There are so many children with different problems and difficulties attending the place. We are working with many children who regularly miss school, usually because their parents just can't be bothered or are too drunk to get them up in time or aren't interested in making them go. Here are a few examples of the situations that the children have found themselves in. We have not mentioned names and will not publish specific photos as we want to protect their privacy and avoid causing them any more distress.

One girl of 14 has hardly ever been to school because her family never bothered to send her or to encourage her. We are trying to persuade her to attend so she can get some kind of education before its too late. She is beginning to go occasionally but needs more encouragement. She also needs a lot of help with any homework that she is given.

One family with 4 children all live in one small room. It is divided into kids' and parents' ends by wardrobes. Neither parent works and the father smokes all the time so the kids are living in a very unhealthy atmosphere much of the time. The parents actually hide food from their kids and keep it to themselves so there is nothing for the children to eat at home.

Children from 2 families attend the Centre, one family with the father in prison and one with both parents locked away. The mother, or the grandmother in the latter case, doesn’t work so the only income they have to live on is the state child benefit which averages about £5 per month per child. Food isn't so much cheaper than in the UK so the money really doesn't go very far at all. Many families seem to live on virtually nothing from month to month.

There are a lot of alcohol and drug problems in the area where the Centre is based. One of the regular visitors is an orphan who has been fostered, but his foster parents are suppliers of a sort of home-made vodka called “Krutka”. This is cheaper, and much more poisonous, than normal vodka and a lot of alcoholics drink it. It can't be good for a child to live where every day drunks come round at any hour to buy this stuff. He is learning the trade and this way of life from his foster parents. There is also a large potential danger as they actually distil the stuff at home, and they live in a very flammable old wooden building!

One little girl who is 8 years old has been taken from her parents by social services and was placed into the care of her grandmother. This was done because the officials decided it was not safe for her to live with the parents anymore. The problem is that nobody bothered to find out that the grandmother lives in the same flat as the parents and so the exercise was pointless. The granny often drinks and sometimes disappears for days leaving the little girl back with her parents or, more often than not, to fend for herself. The parents are constantly drunk and the police are regularly called to their incidents of violence. One day at the Centre, while bread was being cut for lunch, the little girl said that the knife was as big as the one her parents were fighting with the night before.

One 16 year old girl who has been attending for a while has recently had a baby. She and her younger sister live at home with their mum who seems to have a lot of different boyfriends. Even though the baby can't be more than a month old, the girl seems to leave it at home whenever she goes out. Usually the younger sister has been looking after it if we ever ask her why she has not been to the centre. Their flat is filthy with old rags everywhere. The mother is incapable or unwilling to even tidy the place up. Even with no job and nothing to do she can't be bothered. The younger daughter is very thin and there doesn't seem to be much food at home.

One girl who only comes to the centre on a Friday afternoon goes to a state boarding school during the week. Her life at home is so bad she has said that she wishes she could stay at the school all weekend and all the holidays too. Recently her drunk mum decided to give her a haircut which made the poor girl look like a scarecrow. The mum seemed to not care how it looked, and we suspect it was done purely to amuse her friends. Thankfully one of our staff is a trained hairdresser so the damage was put right.

The one thing that we have noticed so much in the six months that we have been working with these kids anis d paying them some attention that underneath the tough "streetwise" facade they really are NICE, NORMAL children who just want to be treated properly and do the things that kids anywhere in the world do. We are giving them this chance as far as we can and we can see that the work we do is really making a big difference in their lives.

If you can help us in any way, practical, or financial, we can always find a use for any assistance you can offer. Please contact us at the street or email address on the contact page.