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Founded in 1981, CFCA had its start when Bob Hentzen, who belonged to the Order of Christian Brothers, was teaching school in a wealthy section of Bogotá, Colombia. From the school, he could see the side of a mountain dotted with small huts built by the poor and wished he could do something for their impoverished inhabitants.
His opportunity came following the death of his mother later that year, when he returned to the states. Here his two brothers and sister made a pact that the family would support Hentzen’s missionary efforts in Bogotá, allowing him to go back and minister to the poor. He was joined in this effort by missionary Jerry Toll in forming the first project, which began with nine children. The following year they initiated the sponsorship program, which later expanded from aiding poverty-stricken children to include the aged as well, persons who are considered useless “throwaways” there when they are no longer productive.
Today there are more than 302,000 sponsored children and aged persons in 26 countries in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia assisted by CFCA. “The sad part about this all,” said Hrdlicka, “is that there are 35,000 more that are on the waiting list for sponsors.”
At $20 a month, he noted, the cost of sponsorships comes to around 66 cents a day, less than a cup of coffee or a beer. It is a princely sum though in undeveloped countries and enables CFCA to provide food, basic clothing, medical and dental care, life-enriching workshops and assistance with tuition and school supplies, as well as formation in spiritual values.
Hrdlicka noted that in Colombia, students must pay a fee to attend school and each year CFCA provides the children in their program with two school uniforms, a gym uniform and whatever other clothing may be needed. The children also receive birthday presents through the program. “This is usually needed clothes,” said Hrdlicka, “like pajamas and slippers.” Christmas parties for mothers and children are also held by CFCA. Here too, presents are primarily necessities, perhaps a pair of shoes and a simple, age-appropriate toy.
He noted that CFCA also provides recreational programs that “allow the children to be children” and to build up their self-esteem, including arts and crafts and dance classes from aerobics to folkloric. The Hrdlickas were treated to a wide range of dance performances by participants in the program throughout their visit to Colombia. “And there’s always music,” Hrdlicka said. “There are hand-made flutes, made from bamboo, and a variety of drums made from wood and animals skins.”
One of the more memorable Masses they attended during their stay took place in a CFCA community center in a village near Cartagena. Four young men entered bearing a litter on their shoulders, atop of which sat a girl in ethnic dress holding aloft the lectionary. “She was singing all the way,” he said. Colorful dancers, singers and acrobats added to the further uniqueness of the service.
Everywhere they went, the Hrdlickas were greeted by hundreds of children and family members who receive CFCA assistance. “And they all crowded around us,” said Hrdlicka. “They wanted to hug us and kiss us. It was really touching.”
In Medellin they were able to meet the little girl they had sponsored and corresponded with the past five years, Maria Alejandra. “We brought two duffel bags of gifts for Maria and her family,” said Hrdlicka. “They were simple things — T-shirts, socks, baseball caps, school supplies, soap, bandaids, toothbrushes, a couple of inexpensive watches from Wal-Mart, candy, gum and some toys.”
Each time the children pulled something out of the bags, the mother would burst into tears. “She was so excited about every little thing we take for granted,” said Georgia Hrdlicka. Special gifts for Maria were a music box, a walkman and teddy bear, which she clung to throughout the Hrdlickas’ visit to the home. She had never had one before, she told them.
Hrdlicka observed the family’s home was nicer than others they visited during their trip, having a concrete floor with pictures hanging on the painted walls. However, there were only two small bedrooms for the family of 10, with the men sleeping in one room and the women in the other. In one of these, the entire room was taken up by a large bed and mattress on the floor. “You had to step on the mattress to get into the bed,” Hrdlicka recalled.
The house was immaculately clean, however. “They said this is what they (CFCA) teach parents,” Georgia Hrdlicka said, “how to take care of what they have.”
The family had originally lived in a more typical adobe house, but had become able to afford better housing thanks to the Hdrlickas’ sponsorship of Maria, in addition to her father finding a better-paying job. (He now earns the equivalent of $200 U.S. dollars a month working in the lumber industry, previously making the equivalent of $123 monthly as a night watchman.)
In the CFCA programs, parents receive vocational training, including classes in sewing, hairdressing and baking, as well as parenting classes. “This allows the parents to get better jobs and some of them move into small business ventures,” said Hrdlicka. “Some of the mothers are able to save up enough money to buy their own sewing machines, so it just enhances their way of life.”
Eighty-three percent of money sent for CFCA sponsorships goes directly to the sponsored person. Very little is spent toward administrative costs. “They have gotten top ratings by two of the independent groups that monitor charities,” Hrdlicka noted.
In the boards and tin home of the elderly couple they visited in Bogotá, the blind grandmother had long been on a waiting list to be sponsored. The couple’s young granddaughter, whom they were raising, was already being sponsored.
“Bogotá is at a high elevation in the mountains,” said Hrdlicka. “It gets pretty cold there and it was a rainy day, so it was pretty chilly that morning.” The grandmother had no blanket, only a sheet to keep her warm. The Hrdlickas had brought with them a blanket from home, not knowing at the time to whom they would give it. When they left the ramshackle home, the grandmother was beaming with joy, the warm blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders. And the Hrdlickas had decided they would become a sponsor for her too.
Hrdlicka noted there are also vocation and student scholarship programs, separate from the regular sponsorship program in CFCA. Currently, they have around 500 vocation candidates studying for the priesthood and the religious life.
There are 70 scholarship students being sponsored and one lady on the mission trip with the Hrdlickas had sponsored a girl from childhood through university studies. Usually, sponsorship ends when the child graduates from the Colombian equivalent of our high school, at the age of about 18.
“But this lady knew that this girl wanted to go into the university to study to be a doctor,” said Hrdlicka, “so she continued to sponsor her all the way through the university. That woman now is a doctor and she’s living and working among the poor in the village where she grew up.”
He noted that scholarship students are required to give back something of themselves to their community, with many returning to work as instructors in the arts and crafts classes or serving as guides or interpreters for the mission awareness trips.
“We saw firsthand the effects of CFCA sponsorship,” said Hrdlicka, “that is has the power to transform lives and allows people to live in God-given dignity and ensure for them a better future. I know of no better way to answer the Gospel call to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked and to care for the sick and the stranger.”
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