Support for working children across the world has received a boost thanks to Sport Relief’s 2006 campaign.

The charity successfully urged celebrities, politicans and the general public to run a mile on July 15 in order to raise money to help children living in tough conditions.

Half of the money raised will be used to fund projects at home, but the other half will be spent abroad - on projects that have a very similar outlook to Sonrisa’s sister organisation The Centre for the Working Girl (CENIT).

Even Prince William got involved to raise money for working children.

One of the projects that will receive Sport Relief funding is Conrado de la Cruz in Guatemala, which shares CENIT’s aim of providing educational and vocational skills training to working children and especially girls.

Just as many of the girls CENIT helps come from indigenous backgrounds and speak Quechua, Conrado de la Cruz works with girls who are of Mayan descent.

The plight of South America’s working children was highlighted by the following case studies and statistics, which appeared in national publications in July 2006.

Increasing public awareness in this way may help Sonrisa to gain even more support and to increase our ability to help more of Quito’s working children.

Working children statistics:

It is estimated that there are over 100 million street children
world-wide, and approximately 60% of them work on the
streets to support their families.

• £15 will pay for a street child to have a safe and comfortable
place to stay for a week whilst they are helped to plan a new
life away from the dangers of life on the streets of Guatemala.

• 80 million children are estimated to work in the worst forms
of child labour. The large majority of these children are
working in agricultural activities, and the largest single
employer of girls is domestic work.

• £10 will pay for a years supply of books and pens for 5
children in India who have to work to survive – these materials
will help them get the education they need to get better jobs
when they are older.

• 1 in 12 children in the world are estimated to be involved in
work which puts their health at risk or causes them serious harm.