El Milagro

Send

Every morning more than 400 children from deprived homes arrive at the kindergarten called “El Milagro” (“The Miracle”) in Chorrillos, a district of Lima, Peru. There they are given a meal, elementary education and primary health care, and above all they learn to share, and to understand the value of tidiness and lots of other virtues.

In Armatambo, another kindergarten in the same district, the pre-school group looks after 110 children ranging from six months to five years old, so that their mothers can go out to work and support their families. Both projects were set up by the Peruvian Childcare Committee, and aim to provide much-needed help for the large numbers of children born in extreme poverty who won’t otherwise get enough to eat or basic healthcare and education.

The Committee is composed of twenty professionals in the field who offer their services on a volunteer basis, inspired by the teachings of Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.

One of them, Nelly Centeno, tells how she “could not remain indifferent to the way these people are living. I felt I had to help provide for both their material needs and their spiritual needs.” Elena, another volunteer, teaches them about the importance of looking after little details of tidiness, cleanliness and service in the home, and how to work in order to please God.

Mirtha Montoya, chief social worker, explains that this project is much more than just social assistance. Its aim is to give these children an education based on Christian values, and contribute to their all-round development through educating the family as a whole. “The mothers and children who come to El Milagro have changed a lot because of the human and spiritual development they receive in this centre. They realise their own dignity as human beings and that helps them give a new meaning to their work,” said Nelly la Rosa. Gaby de Romana added that “the whole family is helped, because as well as looking after the children’s education, training and health, we also offer Christian formation for their parents.”

The district where these two kindergartens are situated is surrounded with dwellings which often have not even basic services such as running water and drains. Because of their low level of education, the parents of the children usually work as casual labourers and experience enormous difficulties. The Christian formation they are given helps them to make more of an effort to improve their own standard of living and at the same time helps them to understand the value of suffering and the need to live close to God.

The kindergarten workers have many moving stories to tell. One is that of Juan Martin, whose mother suffered from tuberculosis and, having no money, was forced to leave her children with their grandmother. Since he came to Armatambo Juan Martin has changed completely, and has started to laugh again.

This sort of case encourages the volunteers to overcome difficulties and obtain funding to support the centres so that other children and their families can benefit. They have set up a Parent Schooling project to teach parents about bringing up children, and this means they can stay in active contact with each family. This also enables them to offer specific, personal guidance on overcoming problems.

“The subjects we have covered in the Parent Schooling helped me a lot in bringing up my children. I learnt to communicate with them and gain their trust,” says Flor Quispe.

Other activities aim to promote the all-round improvement of women’s lives, to help each of them to develop as a person, and provide them with vocational training in dressmaking, confectionery, cooking and food preparation, so that they can get better jobs. The social assistance office obtains food, clothing and medicines and organizes holiday camps over Christmas and the other vacations so that parents and children can enjoy their time together and benefit from a wholesome atmosphere.

Other extra services are the clinics, including a dental clinic, which sees over 30 children every week. There is also a community development programme run with the help of young people, who take charge of social workshops and catechism classes.

The project is constantly growing. The parents now see it as their own, and have committed themselves to keeping it going. It is progressively changing the whole district of Chorrillos.

El Milagro

List of Contents