Student at St Bernadette’s Children’s Centre. - Photo: Fr Tim Mulroy
Everywhere, dust swirls in the hot and humid air, irritating one’s eyes, nose and throat. This light brown sand, which covers most of the surrounding landscape, is easily taken up and carried by the breeze or driven to a frenzy by the sudden braking of vehicles. Of course, there is nothing surprising about this, given that Lima - the capital city of Peru - is built in a desert with just one-third of an inch (less than one centimetre) of rainfall per year.
Moreover, here at the edge of the city where Columban Fr Tony Coney has ministered for the past thirty years, the development of infrastructure is slow, while many of its poorer residents have much more pressing concerns than caring for the surrounding environment. Consequently, not only is the air thick with dust and the dark black fumes of vehicles, but many open spaces - including the small plots in front of people’s homes - are left barren or strewn with garbage.
What a joyful surprise it is then to come across small plots that are green and vibrant! Some have small trees or cactus plants; others have shrubs and flowers. However, to maintain their vitality and beauty, their owners must tend and care for them - on the one hand, preventing neighbourhood dogs and careless passers by from spoiling them; on the other hand, watering, fertilizing and pruning them regularly.
Maintaining one of these small oases in this desert landscape requires daily devotion and diligence, but the delight that it provides not only to its owner but to all who observe it as they pass by is immeasurable.
St Bernadette's Children’s Centre is another kind of oasis in this desert. In an otherwise colourless array of buildings covering a steep, sandy hillside, this bright yellow building perched at the top of the hill immediately catches one’s eye and piques one’s curiosity. Just as a wayfarer in a desert is drawn with hope and delight to an oasis, so do more than three hundred children and teenagers from the surrounding neighbourhood approach this children’s centre daily with the expectant joy of having a safe place to play and make new friends, as well as exploring and learning new things.
Unlike their homes, the St Bernadette's Children’s Centre is spacious and colourful. Compared to the very few recreational options in the narrow neighbourhood streets, here they can freely engage in a wide variety of activities, ranging from jigsaw puzzles to snooker, from indoor soccer to arts and crafts. Here, too, they can avail themselves of the gentle guidance and support of professional staff in order to develop reading skills, overcome a speech defect, or complete homework exercises. In a world where many parents struggle to provide the necessities of life for their family, where the education system favours those who are already privileged, and where public recreational facilities are minimal, the children’s centre is an oasis where children and teenagers blossom as they engage in various activities, develop their unique gifts and talents, and grow in relationship with others in a secure and caring environment.
An oasis in the desert close to St Bernadette’s Children’s Centre. - Photo: Fr Tim Mulroy
The provision of a supportive and nurturing environment where children can flourish is also an ongoing endeavour for Fr Michael McKinnon who ministers in a sprawling rural parish. Located more than 750 miles (1,200 kilometres) from the city of Lima and almost 13,000 feet (approximately 4,000 metres) above sea level, the air is thin and the sunlight harsh in this mountainous region.
Fr McKinnon, who belongs to the diocese of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, has spent more than fifteen years on mission under the Columban umbrella in South America. In the town of Yanaoca where he currently ministers, one of his predecessors, Columban priest Fr Kim Young-In, established a children’s centre called “T’ikariy” more than a decade ago and Fr McKinnon continues to oversee and manage it. “The name T’ikariy means ‘to flower’ in the local indigenous Quechua language,” he explains, “and it is a joy to see the children of this area gradually blossom as they develop their potential and self-confidence”.
He continues, “In the surrounding environment, they face so many obstacles - for example, during covid, the schools here were closed for almost two years, and the children had absolutely no alternative opportunities to learn, so they are still trying to catch up with their studies. Moreover, many of their parents are unable to assist them due to their own limited educational background as well as their ongoing struggle to make ends meet in this harsh climate and bleak environment. However, we are blessed to have a community of the Poor Sisters of Jesus Christ, as well as a few semi-retired teachers living nearby.
The parish oversees and manages the children’s centre, where those semi-retired teachers assist more than sixty children with their homework during evenings throughout the school year. Together with a few student teachers and some Sisters, they also facilitate the summer holiday programme, which consists of classes in literacy, mathematics and religious education on weekday mornings and then various games and activities - such as arts and crafts, cooking, music and dancing - in the afternoons. Last year, ninety children benefited from the summer holiday programme.”
As we continue our walk together through the children’s centre, the radiant smiles of the children in the classrooms and the brightly coloured displays of their artwork on the corridor walls are reminders that this place is indeed an oasis of care, support and hope, not only for those children but also for their families and the wider community.
Columban Fr Michael McKinnon with Mr. Harry Cahuana, a teacher and supervisor at T’ikariy Children’s Centre, Yanaoca, Peru. - Photo: Fr Tim Mulroy
Both Fr McKinnon and Fr Coney are deeply grateful for the generosity of so many people across the world who continue to provide the resources that are necessary to keep these oases irrigated and cultivated so that the children who avail of their services can grow and blossom. “Looking back on these past twenty-eight years since St Bernadette’s Children’s Centre was first established, each year there have been moments when I wondered - and sometimes worried - how we could make ends meet, and each year I have learned to trust a little more in God’s providence since we have always succeeded in balancing the books,” Fr Coney muses. “Sometimes it’s a gift from a family member or the people of a parish where I had previously ministered back home in Australia. At other times, it’s a donation from Columban supporters or a church agency that keeps us operating in the black,” adds Fr McKinnon.
Earlier this year, St Bernadette’s Children’s Centre celebrated the 28th anniversary of its foundation with a week of special activities for the children and teenagers. Already, Fr Coney is anticipating the 30th anniversary celebration and is engaged in various preparations for that occasion: “We have plans for the major reconstruction of one area as well as the significant refurbishment of several other areas of the children’s centre, which we aim to complete before the 30th anniversary in February 2027. However, the only truly meaningful celebration of that important milestone will be to ensure that the centre becomes even more responsive to the various needs of the children and teenagers in this poor and barren neighbourhood.”
Seeing the blessings that these two children’s centres continue to provide younger generations, Fr Coney and Fr McKinnon remain committed to irrigating, cultivating and extending those oases in the hope that, little by little, the surrounding communities will be transformed into thriving, colourful flower gardens.
Columban Fr Tim Mulroy, after six years as the Columban Society Leader based in Hong Kong, spent part of his sabbatical year in Peru.
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - June 2025
