street teams going out to key points of the city several times every week to maintain contact with and seek out new groups of street teenagers in the city. The street teams work on gaining the confidence and trust of the youngsters with the aim of encouraging them to come off the streets and into "El Toborochi" our Reception Home and then subsequently into one of our Restoration Homes, that can offer them an alternative to the life of the streets.

"El Camino" (The Way) Restoration Home for boys has been open since February 2002 and is situated 35 kms south west of the city and has the capacity to receive up to 50 boys. At present there are 35 boys there and the number is growing week by week.

"El Alfarero" (The Potter) Restoration Home for girls opened in May 2004 and is situated 27 kms south west of the city and has the capacity to receive up to 15 girls some with their babies and/or small children who are on the streets with them. At present there are 9 girls and 1 baby in the home and we are extending the building to increase the capacity of the home to 30 girls with or without babies or young children.

In April 2007 Operation Restoration opened a Reception Home, "El Toborochi", which now serves as a short term reception phase where the children spend about 5 days prior to going on to our Restoration Homes. The purpose of this reception home is to prepare the youngsters for life in the restoration homes. This includes thorough medical check-ups, family background investigation, psychological profile as well as seeing how committed they are to coming off the street, and orientation to life in the Restoration Home.

We have 4 boys who graduated from high school and started their reintegration phase in November 2007. Three started studies in university and one started his YWAM - DTS starting in March 2008. Abel graduated from his DTS in July 2008 and we opened our first Reintegration Home for the 4 boys in August 2008 where they are now living with a Christian Bolivian family as they continue their studies and gradually gain their independence over the next few years.

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