Sur in English

Make this a special Christmas for the Malaga Children’s Home

LIVE, the ex-pat charity supporting the Malaga Children Home, is launching an appeal to give the children a special Christmas present to last for years to come – their own swimming pool.

This year has been an unlucky year for the Children’s Home – La Ciudad de los Niños – on the outskirts of Malaga. As a direct result of land acquisition for the new motorway they have lost their swimming pool and most of their outdoor facilities.

Brother Juan, who runs the home, cannot afford to relocate the swimming pool that has had to be decommissioned this year resulting in a long, very hot, ‘dry’ summer for the children of the Home, and no hope for the long hot summers of years to come.

These children are in protective care miles from any beach so a stroll down for a dip in the sea is out of the question and there is no money for trips to water parks and no other diversion for them in the long hot summer months.

This why LIVE has decided to launch an appeal to raise the funds to give the Home a lasting Christmas present.

“It was heartbreaking to see the children in the sweltering days of summer, desperate to have some fun in the pool but banished to the sidelines because it cannot be used as it’s too close to the noise, dirt, and disruption of the motorway construction only metres from the poolside” - said Brian Marsh Chairman of LIVE.

“It would cost €55,000 to relocate the pool, money the Home doesn’t have as every penny of their income goes on feeding, clothing, and educating the children. If only 55,000 of the 300,000 or more ex pats living here were to donate €1 each, the children would have their pool for next summer”

The children of La Ciudad de los Niños have been rescued by the local authority from all manner of abuse. There are more than 50 resident children living in the Home with another one hundred street children simply abandoned on the streets of the nearby shanty town for whom the Home also provides a safe haven.

“These children have so very little of their own, if the ex pat community can rise to this challenge it will send a strong signal to these boys and girls that despite the difficult financial times we all find ourselves in someone still cares about them” said Brian Marsh.

If you would like to help by collecting money from friends, neighbours and family for the Children’s Home you can click to donate by visiting the LIVE website www.live-spain.org or, alternatively, anyone willing to make a donation can put money into the appeal account : LIVE, Banco de Andalucia, account No: 0004 3453 43 0600190773.

For further information call Brian Marsh, Chairman LIVE, on 620 791 441