DISTINGUISHED BY:

An inspired work in style and the notable educator's thought:

WILLIAM C. MORRIS

DESTINED To GIVE COAT to CHILDREN WITH DAMAGED RIGHTS

Acknowledgements

The Aldea (literally “village”) programme can be defined as  family  groups living together: boys and girls of all ages under the care of substitute parents where an atmosphere of emotional support aims to replace the atmosphere that the child has always known up to then.

“Aldea” because in its 120 acres Hogar el Alba owns several large houses which comprise the substitute home;  each of the houses thereby benefits from an independence which distinguishes Hogar  clearly from a traditional institution.  The criterion of  “substitute family”  allows Hogar to nurture and bring to fruition what the child should have been receiving in his or her own family.

“Programme” because in a broad sense the word refers to an organized whole, in which coherent and integrated activities, services and procedures find their true expression in interrelated projects.  In this model we can say that a  programme starts and maintains  a plan with actions designed to reach the set aims and objectives  within a specified time.

The houses that make up the Aldea Programme develop as mini groups each with a maximum of ten or twelve children, most of whom are brothers or sisters.  The relational aspect facilitates both their education and their personality development. The child, and especially the adolescent, who has not managed to find his or her place in the family or school feels rejected by society, and needs to restore these broken ties which we can term social ties.  Reason tells us that this task is not a simple one.  Restoring these ties requires two qualities not easy to encourage: time and patience.

It is a question here of “chronological and psychological” time, which fosters patience and a maturing of the personality; a far-sighted educator  sows now in order to harvest later;  each step backwards can be a means towards feeling for the way ahead. The person who trusts the child, despite that child´s weaknesses and setbacks, marks out a path constantly renewed by hope.  In this way the spiritual guidance that our children receive is given in the light of the certain promise that each human being in the spiritual dimension has a great potential for recovery, by means of a proper relationship with the creator God through the person of Jesus Christ.

Hogar el Alba develops through its Aldea Programme a system of guardians which facilitates the children´s nurturing and which in many cases allows them a better prospect for life.

This guardianship  consists in finding for the child an adult or a married couple who can fulfil the role of  an outside “godfather” figure with whom a meaningful relationship can be established, one that aims to overcome in the shortest time possible the difficult transition into the boarding community, or at least to make it more tolerable.

For such guardianship there are various alternative models with differing levels of  commitment: these go from establishing a period of frequent visits right up to  the cases where the process can end in  full custody of the child.

The experience of several years of work shows that those children involved in such a model of guardianship  develop more happily during their stay at Hogar.

You can ask for information,  or for a personal interview,  if you wish to be linked to the group of people who have decided to invest their time giving happiness to a child who may otherwise be at risk: info@hogarelalba.com.ar