Graeme Everist, Toybox’s Director of Finance and Resources shares a reflection on supporting children to overcome barriers and rebuild their futures, one step at a time.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11
Recently, I began the task of fixing a very beautiful, very old wall in my garden that has become overwhelmed by ivy. My first job was to cut back some bushes to get to the wall. Next, I needed to carefully remove the mass of matted tendrils, taking care not to displace the stones or lose too much of the crumbling mortar. Finally, in order to make the wall strong and enduring, I set to work removing all the waste and started to mend the holes (sometimes craters) that had been left behind.
This process brings to mind the outstanding work Toybox partners do day in day out to help street children. Although the children are physically visible, there are many invisible barriers in which make it difficult for the team to reach them. Not least the fact that adults have let them down so often before that naturally children can initially be very untrusting.
Our partners have seemingly limitless perseverance in building relationships with these vulnerable young people and, once trust is established, they are able to help them start to cast off the baggage that can suffocate their curiosity, creativity and playfulness.
At the core of all of our projects – whether focused on education, helping children obtain their birth certificates, or providing opportunities for economic empowerment - we seek to allow young people to take control of their own futures and well-being.
It can often be a very long process as we strive to overcome systemic and structural barriers which complicate the rebuilding process, however the compassion and continued kindness from people like you means that day by day, brick by brick, the foundations of safe and hopeful futures are being laid.
Pictured below: Graeme Everist Toybox’s Director of Finance and Resources.
