Help transform colombian children & their families

The Centro Social Unidad CSU is in the La Merced neighborhood in the south of Bogotá.

In 1977, a group of young people wanted to respond to Chiara Lubich's call to “Give their lives for their own”, and they encountered a displaced, marginalized, and vulnerable Bogotá community that lived by making bricks on a road (called Chircales). This community, with multiple needs to be solved, for 44 years has received the help of these young people who, with the support of friends and acquaintances, begin to provide medical, dental, literacy and recreational care to children. In 1986 a donation was received from young people from all over the world who live for the universal brotherhood and thus the first Social Center was built.

There are currently 305 children enrolled at CSU.

The CSU accompanies the children in the school reinforcement, support in the elaboration of tasks, participation in the "The art of loving School" and different activities that contribute to the integral formation of the children and their families.

The pandemic has led us to reinvent ourselves to respond to new challenges and continue to accompany children.

It was the occasion that they were to reinforce the training of the instructors (many of them have participated in the social center when they were children) so that they have greater tools in the accompaniment of children, one of the most recent workshops was Teamwork, with a psychologist who offered her services. WhatsApp groups have been organized with parents to support the children in their homework, a blog has been created to share the different CSU activities with the children and their families and keep the family spirit alive. In the CSU school guides are printed so that children can fulfill their tasks, we continue to explore the best way to accompany them in their educational process.

In this month of August, the children of the sector have resumed their presence at school, and we have decided to return to their presence at school with caution, we do it in shifts so that there are not many at the same time. There are more than ten mothers in the community who have been more directly involved to participate in the programming that is done for children, and it is very nice to observe how the climate of fraternity that we try to live within the Social Unit Center transcends its borders... and little by little spaces for more harmonious relationships are being created within and between families. school.

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