Hogar Monserrate

Hogar Monserrate is a home for abandoned and neglected children near the town of Sesquile, about an hour's drive from the Colombian capital Bogotá. The children who live there and go to school come from the wider area. Many children grow up at home in miserable conditions and suffer from violence, criminal influences, drug trafficking, alcoholism and poverty. As they get older, they often choose the freedom of the street themselves, which means that they end up in the same circuit. Hogar Monserrate takes them off the street to provide them with a home and schooling. The word 'hogar' originally means 'hearth', 'wood fire' and in a broader sense 'house and hearth': 'home'. Monserrate refers to the basilica and pilgrimage site of Monserrate in Bogotá. Hogar Monserrate was founded in 1957 by a father, Bernardo Acosta Padilla, along with his mother Elena. First in the parental home and later this was continued at another location outside the city. Hogar Monserrate is supported, among others, by the Stichting Wereldkinderen. Wereldkinderen started this in 1994. At that time, 65 children (then only boys) lived in a simple building: a dormitory was also a schoolroom, the sanitary facilities were very primitive, the children had to wash their clothes themselves in the ice-cold reservoir and was only one teacher. The school has now been recognized as a public school: the teachers are now paid by the government. There is a modern school building with a library, where children from the area are also taught. The children of Hogar Monserrate go through the entire primary school here and can then go to a secondary school (similar to VBO/MAVO/HAVO) in the town of Tunja, about 40 km away. The home, which is run by sisters, has also been greatly improved. A girls' house has been added since 2 years, so that sisters from poverty-stricken families can now also be admitted. The Hogar is home to an average of 65 boys and 20 girls and there are a number of emergency rooms for dire emergencies. The dormitories have been modernised, the dining room has been renovated and there are good washing facilities and clean showers and toilets. The children go to school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition, they take care of the animals and help in the vegetable garden and the greenhouse and in their own bakery. The products are for personal use and are partly sold on the local market. The children also help with renovating, painting and cleaning, cooking and washing the dishes. In this way they learn everything to keep their independent lives in good water later on. There is also plenty of play area. There are some football fields and an outside play area and they have a number of bicycles together; the children can read, play games and (sometimes) watch television. The sisters are actively working on a possible return home. The parents receive training and guidance during the weekly visiting days. Children who seem to be able to return home first go on probationary leave a number of times. After that, the families are further guided and supported socially and financially by Hogar Monserrate. The children continue to go to school at Hogar Monserrate and are monitored further that way. Sometimes they return to the hogar again. Hogar Monserrate achieves good results with this method: only 5% of children eventually revert to the old way of life on the street. This means that 95% succeed in building a relatively good life, where they would otherwise have had no chance. A blessing for these children and for the country.