Children of the Amazon
In the city of Iquitos, Peru, there are over 4,000 children at risk of living on the streets. They are between the ages of 5-15 years old. Nearly 800 of them are considered "Working Children", meaning that the extreme poverty they find themselves in forces them to work on the streets either to help support their families economically or to survive on their own. You will find them out shining shoes, cleaning motorcycles, selling trinkets by day and drugs and prostitution by night.
Iquitos is now considered by many as the largest Child Prostitution center in the world.
It is shocking to realize that it is the tourist trade that perpetuates the sex trade for these street children. "...It is Western culture that drives this nefarious economic force. Without the West, the child sex tourism industry would not flourish." (Fighting Child Prostitution, Sojourners Magazine, Sept/Oct 2005).
We have recently linked arms with Children of the Amazon, an organization in Iquitos, Peru that is the only organization in Iquitos and possibly in all of Peru that is working with this particular populous, the street children. They are listed with the government as the number one agency working with the street children of Peru.
The aim of Children of the Amazon is to remove these children off the streets of Iquitos.
Global Support has been there to witness their work first hand. A team of 11 people left Shoreline, Washington, from Vineyard Community Church in the Spring of 2005 to visit the organization. We were so captivated by the work they were doing and convinced that their cause was worth championing, that we came back with that purpose in mind. Since that time, we have had two major fund raising events and have collected over $25,000.
We continue to make Children of the Amazon our number one priority in the next few years with fund raising, trips to their location and grant writing.
"...we are called to care for these children. Although we cannot easily remedy the systemic evils of the global economy in a broken world, we can fight for those in need, aware that people who are in desperate poverty will sell even their children. Such an economic force is not easily swayed--it's violent, pervasive, and treacherous--but we must both name the systems we participate in and actively subvert them by loving the victims." (Sojourners Magazine, Fighting Child Prostitution, Sept/Oct 2005).
Iquitos is now considered by many as the largest Child Prostitution center in the world.
It is shocking to realize that it is the tourist trade that perpetuates the sex trade for these street children. "...It is Western culture that drives this nefarious economic force. Without the West, the child sex tourism industry would not flourish." (Fighting Child Prostitution, Sojourners Magazine, Sept/Oct 2005).
We have recently linked arms with Children of the Amazon, an organization in Iquitos, Peru that is the only organization in Iquitos and possibly in all of Peru that is working with this particular populous, the street children. They are listed with the government as the number one agency working with the street children of Peru.
The aim of Children of the Amazon is to remove these children off the streets of Iquitos.
Global Support has been there to witness their work first hand. A team of 11 people left Shoreline, Washington, from Vineyard Community Church in the Spring of 2005 to visit the organization. We were so captivated by the work they were doing and convinced that their cause was worth championing, that we came back with that purpose in mind. Since that time, we have had two major fund raising events and have collected over $25,000.
We continue to make Children of the Amazon our number one priority in the next few years with fund raising, trips to their location and grant writing.
"...we are called to care for these children. Although we cannot easily remedy the systemic evils of the global economy in a broken world, we can fight for those in need, aware that people who are in desperate poverty will sell even their children. Such an economic force is not easily swayed--it's violent, pervasive, and treacherous--but we must both name the systems we participate in and actively subvert them by loving the victims." (Sojourners Magazine, Fighting Child Prostitution, Sept/Oct 2005).
posted by Global Support {with a mission} at
9:05 PM
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