A young mother and child from the refuge. Images and stories published describe beneficiaries and impact of the work. Dignity cultivated
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The United Nations has determined that the difference between a good and bad life for a child is a mother with a sense of empowerment. Out of a culture of silence, out of their fatalism and apparent docility, out of their self-devaluation and poverty, out of violence, young mothers who have been abandoned on the streets of Santiago, Chile, come to the Refuge of Mercy. They realize that the conditions that give rise to despair can and should be changed. At first they feel helpless. At the refuge they are offered emotional and psychological help, education, and spiritual guidance that will lead them to a new reality of hope and courage.
Since 1927 the Refuge of Mercy has been dedicated to raising the status of adolescent mothers. The goal of the Sisters of Merciful Love is to empower each young mother who comes to the refuge with the ability to nurture and protect her child, to recognize her self worth, and to learn the skills she needs to embrace the future with her child.
When these young women leave the refuge, they have a sense of inner dignity that cannot be taken away regardless of the oppression and hardship they may face in the future. They develop an inner power and the realization that they can change the circumstances of their lives.
In collaboration with the Sisters of Most Merciful Love, the Merciful Love Connection supports education, tutoring, and training in parenting and job skills that will help the young mothers thrive when they re-enter society with their child. The Merciful Love Connection promotes awareness of the work of the Sisters; gathers resources for the needs of the young families at the refuge; offers financial support for the physical maintenance and capital improvements at the refuge; and provides education and counseling for the adolescent mothers who seek shelter there.
Join us in our mission. We will use every penny as if lives depend on it ~ because they do.
Hogar Refugio de Misericordia
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