Colombians now getting more than leftovers

The miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes is very real to Sister Fabiola Quiroz Antioquia, DC. After every meal she serves to needy children in the La Pintada slum near Medellin, Colombia, she gathers up the scraps -- a half-bowl of soup, some fried plantains -- to give to even less fortunate children outside.

The first group of children Sister Fabiola serves have been lucky enough to find sponsors through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), a lay Catholic organization that matches the needy in developing countries with donors who fund their education and nutrition.

Another 40,000 children still await sponsorship, including those who live on the leftovers Sister Fabiola doles out.

Meeting a need

One group of American Catholics who met the children last summer were moved to help.

"There are so many needs in the world. We know about this one," explained Sandi Dietlein, a parishioner of St. Clare's Church in Colonie who spent a dozen years working in youth ministry in the Albany Diocese.

Mrs. Dietlein and her husband, Richard, have been sponsoring children through CFCA for many years, and are currently helping two young boys in Cartagena, Colombia. But when she took a CFCA-sponsored trip to Colombia over the summer to witness the organization's work, her tour group was struck by how much more aid is needed.

"I spent the entire trip in tears," Mrs. Dietlein remembered, describing CFCA programs in several Colombian villages that provide school uniforms, education, health care and more for children living in severe poverty.

Leftovers

Everywhere the seven-member tour group traveled, they were eagerly welcomed into families' tiny cement-block or bamboo homes and told disturbing stories of people's lives there.

But it was La Pintada where the group noticed the most disturbing trend: Children who were not yet part of the CFCA program, living in nearby fields and eating the leftovers from the sponsored children's meals.

"Sister Fabiola was also housing some of the little ones in her own room," Mrs. Dietlein said. "We [in the tour group] were talking about it, saying, 'These children have no opportunity, no chance for something better than poverty and being pawns of the paramilitary.' You could see how easy it is for the paramilitary to recruit from these people. We were really concerned about these kids."

Offering aid

After returning home, group members from across the U.S. began emailing one another, debating how to help. They decided to contact the headquarters of the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland, who offered assistance in setting up an account where donors could send funds that would be forwarded to Sister Fabiola, a member of the order.

Eight people made initial donations to start the fund, giving $30 to $500 each month. Mrs. Dietlein and the other group members are hoping to find more donors in the Albany Diocese.

Sister Fabiola has been able to document the changes in the additional children she's able to help, using a digital camera bought for her by the Daughters of Charity. A group of six Vicentine Volunteers in Colombia have also added their efforts to the mix, throwing birthday parties for the children and sponsoring a Christmas party.

Cards from the children have been sent back to the donors, printed with good wishes and signed in childish block letters, "Camila Montoya," "Victor Alvarez," "Luis Migel Mesa," "Diego Ramires."

Hugs across border

"We met these kids," Mrs. Dietlein told The Evangelist. "We hugged them. We looked into each other's eyes."

She called the visit to Colombia "a trip of faith for all of us. We could have left it there, but there was a problem that needed to be taken care of right away -- and a very strong feeling that it had to be us" who would do it.

Mrs. Dietlein hopes to return to Colombia next year to see the fruits of that help firsthand. In the meantime, she said, children in La Pintada who were subsisting on scraps now have "a promise that somebody cares. You can't do it all, but you've got to do something."

(To donate, send checks to Sister Mary Frances Hildenberger, DC, St. Joseph's Provincial House, 333 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Note in the subject line: "Sister Fabiola Quiroz Antioquia, La Pintada." Mrs. Dietlein, whose daughter Karen Dietlein Osborne is a staff writer for The Evangelist, would like donors' email addresses to send annual reports on the fund's work; email her at [email protected].)

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