The large flow of migration has brought with it new social, labor, and economic complexities for which the Peruvian state was not prepared.
The Don Bosco House, in the Magdalena del Mar neighborhood in the city of Lima, was therefore established as a care service in response to the great wave of migration that occurred in the country in 2018 and 2019. Today it is a shelter that houses 45 young migrants and refugees between the ages of 18 and 25, and five families who are in extreme poverty, with no money and no home, fleeing a country where there is no food, no work, no health care.
Inside, the youngsters find qualified staff, such as educators and psychologists, and the opportunity to live in a family atmosphere that fosters personal and spiritual growth through Mass and pastoral activities. The children taken in mostly come from single-parent families and have experiences of abandonment, separation, child labor, rigid upbringing, and prison experiences behind them. They have grown up in the current sociopolitical and economic situation in Venezuela and many have not developed or strengthened the social-emotional skills to live an adult life. More than 700 young people have passed through Casa Don Bosco in recent years, including from Ecuador and Colombia.
The psychological path offered consists of four phases:
Research: this phase begins with the first meeting between the young person and the House; it serves to get to know the young person's personal and family situation, as well as the motivations that lead him or her to ask the House for help.
Housing: the process of integration and adaptation to the daily dynamics of the House begins; he or she starts looking for work with the support of guidance and counseling for resume preparation and research. He also attends group training and recreational and sports moments, as well as a music room and Internet zone.
Commitment: the youth becomes more independent, expected to be able to take on personal and Household responsibilities and commitments.
Family: this stage is experienced by young people who, due to various circumstances, have been taken in together with their partners and children and who voluntarily ask to be part of this new experience. The youth live a more independent life, as they have already assumed full responsibility for themselves and their family.
For more information, please visit: www.missionidonbosco.org
