Sophie Merrix, of Pembroke Dock, is continuing her good work with the Mosoj Yan Project in Cochabamba City, Bolivia.

As reported recently, Sophie has travelled with christian relief agency Tear Fund, in conjunction with ICS (International Citizen Service), to work with mothers and children living on the streets.

There are an estimated 33,000 child and adolescent workers in Cochabamba city, roughly 70 per cent of whom are girls and young women. Mosoj Yan's work include the exercise and defence of human rights, social and personal responsibility, preventative and vocational education, leadership, reproductive and preventative health, and respect for the natural environment.

"Basically, Mosoj Yan is split up into three; The Motivation Centre, The Restoration centre and The Centre for Working Girls. Our group has been split up so there are two in The Motivation Centre, two in The Restoration Centre and three in The Centre for Working Girls (which is where I am)" explained Sophie.

"The Centre for Working Girls is for street children (when the say working girls, they don't mean prostitutes, they mean they sell on the streets). Basically, we do classes all week at different nucleuses through out the city. On Tuesday, we go to a school in the south (which is the poorest part of the city) and do a lesson, which again is life skills based as well as educational."

She continued: "On Wednesday, we go to an old church in the morning and do a lesson there. This week, we did Joseph and his multicolour coat, along with a class on how to take care of chickens. They get homework every week, both Biblical and academic, and they get a Biblical prize if the have done it and brought it to class the next week. In the afternoon, we go to La Cancha, which is the biggest market in South America.

"We've been trying to grow vegetables, but the dogs keep on getting in and wrecking it. Last week, we made flower pots with the children out of empty coke bottles so the each had a plant to take home. On Thursdays, we don't do anything with the children, so we clean the centre or go back to the garden to try and get the more heavy work done without the children

"Fridays are based at Mosoj Yan and we do the same class twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. So the kids come depending on when they have school."

And she added: "The children absolutely love having foreigners around - they practically hang off us. The first class I was in with them they were placing their hands on mine and comparing the colour of our skin. They also love to ask a lot of questions, which I'm getting better at deciphering thanks to my Spanish lessons.

"We've been told that relationships are a big thing in Bolivian culture so even if it feels like were not doing much, the friendships were developing are really important."

For more information on this or any other project supported by Tearfund visit http://www.tearfund.org">http://www.tearfund.org