Nicaragua Extract from DeusCaritasEst Magazine of the Brothers of Charity

‘Padre Valerio’ – that is how he is addressed here – knows the history of many of the street children of the touristic city of Granada: abused, involved in prostitution, glue sniffing, etc.He started a center: Jesus Amigo where about 20 children come daily: all marked by a horrific past, forced to have seen and experienced too much, and still so young. Valère, along with Msgr. Hombach, the bishop of Granada, started this work, out of compassion. The bishop is concerned about the continuation of the work when he will not be there anymore. And that was the reason for Valère to come to us and ask us whether the Brothers of Charity would be prepared to take over and continue their work. The American province was addressed and after an exploratory visit, their report presented a positive assessment.The St Martin de Porres region was asked to take on this new project and provide a brother while we also looked for a suitable candidate on an international level. Bro. Bernard Houle from Peru and Bro. Emmanuel Yeo are now on the spot. Bro. Bernard has the responsibility for ‘Christo Sana’, a home for abandoned children while Yeo runs ‘Jesus Amigo’, the day centre for street children. It was on Tuesday 15 December 2009 both institutes were handed over to the Brothers of Charity:
‘Jesus Amigo’ and ‘Christo Sana’, and a residence for the brothers. BoC established their presence in 29 countries that day. The community was entrusted to Saint Vincent on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of his death this year. Every day, thebrothers and their staff members put his spirituality into practice. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America, after Haiti. Housing is miserable, many children do not go to school, and professional training is virtually non existent. Granada is a beautiful city with wonderful churches and great halls from the Spanish era, and situated on the shore of the biggest lake in Latin America, Lake Nicaragua, a true tourist attraction. The other side of the picture, however, is the prevailing promiscuity, including child prostitution, of which ‘our’ street children are mostly the victims. Two people from Flanders opened a gay hotel and hired several of these children as prostitutes. There were even photographs on their website. Sad stories, indeed, revolting even.
The congregation faces a new challenge here. Developing a good community life and the pastoral care of vocations are our key priorities in addition to pursuing both existing projects. We hope to expand this centre on a more professional level and create a solid programme, which will grant these children a better future. Working with street children is no sinecure. They are well known for their fickleness and disloyalty, their haggling and manipulating. Their life situation gets even harder to manage because of their drug-dependent behaviour. Learning a trade can offer them more perspectives in life and introducing them to a more residential setting like ‘Christo Sana’ could be an option. That is why the second institute was transferred to us; a home established by the Daughters of Charity and recently returned to the diocese for lack of manpower. Our hope is to align these two institutes and provide a good service in the care and relief of street children, in which charity and professionalism go hand in hand.
In Belgium, they are already making preparations for the Charity for the South, to make a contribution and help improve professionalism, accommodation and structure in these homes. We are off to a good start in Granada and we are grateful for both Msgr.Bernardo Hombach’s and Valère Neckebrouck’s faith in the congregation. It was a joyous day for them as well, a day in which their life’s work gained new perspectives. Valère told me not to forget Saint Thérèse of Lisieux in the work with the street children because she has played a great part in the home’s development. It was not the first time that this saint gave the congregation a wink. Once again, she tossed a rose tous from heaven.
Bro. René Stockman