Nestled in the northwestern corner of Chile’s capital city, Santiago, is Renca. With a population of more than 134,000  people, Renca is one of the more impoverished areas--many families live in and on the border of poverty.

However, there is a ray of hope. Un Rincón de Alegría (A Corner of Happiness) has been providing education and demonstrating Christian love in Renca for the past 3 years. It started as a food project for street teenagers, headed by Irish missionaries Robert and Joan Hamilton and Chilean Jeanette Param. 

During 2001, teenagers from another of Santiago’s needy areas received food, Bible teaching and help with their studies from local Christians. Then in 2005 the Mayor of Recoleta ordered the impromptu destruction of low quality homes, displacing many young people. The Christians involved spent a year praying and searching for another part of Santiago in which to minister, eventually settling in Renca.

They used community centres for coffee mornings and free classes for children. They also purchased a piece of land, where a small school was built. Here they developed an educational programme that focused on children’s spiritual and physical development. 

In the first year breakfast, lunch and education were provided for 12 ‘kinder’ children (aged 5--6), and in year two the programme grew to cater for those in ‘pre-kinder’ (aged 4--5). Now the programme is in its third year, and 30 children are taught in two classes.  

Silvia Duran has been the main educator, with volunteer help from local Christians. The children enrolled in this ‘nursery centre’ receive free breakfast, lunch, Christian care and education from a team of four educators and a full-time cook. Local Christian volunteers and an SIM family from Switzerland come weekly to give workshops in physical education, arts and crafts, music and Bible teaching—they also assist with cooking and cleaning. As an official non-government organization (NGO) providing education in Santiago, it has a Board of Directors and is supported financially by Chileans and foreign interests.

‘Loving these children is easy’
I arrived in October 2007 to help for 2 years with teaching and demonstrating the life-changing love of God. As a qualified teacher, I had been looking for a way to use my professional skills in an overseas context. For a number of years I have felt called to South America. I’ve tested this calling with visits to Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, and have spent time in language study and children’s ministries before being introduced to Un Rincón de Alegría. 

I am still amazed at the way God threw open the doors for me to come – from providing a Chilean Christian Spanish teacher, to links through friends with those working at the nursery. Whichever way I went, it was clear that he was drawing me here. 

Settling into Chilean life has had its ups and downs – getting used to the unorthodox version of Spanish that Chileans speak is a daily challenge, helped in no way by a dictionary (within the Spanish-speaking world, it is kindly classed as the most difficult form of Spanish)! I have been helped through language study, as well as by living and working in Spanish-speaking environments. 

God has been faithful. I arrived with Joshua 1:9 in mind, with the promise that God is with me wherever I go. It has been a daily blessing to teach a group of children who are on the edge of Chilean society, some with desperate family situations, including abuse and neglect. It is a privilege to teach in an environment where I can openly share God’s love and plan of healing for a broken world. 

It is truly amazing, coming from the rigid nature of the UK’s education system filled with paperwork, to be in a place where I can take time out to drip-feed glimpses of God into the day. Of course, I have had to get used to and follow guidelines set out by the Chilean Education Department. But I have been supported well by those on the team. 

 Loving these children is easy: they are loveable and are in desperate need of ‘love with boundaries’, which we see demonstrated in the life of Jesus. Daily we hear new stories of family hurt, and the challenge is to address these needs where we can. This may be in a practical way, such as by providing clothing, or may mean linking them with outside agencies who can assist them spiritually through prayer, counselling and pointing them to God. This year, we have developed the work with families. Swiss SIMer Claudia Christen has started a coffee morning with a group of mums who come and discuss family issues.

As a team, we would love you to pray with us and for us. Please pray that we would be spiritually prepared to face the battles ahead and that the resources needed will be provided. As an NGO, we have applied to the Education Department to be recognized as a school. This would bring financial subsidies from the government. Please pray for wisdom for us, and that we won’t lose our focus and excitement in leading children to God, serving him in a way that brings glory to him only.