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2023-03-31-accounts

Street Kids Direct ANNUAL REPORT 22/23

Summary

Contact

How your support throughout the year has impacted the lives of vulnerable at-risk children and youth.

Phone: +44 1494 858470

Email: info@streetkidsdirect.org.uk streetkidsdirect.org.uk

Registered Charity Number: 1102894

C H A N G I N G L I V E S F O R E V E R

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Repo rt Pro gr ess

SKD ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023

Street Kids Direct

Changing the lives of the most vulnerable street-living and highrisk 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 countries where the numbers of street-children are a constant concern for us and where we feel we could add value.

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Vi s ion & Mi ss ion

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.

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Over yea30 r s dedi c ated to c hild r en at- r isk

HOW WE WORK

Street Kids Direct (SKD) 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.

GUATEMALA

HONDURAS

METHODOLOGY

Street Kids Direct has developed a unique methodology that helps identify, support and care for a child most at risk of taking to the streets.

One of the families rescued after receiving death threats from the local gang!

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.

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Directo r ´s Repo r t

This past year has been one of challenges for us, as a charity, and we know that despite the economic environment we are living in right now our call, our passion and our day-to-day work has not changed.

inspired and encouraged to know that your donations, volunteering and prayers are making a difference and changing lives.

My I take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for playing your part and helping us to help more children this past year than we have ever done before.

There are many children whose lives inspire and motivate me and I know that the projects that serve the children are led by passionate people who can tell you with great eloquence the latest child who has impacted their life.

I hope you enjoy reading this and may I encourage you to head to our website and social media feeds to see for yourself the transformation that is happening because of your support.

The charity is passionate about people, about children, about young people and about making sure that their lives matter and are noticed. We have always fought for those who are usually rejected by society and those who easily fall into the social cracks and can be forgotten or just not seen.

Duncan Dyason MBE Trustee & Director

The trustees of Street Kids Direct and I are proud to partner with the five projects that received funds from our supporters over the last year and we know that reading through this report you will be

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.

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CHARITY TRUSTEES

FULL-TIME VOLUNTEERS

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.

Joanna Soden (photo left) is a busy working mother from Amersham and knows and is committed to the work in Central America.

Duncan Dyason MBE has been working with street children in Guatemala since 1992 and continues to live in Guatemala City where he volunteers with the projects the charity supports.

Mark & Rosdalie Balfour

Mission Partners with the Church Mission Society and help to provide pastoral care for staff and overseas volunteers in SKD supported-projects in Central America

Steve & Lindsey Poulson

Mission Partners with the Church Mission Society and working in Talanga, Honduras with the Proyecto Alas mentoring centre

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NEW UK VOLUNTEERS

Steve & Nicola Raher

are recently retired and have offered to help coordinate the UK administration, schools work and fundraising. The couple live in Chesham and have travelled throughout Latin America and know the needs of the children well.

Street Kids Direct is very grateful for the long-term partnership we have enjoyed with Coventry-based Global Care.

The charity coordinates our child sponsorship programme and helps provide their expertise with the development of the projects that we work with in Central America.

Sponsor a Child and help transform a life of a vulnerable child today

PROYECTO ALAS

Proyecto Alas´s ministry focus is to reach children and young people who live at high social risk, are in danger of becoming street children, or live on the street. The vision is to see transformed children and youth transform a nation. Proyecto Alas focuses its work in the town of Talanga, Honduras, which is 1-hour outside the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

Three Phases of Work:

  1. Street Work (200 children & youth) Education catch-up (15 children & youth)

  2. Mentoring & Education (50 children & youth)

  3. Mentoring

  4. Education programme

  5. Youth group

  6. Psychological support

  7. Physical health support

  8. Family support

  9. Transition to Adulthood

  10. Vocational education

  11. (5 young adults)

  12. University studies (4 young adults)

A more in depth explanation of their work is on the next page.

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Highlights from the year (22-23):

• In October 2022, Children´s Library was created, thanks to funds raised through the SKD website.

• 3 university students and 2 vocational students started their studies. All 5 have been supported by SKD funding for more than 10 years!

• For the 2023 school year, 4 of the students in the education programme passed the entrance exam to one of the top secondary schools in Honduras. Proyecto Alas was able to provide all their materials and the supplies needed to attend the residential school. The rest of the £500 monthly costs are covered by a scholarship provided by the school.

• Proyecto Alas has established a new connection with a church in the U.S., including an annual financial contribution and team visit to the project.

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SKDGUATEMALA

The heart of the SKDGuatemala project is the mentoring programme. Mentoring is the provision of a caring and consistent adult (local volunteer) in the life of a child or youth at risk of street life.

Over the past year the charity has been able to keep all the children in the mentoring programme and has even added a few more.

Each life is of value and the charity invests considerable time in each child and their family. Sometimes the progress seems slow and sometimes even small steps backwards are necessary with each child in order for them to realise their value, know they are loved and have a special place in the world.

The weekly street outreach to various sectors of Guatemala City was able to confirm that there are still no children living alone on the streets of the city. An important part of this outreach is to identify who still lives on the streets and who does not. Sadly, many of those adults who live on the streets

have seen their health deteriorate during the year and we remain concerned for the new teenagers who see the streets and street life as a viable option for their lives.

One new area that the charity began to work in is a marginal area of Guatemala City called “El Granizo”. The street team, headed by Benjamin Soden, became aware of a young boy who was spending more and more time on the streets and so intervened to help provide a range of services to him and his family and since then the child has had no or very little connection to the streets.

During this time the street team identified many young people in that community that were at very high-risk and so started a football project with them. Sport is an important element to this type of outreach and we are pleased that good relationships have been made and have led to offering the young people other opportunities for activities in the Centro Opp Mentoring Centre.

The New Year saw all the children the charity has been

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educating in our centres over the last two years, due to schools being closed because of COVID, return to the national school system. In part this is good for their wider social development, but it does come with the usual challenges we face in trying to support them in a system that is challenging and does not always take into account the unique needs of very vulnerable at-risk children.

We have been able to see so many of our children grow into incredible teenagers and enter into higher education. One teen who exemplifies this is 17-year-old Saida. Do read her story later on in this report.

The financial situation around the world made an impact on the project in terms of having to take the decision to temporarily close the Centro Opp Mentoring Centre and the Casa Alexis Protection Home. We are working on a longterm solution to this thanks to the generous support of some friends who are funding the construction of two self-contained apartments above the home. The rental of these will generate enough income to cover the running costs of the home and centre.

It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to Benjamin Soden this year. Benjamin is from the UK and came nearly 6 years ago to Guatemala to work as part of the street team. His dedication and commitment to those on the streets touched and changed so many lives and his is missed greatly.

Finally, and without mentioning all the names, we had many visitors and volunteers come during the year to work in the centres, on the streets and in the communities where the children came from. The children love to see new faces and are always keen to try out their English and learn new words from our visitors and volunteers.

One notable visit was of Darold & Pamela Opp who joined Steve and Chloe Castree for the grand opening of Pamela´s kitchen in Centro Opp. This special event was made memorable with a bake-off as two teams of young people prepared and baked a fruit tart and the winning team was awarded with Q500 (£50) in cash!

In the coming year we are hoping to see how we could open a new outreach &

mentoring centre in Santa Faz, a marginal area in Guatemala City where we work on a regular basis.

We continue to commit ourselves and the resources we have to reaching the most at-risk children and youth and fighting for their rights, their safety and helping them enjoy life in all its fulness.

We wanted to use this report to thank Benjamin Soden for the nearly six years of volunteering as a volunteer street worker with SKDGuatemala in Guatemala City.

Benjamin worked with us tirelessly to reach street-living children and youth and we wish him well with his new calling.

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PUERTA DE ESPERANZA

Street Kids Direct have worked in partnership with Puerta de Esperanza for many years due to the nature of their work and their proximity with the SKDGuatemala project in La Terminal, Guatemala City.

This past year the charity has been able to reach out to more vulnerable children in the capital and offer them the support they need to make good decisions for their lives and stay off the streets.

The street team visits children who work on the streets and those who are very highly connected to the streets.

The team develop trust and begin to understand the unique needs each child has and how they can be supported to return to education or helped with their schoolwork. So many children have parents who either take little or no interest in their schooling or can´t read or write. This means the children can´t get the help they need with the large amount of homework that schools set for them each day.

The charity now has two centres near La Terminal, Guatemala City, and are places where the children feel safe, where they get a daily hot meal and receive support with their schoolwork. The team also offer counselling and family therapy.

Ove this last year the charity has been reviewing its whole operation and working with the children themselves to identify the many risk factors they are living with on a daily basis.

The team discovered that almost all the children were suffering from stress and were anxious on a daily basis due to violence, family breakups and not knowing when they would be eating next.

Thanks to the support that Street Kids Direct have given to the charity they have grown and are now impacting over 250 vulnerable children each month.

One new area the charity is working in is in an area of the city called Gerona and the initial group of high-risk

children grew from 30 to 100 within a few weeks. The need is there and we see so many children struggling and who are at risk of being recruited into the gangs or heading to the streets.

Our commitment to reaching children at-risk in Guatemala is as firm as ever and we are grateful for the support Street Kids Direct give to us throughout the year. We are excited to continue our partnership with Street Kids Direct as we explore ways of working together for the benefit of the children.

We have great pleasure in telling you that we have been able to provide 660 breakfasts each month, 1,540 hot lunches per month and give 540 children a daily snack.

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Re a l life S t ory

16-year-old Saida has had to face many challenges in her life, but has shown that with the help of the charity she could begin to believe in herself and that her dream of becoming a doctor could become true.

Saida has grown up in poverty in La Terminal in Guatemala City and has had to overcome rejection, abuse and discrimination.

When Saida started the mentoring programme 6 years ago, she was struggling with so many things, especially with her own feelings of self worth.

This February Saida was offered an incredible opportunity to study in a prestigious college to study medicine.

Thanks to the generous support of two sponsors in the USA Saida will be able to have her college fees, uniform and transport covered for the next two years.

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GO GUATEMALA

Street Kids Direct have partnered with this project for many years and have helped them structure their charity in a way that enabled growth to be more sustainable. We now fund the rental costs of the building they use as a base and educational support and mentoring centre for the children in the programme.

The project will need to find alternative accommodation in 2023 as the rental agreement for their current property comes to an end due to the owners selling it to a development company. Street Kids Direct will help Go Guatemala find a new home for their outreach.

Over the past year the Go Guatemala charity has been able to reach around 120 at-risk children in an area of Guatemala City that is notorious for its violent gang activity. Many children are recruited into the local gang, where life expectancy is then just four years.

The Go Guatemala project provides a daily outreach centre to help the children with their homework and provide the support they need as well as cooking and providing 500-600

hot breakfasts a month.

Furthermore, the charity reaches out into the communities where the children come from and has been able to provide their families with 130 drums of purified water each month and 110 families are supported each month with food parcels.

Last year Go Guatemala launched its version of the Big Brother

mentoring programme. The programme trains older youth to come alongside younger children and help with their schoolwork and be an older caring brother or sister to them. The scheme has been a great success and now the charity is designing its own online child sponsorship programme.

A new outreach programme was started this past year in Piedra Parada, Guatemala City, that was a response to discovering many vulnerable children in that area of the city and providing a weekly outreach club for the children and their families.

Go Guatemala would like to thank Street Kids Direct for its constant and consistent support and we hope we can continue to partner with you over the coming years.

Thank you.

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MOJOCA

MOJOCA stands for the Movement of Young People in the Streets and it was founded by a good friend of Duncan Dyason, Gerard Lutte, when he visited the work that Duncan was initially doing with Casa Alianza in 1992.

The organisation continues to work with homeless young people in Guatemala City and is run by a committee of young people, who themselves live or have lived in the streets.

Street Kids Direct has supported the work of MOJOCA for many years, funding their street outreach and the clinic they established in their outreach centre. Furthermore and very sadly, we have provided funds to help cover the costs of burying young people who have died violently in the streets over the last year.

The MOJOCA outreach centre offers around 80 home-

less youth the opportunity of attending the various sessions that are held each day, which includes a small bakery, coffee shop, handicraft workshop as well as providing a safe place for the young people to wash their clothes, shower and receive support.

MOJOCA have always been at the forefront of the publicity campaigns for the rights of those living on the streets and the rights of women in Guatemala.

This past year was no exception as the charity participated in the International Day of the Street Child, the International Women´s Day and the annual rally outside the presidential palace in the centre of the capital where a memorial to the 41 girls who were burnt to death in a government children´s home and a further 15 seriously injured.

MOJOCA help keep their memory alive and the other organisations that work with street-living and street-con-

tion and work hard to reach out to others in the streets as well we help develop the programmes that the young people can benefit from. So many come back to the charity for special events and it is always of great encouragement to see how much they have achieved despite their difficult beginnings. It is always exciting to see them and their children and to know that because of the help Street Kids Direct has given we can continue our vital work.

nected youth join them for this solemn memorial. A special report by the Guatemala Prensa Libre is available here (in Spanish) and adds its voice to MOJOCA´s after 6 years has passed and no action has been taken against those responsible.

The uniqueness of MOJOCA is that it is run by the young people themselves. Those who are in process of leaving the streets or who have left the streets are offered positions in the organisa-

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INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL REPORT

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 2023.

I report on the accounts of the Street Kids Direct Charity for the year ended 31st March 2023, 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 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

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Date 2nd June 2023

FINANCIAL REPORT 2022/2023

Street Kids Direct is a small charity reliant on voluntary help for its UK operations. It continues to commit itself to its founding principle guaranteeing that 100% of all donation go directly to the projects it supports in Guatamala and Honduras.

Bank Details: General Current Account held with HSBC Bank, Sycamore Road, Amersham, HP6 5EW.

EXPENDITURE

EXPENDITURE
SKD Guatemala £172,391.00
SKD Guatemala - Protection Home
Guatemala High Risk Fund		 £1,600.00
£4,400.00
Go Guatemala £4,250.00
MOJOCA £2,000.00
Puerta de Esperanza £4,000.00
Proyecto Alas via WGM US £2,500.00
Bank Charges £87.28
TOTAL £191,228.28

INCOME

INCOME
General Donations £58,538.81
Monthly Giving £19,729.00
Fundraising Events £7,442.16
Schools £5,380.62
Churches £6,441.00
PayPal £3,690.31
CAF £1,510.74
Trusts & Charities £23,542.15
Other Income £191.36
Gift Aid £13,277.71
Restricted Donations
TOTAL		 £30,150.00
£169,893.86
Opening Bank Balance as at 1st April 2022
£30,305.16
Income £169,893.86
Less, Expenditure -£191,228.28

Closing Bank Balance as at 31st March 2023 £8,970.74

Accounts have been prepared on a cash basis from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023

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IUST,11

T h ank ou y

Your support impacts lives!

The trustees of Street Kids Direct cannot thank you enough for your very committed, faithful and generous support of the work in Central America. We hope you can see here how your donations have been used to help hundreds of children at-risk in Guatemala and Honduras. We are very grateful also to Trevor Nicolas who produces the independent report each year and to Cat Dale and Janet Wickham for helping with the finances and reporting.

ADDRESS:

2 CENTENARY WAY, AMERSHAM, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, HP6 6UL UNITED KINGDOM

CONTACT INFO: +44 1494 858470 info@streetkidsdirect.org.uk streetkidsdirect.org.uk