Bolivia: children have something to say to G8 leaders about child and maternal health

Friday, January 31, 2014

By: Andrea Cabrera and Wilson Cabrera; Communications, World Vision Bolivia

Children in Bolivia write letters to the Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, ahead of the 40th G8 summit which is to be held in Russia. The meeting is planned for June 4-5, 2014.The children urge Mr. Letta to make child health and nutrition a priority.

The opinions of children and youth matter, and they have a right to have input into the decisions that adults make.

Dear Mr. Letta,

My name is Anaide Kantuta. In my village there is a lot of poverty and hunger and there are sheep and cows but these animals are sold because it helps families to survive. Sometimes they kill them to have a bit of meat but what they want is chicken and some fruits, but there is no money. Sometimes children want to buy something like popcorn or maybe candy, but as I said, there is no money. I’ve seen there are many children who go to school, but, since there is no food, they eat at school until being full, because they have nothing to eat at home. I saw my friend eating like that, until being full.

Some children are thin, other children are normal because they have more food. Children are the future of the whole planet. If chidren are healthy and strong, the entire planet would be good. But if they are weak and malnourished, the planet won’t have a future.

Sincerely,

Anaide Kantuta Goytia Santos

Dear Mr. Letta,

My name is Oliver Ariel, I’m 12 years old. I live in Bolivia. This country is very cold and doesn’t produce anything, only potatoes and barley; these are the two things that we eat. The water is scarce and families are poor but happy.

There are cities very rich and cities very poor.

The students don’t learn well because they are hungry and don’t feel well to study, they only think about food and there are many diseases.

My companions tell me that they would like to have as breakfast milk with bread; they would like to have as lunch chicken, meat and have as dinner a special meal for their birthday.

They say “I don´t have a good breakfast, I don’t have lunch on time and dinner”.

Sincerely,

Oliver Ariel

“Help children in other countries because they are living beings too”

Dear Mr. Letta,

My name is Fabiola, I live in Bolivia, and I’m 12 years old. I’d like that in my country children have food, that there is no more poverty, that children don’t die because of hunger, that food prices don’t increase, because it is more difficult to buy food and the poorest families can’t buy it and their sons and daughters are malnourished.

Please, make things in the world change, that there are no more children’s deaths because there is no food. I also want to tell you that sometimes, the things we plant don’t remain because of hail and because of drought. I’d like to have breakfast at least twice a week, milk and chocolate, and also that children from the village of Bolívar have the same breakfast and that there are no more children with diseases who die for a bad alimentation.

 Also, when they (women) are pregnant, they have health issues. They lose their teeth and get thinner and their children are not very healthy. They only eat potatoes and dehydrated potatoes (chuño) and corn; they don´t eat even once a year a good meal. One of our classmates dropped out of school because he didn’t have money. He was malnourished and didn’t learn well. He didn’t have money to buy food and school material.

Fabiola

Dear Mr. Letta,

My name is José Rainer. In the village I live in there is a lot of poverty especially in the communities children are not well nourished, their parents make them work and tell them: If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

In the land I live in, some families produce potatoes, carrots, onions, lettuce and others suffer hunger. The alimentation in not really good because in the departments of Bolivia, there are people asking for charity and they are very skinny because they probably don’t eat in many days and are discriminated.

We, the children, are the future of the world and if we don’t eat well, sometimes we drop out of school or we don’t learn because we don’t have enough alimentation that feed our brain and strength the body. My name is Rainer, I live in Bolivia and I’m proud of being Bolivian.

 José Rainer

Dear Mr. Letta,

My name is Victoria, I’m 10 years old, I live in Aquerana. In my house I eat with my family potatoes, rice, noodles and for breakfast I eat tea with bread. I’d like to have fruits like bananas, grapes and watermelon, apples, apricots and milk.

Sometimes children get sick because they are not well nourished and they don’t learn well.

We must be well nourished to study to have a good future.

Victoria