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LA VIDA
Established in 2006, LA VIDA is an international charity
which aims to help further the development of Latin American economies
through funding specific projects in health and education.
LA VIDA was initially set up to fund the 'Ponseti
technique clubfoot project' in Brazil. After successfully raising over £27,500 in just over two months, we decided to look for other projects to support across
Latin America. Subsequently, we have found more projects in
Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru which we intend to support over the next
few years.
The trustees would like to thank everyone who has
supported our events, sponsored us and made very generous donations. We
are counting on your continued support!
Although LA VIDA is a relatively
new and small charity, by the end of 2008 the funding we have deployed
will have directly impacted the lives of at least 23,000 disadvantaged
children and their families in Latin America.
£80,000 raised so far......... |
What's New?
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Project Peru
Provide
scholarship funding to the 'Villa Maria pre-school' located in the slums of
Lima, which offers education to children who would not otherwise have
the opportunity to go to school. It costs £12 a month, or £120 per academic year,
to educate a child from a disadvantaged background. La Vida intends to fund, next
year's intake of 20 pupils and will continue to fund their full
pre-school education for the next 4 years.
Click here
for full project proposal
Click here
to see the children who will be receiving the scholarships and starting
school in March 2008. To follow their academic progress visit the Villa
Maria La Vida Group on
facebook.
Photos of La Vida trustee trip to visit
the school in March 2008.
£4500 funded
We have also provided essential equipment for the
school:
Computers/software and printers (10 computers);
Purpose built games and rides for their playground (as opposed to
makeshift blocks they had); A basic library of educational and
recreational books.
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Project Colombia
Funding operations children born into
poverty with cleft palate and cleft lip. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Andres Urrego, and his team,
from the organisation De Cara A Colombia,
will perform pro bono operations in their free time and need only the hospital
costs covered.
Click here for full project proposal
£5000 needed
Little Doneapuma, below, was the first child successfully
operated on in October 2007.
Doneapuma was born in Murindo on
February 1st 2007 to a nomadic tribe called the AIC - both Doneapuma and
his mother were soon expelled from the tribe, given their lack of
tolerance of the weak. His mother brought him to the hospital in Medellin where he has been for treated for the last two months.
Doneapuma has a cleft lip and palate on the right side of his face.
Effectively Doneapuma needs 3 operations at the same time (1) To detach
the lip from the nose (2) & (3) To Join the two sides of the mouth in
the middle - despite the terrible photos Andres is confident the child
will look fairly normal after the surgery. The 3 operations would cost
a combined P$2,065,150 (approx £500).
La Vida hopes to fund at least 10
operations per year.
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Projects funded 2007
Guatemala
1.
Helping malnourished newborn babies
£2300 a year needed for 5
years
2007
funded
Given the high level of poverty and the lack of social
support programmes, LA VIDA has selected a project to help malnourished
newborn babies at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Guatemala City.
Currently the paediatric department does not have the budget to carry
out education for mothers on how to feed children and the hospital
admits 2000 malnourished newborn babies every year which they need to
feed. This project will also teach the mothers the importance of
breast feeding and help fund artificial milk provided for babies whose
mother cannot breast feed.
Click here
for more details on the project.
2. Escuela
Republica de Francia in Guatemala City
£5000
funded
Renovating an
existing building into a school activities hall and providing
equipment (white boards, computer, TV and activities equipment).
The project has been approved by the Guatemalan Ministry of
Education. The school have planning permission for the
activities hall which will be called the 'LA VIDA' hall.
For more photos
click here |
Projects funded 2006
Brazil
The Ponseti Technique Clubfoot Project
The £27,500 we raised will
allow all of the 7000 Brazilian children born with clubfoot each
year access to a trained
orthopaedic surgeon who will be able to treat them with the Ponseti
technique, which has a 94% success rate. This
money will make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of children
and families throughout Brazil.
Click here
for full project details
Click here
for photos and details of the results of
the workshops in 2007
Colombia
Foot operation of Maria Daisy Quinto,
from Medellin
La Vida
has donated £225 towards the cost of the operation
Daisy's operation on her ankle was a
complete success and she in now in rehabilitation, attending the
clinic classes to learn how to walk again and she should be back at work
in March. This means her two children will be able to continue
attending school. Education is their only hope of getting out of
the slums in which they currently live.
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