Fundación Mamá Margarita

In 2006, the Fundación Mamá Margarita closed its doors.

The Fundación is a project of the Salesian laity that attempts to integrate community organizing and work on the street. It was founded by committed people from poor neighborhoods, and after 15 years of work in their own communities, the Fundación began to work with street kids.

With the help of the INAM (Child Services Department), Mamá Margarita bought a lot below a busy overpass; today the lot houses a nice home and an attractive garden -- though one cannot ever forget the noise of the highway. During the process of construction, outreach workers spent months on the street, gaining the trust of kids in the area (Petare, a very poor neighborhood) and teaching the kids that people do care for them.

In the last five years, the program has served some 90 children, the majority of whom have returned to their homes. All kids attend school and receive tutoring in the house. There are few rules, because “these kids are sick of rules!”, but there is much love, which keeps order in the house. The house has space for some 25 boys between 8-14 years, and it is normally full.

Mamá Margarita is part of the Salesian network in Venezuela, so the children may attend “the school for those without a school,” run by Salesian fathers, and when they turn 14, they may continue in the Casa Don Bosco of Valencia, a large institution where they receive housing, food, and vocational training.

Like many programs, Mamá Margarita speaks of a “family environment,” but for them, family means “brothers” as much as “father-son.” The boys learn to care for and support each other.

According to the Fundación, Venezuelan kids have two motives to live on the street: a street vendor makes much more than the minimum wage, and the Venezuelan economy of “easy money” from petroleum means that they don’t have to work to get ahead. Both reasons make it difficult to convince kids to go to school or to learn a trade.

Mamá Margarita gets its budget from the state, the federal government, and several large businesses. Many of its workers are volunteers or college students.

Fundación Mamá Margarita
Vicente Paez, Presidente

Comienzo Avenida Principal de La Urbina, entrada de emergencia del Hospital Materno-Infantil de Petare, frente al Mercado Sipeco
Petare, Caracas
Venezuela

212 271 8332 (tel/fax)
414 234 3271 (cel)

funmar@cantv.net
vicentealexan68@hotmail.com