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Patrice was eleven years old when I met him by the rubbish dump at the back of the marketplace. He was dressed in rags, skinny and obviously unwell. He was picking through the rubbish for food. He told me that every night he slept on a piece of cardboard by the side of the road. Patrice showed me his most treasured possession. It was a pencil stub, perhaps an inch long.

He explained that he saved his pencil for special occasions like this one. I gave him some paper and concentrating, he carefully wrote the letter P, again and again and again until the page was full.

“I want to go to school,” he said, “so that I can write my whole name.”

This is your chance to help a child like Patrice.  Please click here and donate £6 now .  This will allow us to provide daily meals for a child like Patrice for a week, during which time we can carry out an assessment to find out how best to help.

When I met Patrice his outlook was grim. He would certainly never go to school. Most likely he would live a few more desperate years in the market and die, mourned only by the other street children.

Patrice lives in Gitega, the second largest city in Burundi, East Africa. There are an estimated 2,500 street children in the city, all suffering like Patrice.  Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. There is little help available for children like Patrice. In fact 1 in 5 children in Burundi die before their 5th birthday.

But as terrible as this is, this is not an unsolvable crisis. Last year, emerge poverty free (formerly World Emergency Relief) set up the Street Children Project in Gitega. The project helps children by providing a safe home, food, access to school and much more. It is the only project of its kind in the city. 

Patrice has been in the programme for almost a year.  Now he is healthy, happy, and he has a future. His reading is improving daily and he can write his own name and much more.

But the other 2,500 street children in Gitega are still hungry, scared, and alone. If we don’t act now some of them will die.

That is why I am asking you for your support. You can donate now by clicking here.

Whatever you are able to give, I would be grateful for a speedy response. The new school term begins in April and if we are to include more children we will need to find additional beds and homes, obtain school entry papers, organise health checks and much more.

It is up to you and our other supporters to decide how many more children we will be able to help this year.  Please give whatever you can so that we can help more children like Patrice.

Bless You,
Alex Haxton
Chief Executive