Charitable Works > Rest of the Country – Poverty and School Attrition > In El Calafate, Santa Cruz

Our Lady of Patagonia

Building the school June 2008

Nuestra Señora de la Patagonia School

New School in El Calafate: Registration Starts

Next November 12 registration will start at the new Nuestra Señora de la Patagonia School in El Calafate, Province of Santa Cruz, whcih belongs to Felices los Niños Foundation.

This Institution will offer double schooling, boarding (breakfast, dinner and afternoon snack), capability workshops, catechesis, and like all Felices los Niños schooling sites it will be completely free of charge. It will serve the most needed children in the area.

CONTACT:

Phone: (02902) 496-694   From abroad: +54 (2902) 496-694
E-mail: feliceslosninoselcalafate@live.com.ar
Address: Avda. Eva Perón esquina Madre Teresa de Calcuta - (9405) El Calafate, Santa Cruz - Argentina

María Auxiliadora Oratory

FEATURES:

María Auxiliadora Oratory (Sta. Teresita Parish)

On January 7^th 1998 the first missionary group arrived at El Calafate, in the province of Santa Cruz, to take the Word of God. El Calafate is the headquarters of the Don Bosco Missionary Group that carries out its pastoral mission in January and July. El Calafate is a small town of 10 thousand inhabitants, 320 km (200 mi) away from Río Gallegos, the province’s capital city, and less than 50 miles from Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia’s major tourist attraction.

In view of the need to have the Felices los Niños Foundation present in the town, the María Auxiliadora Oratory was created in January 2001, at the Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús Parish, where we work together with Father Carlos “Lito” Alvarez.

The purpose of the Felices los Niños Foundation’s work in El Calafate is to stop children from dropping out of school and provide comprehensive assistance to those most in need, especially the children of farm workers in the surrounding Patagonian estancias who do not have the means to go to school. From Monday through Saturday a series of workshops are run on Plastic Arts, Drama, Vegetable Garden Tending and Gardening. Lessons are also given in guitar playing and languages (Italian, English, Portuguese, French). Learning foreign languages is key as the area is an international tourist resort. On Sundays the Missionary Group provides religious instruction at the Oratory. All children are given breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. The Oratory serves as a Day Care Center.

The assisted persons are infants, children, pregnant teenagers or teenagers with babies, and youngsters up to 21 years old. During the summer and winter vacation, the activities continue at the Oratory. The summer camp provides assistance to a larger number of children than throughout the rest of the year.

The Foundation is concerned about the future of this young people. Hence the Nuestra Señora de la Patagonia Residential School, an E.G.B. School on 52 Street and Route 15 at the Centinela Settlement in El Calafate is half built, waiting for external assistance which could help us finish it, and in the future we also plan the building of a Higher Education School to house the School of Tourism, (the region’s major economic activity), along with courses in Hotel Management and Physical Education. The aim is to offer future job opportunities to those young people who want to remain at their hometown.

CONTACT:

Address: Av. del Libertador 800 - Parroquia Santa Teresita - (Z9405AHS) El Calafate, Santa Cruz - Argentina

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