The Need

Sexual exploitation: Children trapped in prostitution suffer deep emotional wounds, physical harm, and diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

Life on the streets: Children who live or work on the streets have no one to protect them and are vulnerable to exploitation and the dangers of drugs, rape, violence, HIV/AIDS, and relentless poverty.

Child labor: Rather than going to school, 170 million children worldwide go to work — many in oppressive, abusive, and hazardous situations.

Disabilities: Between 120 and 150 million children live with disabilities, the majority in developing countries and in cultures where they may be shunned, hidden from view, abused because of their disability, or abandoned on the streets.

Conflict: Thousands of children are abducted by rebel armies to be sex slaves or armed soldiers. Others are left disabled, homeless, orphaned, or even dead.

Fast Facts

• It is estimated that 2 million children are enslaved in the global sex trade.
• An estimated 150 million children live on the world’s streets.

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World Vision's Response

Recovery

• Shelter, care | We provide abandoned or neglected children with a safe place to live and give them one-on-one care.
• Trauma counseling and emotional support | Knowing that emotional wounds are often the deepest, our trained counselors offer healing and restoration for traumatized children.
• A way out | Through education, life skills training, and vocational training, we equip children to build a new and hopeful future.
• Re-integration | Wherever possible, we work to reunite children with their families and communities.

• Income alternatives | Programs like agricultural training, microenterprise development, and child sponsorship enable families to provide for their children without putting them at risk.
• Awareness | Through channels ranging from mass media to local teachers, we raise awareness of the dangers children face and the need to better protect them.
• Law enforcement | In countries such as Cambodia, World Vision helps train law enforcement officials in careful treatment of victims and identification of offenders, including child sex tourists.
• Advocacy | We advocate for increased government account-ability and compliance with international agreements that aim to protect children.

• Freedom from prostitution | We protect children from exploitation and give safe shelter and a new future to children rescued from the sex trade.
• Safe havens | World Vision cares for children who live or work on the streets through shelters that meet basic needs, offer vocational training, and provide loving care.
• Safety in war | In places like northern Uganda, we offer rehabilitation centers for boys and girls who escape forced participation in armed conflict.

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Your Opportunity to Help

• $20 each month as a Child Crisis Partner helps save the world's most vulnerable children.
• $25 provides an orphan or vulnerable child with a Care Kit with nutritious food like beans, corn, and basic medicines.
• $35 offers assistance to a girl rescued from the sex trade, with services such as education, job placement and counseling.
• $75 helps provide a child in crisis with educational support, adequate food supplies and one-on-one adult assistance and counseling.

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Agnes' Story

"They came at night," 10-year-old Agnes remembers with a shudder. "I refused to go, but the rebels said they would kill me if I didn’t." For six months Agnes lived at gunpoint in the bush of northern Uganda and was beaten every other day. She was forced to witness murders and even take part in a group killing. During a shoot-out with government soldiers, Agnes fled and found refuge at World Vision’s Gulu Children of War Rehabilitation Center. Here she has new clothes, food, health care, a bed, and staff who love her. "I like the prayer here the best," she says. "It's helped me clear up the visions of things I've seen. I believe God has forgiven me for what I have done." "Whosoever welcomes a little child ... in my name welcomes me." — Matthew 18:5 (NIV) back to top