THIS IS WHY WE STARTED LIVSLUST

The Livslust Foundation was established in 1994 by Kerstin Nordin. Kerstin handed over the chair to Eva Christensson in 2006 and resigned from the board in 2007 when she was appointed Honorary Chairwoman.

In 1991, shortly after disintegration of the USSR and Latvia had regained its independence, Kerstin visited Latvia and found a country burdened with severe social problems. She saw that children and teenagers in orphanages and school institutions had an extra hard time. The situation for these groups still remains difficult. Some are orphans; others have parents who are not able to take care of them. <many of these children spend their entire childhood in institutions and after finishing the compulsory education, they are forced to leave. They are 15-16 years old, they have nowhere to go and they lack an education that could lead to a job. As a result, they are easy preys of criminal gangs, and often end up in prison. Livslust was founded for these youngsters - in order to give them a chance of having a normal life.

The work of  Livslust is as important today as it was when Kerstin founded the organisation.

In May 2004, Latvia became a member of the European Union. The political situation, however, remains unstable and the country is still among the poorest countries in Europe. But the economy is improving and there is a growing middle class. The increasing prosperity is not for everyone however. In Riga and in the tourist areas the situation is promising, at least on the outside, but the developments still have not reached all areas and all groups of people. The gap between people in society is increasing and orphans and other socially exposed young people are suffering the most.