July is the coldest month of the year in Santiago, Chile, with the nearby Andes Mountain Range covered in snow. July is also time for the two-week winter school holidays. It is a difficult time of the year, especially if one comes from a disadvantaged family with few holiday options for their children.
San Matias is a large, sprawling Columban parish on the southern periphery of Santiago, Chile. It is known for its many social problems, such as poverty, unemployment, crime, substance abuse, violence, gangs, and drug trafficking. During the winter school holidays, many of the children of the parish become confined to their apartment blocks due to these surrounding social conditions as well as the cold. They have very little to do all day.
To reach out to the many underprivileged children of the parish, a unique Winter School Holiday program was organized for July. It came about thanks to the coordinated efforts of three groups working with the Columban missionaries.
The Three Groups
The first group consisted of the parishioners of San Matias Parish, including a team of female volunteers in charge of buying and preparing food each day, and a local high school teacher who organized the calendar of activities and the roll call each morning.
The second group included Columban seminarians from Korea — Pepe Seong from San Matias Parish and Ambrosio Shim from San Columbano Parish — on their two-year First Mission Assignment (FMA) in Chile.
The third group was made up of three participants of the Columban SIM program in Chile (Society Invitation to Mission), which offers interested persons opportunities to participate in mission with Columbans in the countries where Columbans work for different periods. The three SIM participants were: Danny Sweeney from England for a one-year mission experience in Chile; Josh Eagan from Ireland for a ten-week experience in Chile; and Francisco Martinez from San Columbano Parish, Santiago, Chile, for a six-week experience in his home country.
How Was This Program Organized?
The program was organized for the first week of July from Monday to Saturday. Three nourishing meals, plus morning and afternoon tea, were provided each day with lunch the principal meal of the day. This was greatly appreciated by parents as sometimes poor families struggle to provide adequate nourishment for their growing children.
After much publicity from the parish priest, Columban Fr. Genovio Cho, the parents of 60 children enrolled their children ranging in age from eight to fifteen years. The chapel where the program took place, has a youth center located next to a large public park. Each day began with morning prayer and Bible stories provided by a visiting congregation of religious Sisters. After this, the children were divided into four groups, which would rotate morning and afternoon between the four workshops that were offered.
The Four Workshops
- Korean cuisine and culture: Our two Korean seminarians, Pepe and Ambrosio, held cooking classes in Korean cuisine and other special craft activities such as paper folding. Korean Columban and parish priest, Fr. Genovio Cho, also helped in this popular workshop.
- Self-Defense Classes: English SIM volunteer, Danny Sweeney, taught basic self-defense moves in his workshop. Danny has a black belt in Jujutsu and studied under a Jujutsu Master in China.
- Basic Fitness and Irish Football: Irish university student in Physical Education and SIM volunteer, Josh Egan, taught fitness skills with balls, cones and hoops and many other moves, as well as the basics of Irish Football.
- Rugby Union Football: Chilean SIM volunteer Francisco Martinez taught Rugby, which he had played at the university in Santiago. By Saturday, two teams were ready for a small match.
The Special Friday Outing
A bus was hired on Friday to bring the children and accompanying adults across the city to the Natural History Museum in Santiago and the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to visit new places, have new experiences, and to bond as a group.
Saturday, The Final Day
The Winter School Holiday program finished on Saturday with a special Mass, followed by a lunch of Chilean hot dogs. There were plenty of tears and pleas to be able to continue during the second week of the school holidays but sadly, this was not possible.
The smiles of contentment on the children’s faces showed that this Winter School Holiday program had been a resounding success. They made new friends, learned new skills, and had many memorable experiences. The parents who collected their children were also very grateful to the Columbans. Both parents and children asked many times whether this experience would be repeated next winter.
Columban Fr. Daniel Harding lives and works in Australia.