The start of the good treatment for children Vaccination Campaign

There are some moments in life you just can’t beat. Today, running around the Cochabamba equivalent of the Houses of Parliament with kids from the Fundacion Emmanuel project (ministry for children of prostitutes) campaigning for good treatment of children was definitely one of them. “Ok, this is an important government building with important people so you need to be good. Don’t run, don’t shout.” It just didn’t work. They went nuts, and who can blame them? The good treatment vaccination campaign is all about children voicing their rights. They approach adults with cards with on one side having ingredients for good treatment of children (a bit of respect, understanding, a portion of humour, an abundance of tolerance, a piece of patience, amongst others) and on the other side a space for the recipient to write their name, signature and date, to be vaccinated. And as well as the card and another leaflet they receive a sweet.

We went round in groups of three children. While one would be with one person in one office at their desk the other two would be legging it upstairs to the next one. I couldn’t run and catch them up and tell them to wait, leaving the other one behind, nor could I shout as we didn’t want to get kicked out. This was an awesome opportunity! The kids loved it, running up to the big dogs that run their city and campaigning for something they recognise as being of so much importance to them.

Today the campaign kicked off. We were in the Plaza Principal in the centre of Cochabamba. Throughout the month of September the campaign will be taking place in various areas all over the city. Also in the next city, Oruru, they are campaigning this month too. I will be heading there next week to see how they’re getting on. As well as children from projects vaccinating adults they put on performances too – dances, acts etc. As well as that, Daniel Cuaquira, Director of the Early Encounter Cochabamba programme, was on the mic all day, bigging up children’s rights, explaining what the whole campaign is all about and interviewing various people along the way.

Once again, it is great to see so many children’s projects getting together and working with all eyes on the same goal. That’s what the Toybox-Viva alliance is all about and has been successfully doing through the joint Early Encounter model (known as ‘Red Alert’ in the UK) over the last 4 years here in Cochabamba and in other Latin American cities. With the support of Toybox through planning, prayer and financial support, and with Viva Latin America implementing the work of the alliance out here on the ground, the results have been hugely positive with all boding well for a very exciting future.

All in all it’s been an awesome start to the campaign and everyone’s pumped and massively looking forward to the rest of the month.