“Here they told us, ‘If your family finds out you ran away and one day when you are grown they see you stealing, what will they say? That you’re a professional thief now? Stay here and study and when you are grown you can show your mom and dad you left the streets. You can show them your diploma and tell them you graduated. That’s what you can tell them!’ I had never thought about that before. That really motivated me to stick with it.â€
– Lucho, 14

Advocacy

When Kaya first started as a volunteer activity on the streets of La Paz, the children asked volunteers to be their voices and share their stories with the world. We engage in advocacy to honor that request and whenever we can, we try to share the stories of the children. We do this generally in the following ways:

  • We share the stories of the children we know through publications and media presentations, allowing their important voices to be heard.
  • We speak at events around the world to raise awareness.
  • We participate in conferences, symposia and other leadership forums to help shape agendas that address the needs of street-involved children.
  • We host volunteers from all over the world, providing training and practical experience to prepare them for lifelong advocacy work.

When Invisible Children Sing is one of our most important advocacy tools.  Written by Kaya founder, Dr. Chi Huang, this book chronicles the lives of 5 children living on the streets of Bolivia as well as Dr. Huang's own journey trying to help them.