+44 1494 858470 + 502 5522 3333
Annual Report 2020-2021
info@streetkidsdirect.org.uk
CHANGING LIVES FOREVER
2 Centenary Way, Amersham, HP6 6UL Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Street Kids Direct
Changing the lives of the most vulnerable street-living and high-risk children and youth around the world.
Impacting lives for 20 years
Street Kids Direct was founded in 2001 with the simple vision to ensure that 100% of all donations go directly to the projects that impact the lives of the most vulnerable children in Latin America. We are a volunteer-run and online-only charity, with roots in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. We work in partnership with local organisations in Central America to rescue street-living children and prevent at-risk children living on the streets.
Over the 20 years we have been working in Latin America, we have seen the number of street children drop from an estimated 5,000 to 0. Much of our work and that of our partner-projects now focuses on preventing more children from taking to the streets.
The charity is now exploring the possibilities of supporting projects in other Latin American countries where the numbers of street-children are rising.
Registered Charity No. 1102894
streetkidsdirect.org.uk
Street Kids Direct
Our Vision
To see a world where children and young people do not need to depend upon the streets in order to survive.
Our Mission
To work in partnership with children and young people to help them reach their full potential and enjoy life in all its fullness.
This is achieved by standing alongside them, whoever and wherever they are. We will provide an environment where it is safe for them to be challenged and to explore a positive future. Moreover, we encourage each of them to develop a unique personality enabling them to mature and become a truly fulfilled individual.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Letter from the Director
28 Years Dedicated to children at-risk
Duncan Dyason MBE
Director & Trustee
Duncan Dyason lives in Guatemala and volunteers with the SKDGuatemala project as a mentor. Duncan also supports the other 5 projects the charity partners with.
Looking back over the last 28 years moves me to tears. When I first moved to Guatemala in 1992 and started working as a street worker, little did I think about the impact reaching out with love would make to thousands of children. Those early days were difficult and it is very hard to explain to new volunteers from Guatemala just how hard life was for the thousands of children on the streets in the 90s.
Today the situation has changed dramatically and we are able to live in a country where children do not and do not need to live on the streets. Our focus has moved to helping children at risk of heading to the streets and so our mentoring programmes in Guatemala and Honduras provide a safe place for the most vulnerable children to find a caring adult who will support them and help them make good choices.
The work cannot stop or stay the same. It is always changing and growing as we find new areas in Central America where children live at very high-risk of street life. Starting new outreach projects has always come at a cost, sometimes to our own health and safety. But we are passionate about helping children.
Street Kids Direct
I am amazed at the capacity children have to love and dream of a better future despite all the world throws at them. Resilience is not just a word, but a way of life!
One of the things I am most encouraged about right now is the growing number of young people coming forward to volunteer to help work with us. These are the same young people we have rescued from the streets or rubbish dumps or have supported them when they have been at risk of taking to the streets.
This new generation of young people live resilience. They are like those grand old oak trees that have many rings closely packed around them to prove that being battered by the elements can only make you stronger.
Thank you for standing with us as we seek to impact more lives and I hope this report encourages to see how we have made a difference.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”
Psalm 10:5
Annual Report 2020/2021
How we work
Street Kids Direct Partners with local projects in Guatemala and Honduras to help provide services and support to children and young people who live on the streets or who live at high-risk of living on the streets.
We are passionate about developing relationships with our projects and working alongside them to support and strengthen the work that they do.
Our Promise is to guarantee that 100% of donations made to SKD go directly to the projects that we support. SKD is structured as an online charity with no staff or costs to ensure that this is possible. If any costs do arise, they are donated by friends or covered by volunteers.
“THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD PEOPLE TO DO NOTHING”
ED M U N D BU R K E
A U T H O R A N D P H I L O S O P H E R
Street Kids Direct
Eva´s Story
Eva and her family moved to Guatemala City a few years ago after leaving behind life in Coban to find a better economic situation for the family. Upon moving, the family found themselves living in one of the most dangerous areas of the city near La Terminal and with life not as secure as they had expected in the city.
The family rent a small room where the 4 family members live, and often have to move rooms due to multiple problems. Eva’s father also had problems with alcohol and abused her mother. It is a sad situation but thankfully, through the mentoring programme, we have been able to come alongside the family and offer support.
Eva now has a mentor and attends the mentoring programme three days a week so that she can continue her studies during the pandemic. Through the connections formed at the mentoring programme, we have learnt of Eva’s health problems with her stomach and have been able to assist with medical exams and treatment. We’ve also been able to provide a bed for the whole family so that they do not have to sleep on the floor any more.
It is because of the Mentoring Programme that we are able to support at-risk children and families such as Eva’s and to help them overcome obstacles in their lives.
Eva and her family continue to live at-risk in Guatemala City and thanks to your support are able to have hope in a better future.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Living at high-risk
Impacting Lives
Street Kids Direct have developed a unique methodolgy that helps identify, support and care for a child most at risk of taking to the streets.
A child at high-risk is a child under the age of 18 who is at high-risk of living on the streets.
Due to their high connection to the streets and the number of risk factors in their lives they are extremely likely to choose life on the streets unless a caring adult comes alongside them to offer them support, advice and help them explore alternative solutions.
Children at high-risk have had to develop a number of survival skills and coping strategies that have kept them alive. However, this can put them at further risk of abuse, exploitation and neglect with an increase in health problems and social exclusion together with them failing at or non-attendance at school.
Street Kids Direct
A Special Thank You
A HIGH-RISK CHILD HAS A HIGH CONNECTION TO THE STREETS AND FOUR OR MORE RISK FACTORS & A UNIQUE SET OF SKILLS THAT HAS KEPT THEM ALIVE
Thank you to Alex Denton who travelled out to Guatemala City in January 2020 and spent a year with Street Kids Direct volunteering. Despite the challenges of COVD19, Alex coordinated the delivery of 50 healthy lunches to those supported by SKDGuatemala, delivered emergency parcels to families and supported the charity during a difficult year. We are grateful for the time spent with us and wish him well on his return to work in the UK.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Meet the SKD Team
Joanna Soden
Charity Trustee
Matt Levett
Charity Trustee
Duncan Dyason
Director & Charity Trustee
Joanna Soden is a busy working mother from Amersham and is committed to the work in Central America and one of her sons now live and work with the projects in Guatemala City.
Matt Levett is the Diocesan Youth Work Coordinator for Suffolk and has worked with high-risk children and youth for over 20 years and visits the projects in Central America each year.
Duncan Dyason first started working with street children in Guatemala in 1992 and continues to live in Guatemala City where he voluneers with the projects the charity supports.
Mark & Rosalie Balfour
Pastoral Workers
Azaria Spencer
Youth Work Coordinator
Benjamin Soden
Street Worker
Mark & Rosalie live in Guatemala and offer pastoral support to the people who work in partnership with the charity.
Azaria volunteers as a youth worker and coordinator of the new Centro Opp mentoring centre in Guatemala City.
Benjamin has worked on the streets of Guatemala for the last four years and works with the SKDGuatemala project.
Steve Poulson
Charity Worker
Emily Williams
Charity Administrator
Steve volunteers with the Proyecto Alas outreach project in Honduras, helping high-risk children and youth.
Emily joined the charity as a volunteer in 2021 and coordinates events, websites, promotion and publicty from the UK.
Street Kids Direct
Alvaro is one of the many children who benefit from your support. His story is featured on our YouTube channel.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Honduras is a low middleincome country that faces major challenges, with more than 66 percent of the population living in poverty. Honduras also struggles with high levels of violence and gang activity together with corruption at all levels of society.
Honduras
Proyecto Alas
Proyecto Alas is project that reaches out to at-risk children in the town of Talanga, Honduras.
Proyecto Alas, based in Talanga Honduras, works with vulnerable children who have a high connection to the street and score four or more on the ACE Scoring System. Proyecto Alas provides these children with a mentor and a safe place to go twice a week after school. These mentors are caring and consistent adults in the life of a child who knows nothing but change and hardship, helping them take positive life decisions and quite simply believing in them.
For most of 2020 Proyecto Alas and the rest of Honduras were placed in a strict lockdown with only the ability to food-shop once every two weeks.
Street Kids Direct
This was devastating and meant the project had to close for many months. For the families the project works with, 81% of them had lost their income due to the lockdown.
Though the situation was incredibly difficult, Proyecto Alas were able to provide 7 provision baskets each for the 24 families in the project. Each provision basket provided enough food for two weeks for the families. This was a lifeline when many had lost work and with no income to buy food.
The Project has also been able to provide homeschooling towards the end of 2020 and start of 2021, helping children to access schooling. During the pandemic, 90% of children received their homework via. Watsapp but only 64% had regular access to a phone.
The mentoring programme has been able to support 36 kids and youth in the last few months with homeschooling. This has enabled the project to provide children with the access they need to the internet for school and to help with their homework.
A great success story is one of the youths at Proyecto Alas, Ever. Alongside his brother Hatzel, they have been accepted into the Police Training Academy and Special Forces Battalion in Honduras. They graduated high school two years ago and have been involved in Proyecto Alas for many years, so this is wonderful news and a great encouragement for the team.
Annual Report 2020/2021
----- Start of picture text -----
700
----- End of picture text -----
at-risk families supported 19 532 families helped with their rent children supported during lockdown 400 children in education 413 225 food parcels every two weeks hot meals delivered a week
These statistics accurately reflect the impact of our work during the lockdown stage of COVID-19 in Guatemala and Honduras
Street Kids Direct
Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America. It has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America. Furthermore, all Guatemalan schools closed due to COVID resulting in 106,000 children dropping out of the national school system last year.
Guatemala City
SKDGuatemala
SKD Guatemala project works with some of the most vulnerable children in Guatemala City and La Terminal. They reach out to those living on the streets and support vulnerable families to prevent children from taking to the streets. They also run the SKD Mentoring Programme.
This year the project has quickly adapted to support the most vulnerable through the pandemic. The team at the mentoring programme alone visited families in the programme weekly, supporting them with groceries, paying rent and also with health and education assistance.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Despite the impact of COVID19 on face-to-face meetings, the programme has advertised itself with local radio stations and volunteer networks, gaining another 20 mentors in Guatemala City.
SKDGuatemala has also been able to support 45 kids through homeschooling at the Mentoring Centre and Protection Home. They have provided access to computers and teaching support that they otherwise would have missed out from due to the pandemic. 100% of our kids have stayed in school
thanks to the mentoring programme and school support, with kids receiving marks in their exams that average 94% in every subject. These results are incredible, given the national average pass rate is 74%.
SKD Guatemala have also been providing at-risk families with support during the pandemic, with food parcels being delivered weekly that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford due to loss of work. Over 413 were given out every other week to ensure that families were able to eat.
----- Start of picture text -----
Street Kids Direct
----- End of picture text -----
GoGuatemala
Go Guatemala targets children who are at highrisk of taking to the streets or being recruited into gangs. The project offers a loving place for them to meet together, get help with their homework, receive counselling and pastoral support, a hot meal and spend time with their friends playing in a safe environment.
The project also provided support and encouragement via. Whatsapp for the children with their homework, and were able to provide school materials to the children’s houses in the summer to help with their homework. Bags of sweets were also provided to all the children in order to celebrate ‘de dia de nino’ (Day of the Child).
Each week 150 children attend the Go Guatemala Centre and throughout the week around 225 children receive meals after school, when they walk to the centre to ask for help with their homework.
For GoGuatemala, their programmes closed on the 14th March due to the pandemic. The charity quickly organised to support the 120 families in their programmes, providing them with a hygiene pack and initial groceries bag. Between March and November Go Guatemala were able to continue this support, reaching 150 families in total and providing a bag of supplies every month.
When restrictions eased, Go Guatemala were able to reopen the centre and restart activities with COVID measures in place in November. The project has provided 110 children with breakfast and lunch every saturday between November and March. At Christmas, Go Guatemala also cooked and delivered 120 Christmas meals to the families.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Puerta de Esperanza
The Puerta de Esperanza (Door of Hope) project is one of our key partners in Guatemala City. We work in close collaboration with this small NGO to help provide a robust network of caring people that are available 24/7 to children at risk in La Terminal, Guatemala City.
Puerta de Esperanza have been able to support the children in their programmes by providing vital access to online classes and also help with their homework. They have also provided breakfast and lunches to those attending extra classes on Saturdays.
The project started the year by enrolling another 20 children in extra schooling 2 days a week and supplying them with uniforms. They also ran a dental programme day for over 200 families, children and individuals in the community.
As the pandemic hit, Puerta de Esperanza recognised the impact of school closures on children’s education and the lack of access to online education.
Alongside the support for children in education, Puerta de Esperanza have been assisting those on the streets during COVID19 by providing a temporary shelter at the beginning of the pandemic. They have served over 150 individuals on the streets by providing them with masks, sanitiser, clothes and medical care.
Street Kids Direct
MOJOCA
The MOJOCA project is one of the oldest projects in Guatemala City that works with young people who live on the streets or who are in transition from the streets into mainstream society. Mojoca offers support to those on the streets with their daily outreach programme, a day centre for those wanting to start a rehabilitation programme, a start-up business scheme to provide support to those who want to begin their own small business and a refuge for young women and their children. We are proud to partner with Mojoca and help donate to their daily outreach programme to people living in the streets.
During the pandemic, despite the closure of its programmes in March, MOJOCA continued its visits every wednesday where possible to the Streets of Guatemala City.
MOJOCA have provided health care packages and lunches to those living on the streets including masks and sanitiser. They also worked in conjunction with National Commission Against Child Abuse (CONACMI) who opened a house for street children during the pandemic, where 5 children with MOJOCAs support chose to go.
Amongst other programmes, the project managed to provide over 120 people with medical attention and supported 16 children in education. Due to the impacts of the pandemic, five of the children passed, seven dropped out and the others are receiving further support from MOJOCA.
Annual Report 2020/2021
Finance Report
Financial Report 2020-2021
Trevor Nicholas
28 West Street Ryde Isle of Wight PO33 2QQ
To: The Trustees of Street Kids Direct
Independent examiner’s report to the Trustees of Street Kids Direct Charity for the year ended 31st March 2021.
I report on the accounts of the Street Kids Direct Charity for the year ended 31st March 2021, which is set out on one page.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
-
examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act
-
to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act
-
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention
Basis of independent examiner’s report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures
Street Kids Direct
undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
-
(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
-
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act
-
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Trevor Nicholas
28 West Street
Ryde Isle of Wight PO33 2QQ
Date 19th July 2021
INCOME COMPARISON
EXPENDITURE COMPARISON
----- Start of picture text -----
206
62%
146
25% 25%
7%
All Donations General Donations Fundraising Events
----- End of picture text -----
----- Start of picture text -----
198
119
47%
25%
All Expenditure Designated Gifts
----- End of picture text -----
Index
----- Start of picture text -----
2019/2020
2020/2021
----- End of picture text -----
Annual Report 2020/2021
Street Kids Dlrect Financial Report 2020121 street Klds Dlrett Isa small CharYrel13nt on voluntsry help for Its UKoperaons. Itconttnues to tommll hself to its ndIng prlnclple 8uaranteÈlngthat IOD% of all donalon gtsdlretttytothe woletts itsupports In Guatsmala and Honduras. Bank t)etalls.. GEneral CurrentAccount held wlth HSBC BanK SyramDre Road, AmErsham. HP6 SEW. Incom• Geheral Dotbations Churthtrs Schools FundraiSinge¥ents Charity Tru# RÈstritied donadons £ 127.Q)5.12 3,700.92 69.70 14.514.62 38,068.50 5,858.83 Other Tot•1 £ 2H,4fy8.53 Exp•ndltuY• SKO Guatemala Go Guaternala 71.232. 5.480. 2.000. 29.400. 3.000. 2.400. 20.000. 42.070. 22,260. 12. 1,080. SKD GuatEmala Centro Opp Puerta de Esperan High-ftisk Fund WGM USAISXD Guatsmalal WGM USA Icentro Opp) Other SKD Guatemala Centroopp Bank Char8ts Claris (database for SKD Guatemalal Tot*1 £ 198,934.00 InIng Bank BAlanc• 01 at 1stAprll 2020 £27,054.33 In¢ome 206,408.53 Less. Expenditure 198,934.Tr) Closlng Bank Balance aB at 31st March 2021 £34,528.86 Accounts havÈbÈen prepared on a cash basisfrom 1st Aprll 2020 to atstmarch 2021
FUNDRAISING
Engaging supporters around the world
Street Kids Direct have always organised events that raise the profile of the charity, are lots of fun and also raise funds for the projects we partner with around the world.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began at the start of the financial year, all our fundraising events for 2020 were either postponed or cancelled. This has meant that funding for the 2020-2021 financial year took a significant hit.
With support from Alex Denton and Duncan Dyason in Guatemala, we were also able to broadcast from the new studio in the Protection Home in Guatemala City. This provided us with a broadcast 24/7 which was thoroughly enjoyed by the listeners.
Fortunately, Radio Christmas was able to go live from both Guatemala City and Amersham, due to the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions in both countries. We were able to secure the old Oxfam store on Amersham High Street for the studio, and with the support of Oli O’Neill and Katryn and Jack Gocher, broadcasting was able to go ahead. Unfortunately due to the changing of restrictions in the UK, the studio had to close early but continued online.
Thanks to those who provided a matching fund to help us raise £32,220 for the projects in Central America. We are hoping that the next broadcast will be from both Amersham and Guatemala City from the 1st to 24th December 2021.
We are also hopeful that both our Coin Race (now coinless) and the Camino Por Amor walk can go ahead this year.
Annual Report 2020/2021
streetkidsdirect.org.uk