Anyone who is parent or caretaker knows that being quarantined with kids is a difficult balancing act. Much of the online chatter these days speaks of the difficulty of being “stuck” with the kids all day, homeschooling them, and keeping them busy and safe.
That is why we can all empathize with the profound work done by Hogar Santa Teresita in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. This home for abused and neglected children was built with funding by Catholic Extension Society donors.
Right now, they have 12 little ones in their care. The staff is quarantined with a dozen kids ages 3-7, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In their short lives, these kids have already suffered more than some of us will in an entire lifetime. They each came to the home with a different story. Some were starved, others were abandoned on the streets. Some were locked up in cages, and some abused sexually and physically.
Hogar Santa Teresita has served the community for more than 20 years. It has a well-deserved reputation for providing excellent medical and psychological services, healthy food, and a comfortable living space. But they also provide unlimited love and an environment where the kids can regain their dignity.
Puerto Rico continues to have one of the strictest policies in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There are shelter-in-place orders and a daily curfew of 7pm. Grocery stores closed on Sundays by mandate, and vehicles are only permitted on the roads only certain days of the week, based on one’s license plate number.
Ms. Melva Arebelo is the director of the home and Catholic Extension Society’s 2016 Lumen Christi Award recipient. She explained that her staff often get pulled over by the police who are strictly enforcing these measures. She and her staff have to show a letter that authorizes them as essential workers.
Now on top of their normal services, they also have to educate the children at the home. But Melva was happy to report that the kids are doing well under the extraordinary circumstances. In fact, they’re thriving.
“This is going to be a very special Holy Week for us,” she said. “There is so much pain in the world. But after this, we will be able to breath freely, which will inspire calm.”
Hogar Santa Teresita shares the same property and name with an adjacent parish, which is also supported by Catholic Extension Society. They consider the kids part of their parish family. It is truly poor faith communities like these around the country, which are inspiring all of us in these difficult times, by the way they are continuing to serve their people who need them the most.
But none are more awe-inspiring than the children themselves, in whom we see the suffering face of Christ. The children celebrated Palm Sunday this past weekend like the rest of us, but it is they who bring us close to Christ’s sorrowful passion, and his painful wounds.
And, it is our sincerest hope that these innocent little ones, through the help of Hogar Santa Teresita, are the first to experience the joy and hope of Easter.
