PARAGUAY, Ani Souberlich •
Many of you already know us through Schoenstatt.org, our institutional page and first-hand accounts, and have closely followed the birth of Casa Madre de Tupãrenda, first as a dream and then as a dream that came true in 2016, thanks to help of so many Paraguayans, as well the Ministry of Justice and the many generous people on the other side of the ocean. Today as the Director of Casa Madre de Tupãrenda, I want to reach each of you with an urgent appeal for help, or better said, to help Miguel, Alí, Javier, Juan and his companions who currently live at Casa Madre de Tupãrenda, and are filled with hope and enthusiasm, learning baking, agriculture, and industrial tailoring, and above all living a dignified life so that one they can “be the father to my children that I never had.”—
I am Soüberlich, I am sure that many of you know my name, because together – you the readers, the Schoenstatt.org team and I – built “100 houses”, a concrete gift for 100 years of the Covenant of Love, thus echoing the call of the Family and the Holy Father to go to the peripheries…Together, we built “material houses to give a home to real people,” people with a name and surname, and in the end, we offered more than 250 houses to our Holy Father in covenant solidarity.
Today I firmly believe that it was a concrete response to what the Blessed Mother and our father and founder asked of us at that time, in that moment.
We made them a promise and we cannot lie to them
Since 2016, we have been working at Casa Madre de Tupãrenda, Paraguay’s first post-penitentiary house, that receives boys between the ages of 16 and 19 who have been imprisoned at an “Educational Center” under the auspices of Paraguay’s Ministry of Justice.
A program that since August 2016, has seen 26 graduates successfully complete the 9 months of formation. Nine months of “rebuilding their houses of flesh and bone,” nine months of preparation to be born as a new person. Of the 26 graduates, only one fell back into old ways and finds himself in prison once again. The rest all have a stable job and life a dignified life which they never knew before and could not even imagine.
Over the years, we have received help from the state, but we told that FOR THIS YEAR 2019, they cannot help us but hope to continue doing so next year in 2020. Meanwhile, Casa Madre de Tupãrenda must remain self-sufficient because we cannot be like everyone else who has “lied to these youngsters’ for whom CMT is their only and last hope, by closing the house.
Starting in June, we will place 7 months in the hands of Divine Providence – and in your hands and your contacts, networks, connections. We are certain that YES, WE CAN, we are certain that we will be able to move your hearts and pockets as we did to build 250 solidarity houses.
We cannot give you large material gifts to thank you for your generosity. But we can give you a joyful smile on the face of a 17 or 18 year old boy who says: “One day I want to be the father to my children that I never had.”
How much does a smile cost? €468 /US $525 per month.
Every day, I can see how difficult, how painful it is for each boy to trust and allow himself to be helped. From a young age, they have learned to survive on the streets, facing abuse from their parents and indifference from people on the street for whom they don’t exist, who have lied to them with promises they haven’t kept. Every day I can see the inner battle to overcome their addictions, to believe that they are valuable people, that they have good desires that need to be discovered and polished like gold and, even though it is difficult for them to believe, that God has also dreamed of them from all eternity, thought them into being and created them for something great. These are steps that they themselves must take, setting aside their fears and allowing themselves to be helped by the professionals who accompany them at CMT.
They are the ones who must “clear out and sort out their inner selves” and only the breath of God and the Blessed Mother can work to heal the scars on their bodies and the wounds in their souls.
We work together – Fr. Pedro, the CMT staff, volunteers, benefactors, communicators, those who pray – to transform pain and abandon into a desire to live. Our goal and greatest success: a joyful smile on the faces of Ángel, Miguel, Javier, Pablo…
How much does a smile cost? €468 /US $525 per month. [1]
We need 22 benefactors – among individuals, groups, dioceses, shrines, federations, … – who can give us 22 x € 468 /US $525 for 8 months, the next 8 months. In other words, €3744 € /US $4200 now.
Online donations
To make a deposit in Paraguay
Banco Familiar
SWIFT FAMIPYPAXXX
Account N°. 50 00408672
Name: FUNDAPROVA
RUC 80079669-1
For transfers from other countries
Name: Schönstatt-Patres International e. V.
IBAN: DE91 4006 0265 0003 1616 26
BIC/SWIFT: GENODEM1DKM
Use as reference: Fr. Pedro Kühlcke, Casa Madre deTupãrenda
- If you cannot provide a full smile – each contribution counts.
- You can verify our work through Maria Fischerwho is our best correspondent and knows the work done by CMT.
[1] Consists of a bursary, food, consumables, electricity and telephone costs, and salaries. Details at info@fundaprovapy.org
Official Casa Madre de Tupãrenda website (Spanish, English, German)
Articles about Casa Madre de Tupãrenda
He can smile – he is sponsored by a group of couples from Bolivia
