Tools and Blankets
Adding leaven to young lives...

Photo: Hogar La Casita, for CWS

Tools and Blankets provided industrial-grade stoves and kitchen equipment so the training can be done under real work conditions.

"La Casita" is a home for street children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 21. At any one time there are around 35 young people housed within the "La Casita" network of four homes.

Children and adolescents in the alternative homes receive public school instruction, both formal education and skills training. Sometimes, the young people are apprenticed to a particular trade -- and they receive pay for their education/training.

At home, they divide their time among study, work, meal preparation, recreation, and rest. And many of the young people grow in their understanding of themselves as worthy human beings -- children of God.

Church World Service's partner there, the Association for Assistance and Promotion of Street Children, works with "La Casita" to reunite the young people with their biological families whenever possible. One year, ten children returned to their families. Most of the adolescents, though, graduate as self-supporting individuals.

"La Casita" is one of many CWS-supported programs across Latin America and the Caribbean, helping the tragically-high and growing number of street children live life more abundantly.

Argentina

• Argentina is about the size of the U.S. east of the Mississippi River
• 12 million people live in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, the capital
• Latin America has only 10 percent of the world's children, but more than 50 percent of the world's street children. (There are between 40 and 50 million street children in Latin America and the Caribbean.)

Pronunciation key:
Buenos Aires -- BWAY-nohs I-rays
La Casita -- lah ca-SEE-tah