The AIC volunteers in Jiménez run the Casa Hogar San Vicente de Paúl centre for children and adolescents experiencing poverty, vulnerability and/or violence. For over 25 years, the centre has been serving the community of the Mariano Jiménez municipality, in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
80% of the GDP in this community comes from agriculture and livestock, while the remaining 20% is from industry, local commerce, tourism and services. As a result, during most of the year, there is a lot of immigration from the mountainous zone of the state and the south of the country. These immigrants are part of the workforce in the agricultural sector of the municipality.
With them come a large number of women, adolescents and girls in conditions of poverty. Many of them have suffered neglect and domestic violence, which causes severe physical and mental health problems. Their basic needs have been ignored. They are often illiterate, which means they are not aware of their rights and the care that they are worthy of receiving.
For these reasons, during their 25 years of hard work at the Casa Hogar San Vicente de Paúl centre, the main aims of the AIC volunteers have been to give each child and adolescent the right to be recognised as a person, the opportunity to receive a basic level of education, as well as comprehensive training in human values, and the possibility to get psychological therapy, adapted to their age, stage of life and family and personal situation. In this way, they can become aware of their situation in life and be able to find solutions to the situations that most affect them.
At the Casa Hogar San Vicente de Paúl centre, it is of vital importance that all children, adolescents, women and parents find refuge. Every child and adolescent who passes through this centre must receive a hot meal, a decent place to sleep, clean clothes and a space for personal hygiene, as well as psychological care and training in values and topics of interest to them, for their personal development.
The centre has the following fundamental values: justice, equity, social inclusion, tolerance, respect for the dignity of each person and the right of each person to participate in their own destiny. With these values, the volunteers seek to ensure that the children and adolescents become stronger, so that when they leave the centre, they can enjoy a decent quality of life, renouncing the violence and abuse that put people down.
The AIC volunteers from Jiménez are infinitely grateful to the entire community that makes the centre stronger day by day through donations in cash and in kind. Thanks to the businesses who offer their services to the most disadvantaged people; thanks to each of the families and people who, together with the volunteers, have built each space at the centre so that the children in the community can grow up in an environment free of violence and with zero tolerance to child abuse.
Thank you to the children and adolescents who give the volunteers the opportunity to accompany them in this stage of their lives. The volunteers hope that these young people will become citizens with big hearts that will be able to make their dreams come true.
Submitted by: Guillermina Vergara Macip
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