The Patio Don Bosco is one of the outstanding initiatives of the Chilean Salesian foundation, which works tirelessly to prevent and transform difficult realities. This modern oratory is part of a global commitment that includes programmes for street children, interventions for children of parents deprived of their liberty, prevention of drug use and support for children and adolescents at risk from falling into delinquency or drug networks. All this aims to help children and adolescents discover that they are deeply loved by God and that they have a purpose in life.
This space has recently been renovated to incorporate high quality facilities, including multi-purpose rooms, refectory, library, study rooms, courtyard, covered patio and a prayer space. This safe and welcoming environment, open every day, is totally geared towards children and adolescents, who can find there not only recreational activities, but also a place where they can strengthen their values, self-esteem and dreams.
More than a recreational space, the work is an instrument of social transformation. Faced with the problems of school drop-outs, substance abuse and the lack of safe spaces, this project reinforces the Salesian preventive approach of Fundación Don Bosco Chile, offering opportunities that keep children and adolescents out of dangerous situations.
The educational model is based on the Don Bosco Preventive System and is developed in three pedagogical stages:
- Pedagogy of trust: building solid bonds with children and their families, creating an atmosphere of welcome and recognition.
- Pedagogy of Hope: promoting personal and social transformation through workshops and group activities.
- Alliance pedagogy: ensuring the sustainability of the results achieved, integrating families and the community in the educational process.
During 2024, 2,442 people benefited from its initiatives, consolidating the Salesian work's commitment to be present in territories where there is the greatest need.
The Foundation's preventive approach is based on three pillars:
- Early intervention: identifying and acting before social exclusion reaches and paralyses young people.
- Community strengthening: working with families, schools and local organisations to build strong support networks.
- Autonomy and social reintegration: preparing young people to fully integrate into society through education, training and life projects.
Thanks to this approach, in 2024 more than 63% of the children and young people served remained in social integration and prevention processes. In addition, 366 have successfully completed their path through school reintegration, vocational training or the strengthening of family networks.
Prevention and promotion work requires being present in the territories where vulnerability is most acutely expressed. For this reason, the Fundación Don Bosco Chile has promoted the development of the Patio a strategy of inclusion in critical neighbourhoods, understood as those areas where structural poverty, delinquency and drug trafficking have created environments of extreme risk for children and young people.
The Patio Don Bosco Puntaqui is not a traditional programme, but a methodology of territorial intervention that seeks to generate an active presence in these spaces, establishing relationships of trust with children and young people exposed to violence and marginalisation. Through direct work in the neighbourhoods, the Salesian foundation teams can identify risk situations early on and start providing support before exclusion becomes irreversible.
The aim of Patio Don Bosco Puntaqui is therefore to offer alternatives before the street, delinquency or drugs become the only option. Its work focuses on:
• Creating reference spaces in neighbourhoods where children and young people can find guidance and direction.
• Building community support networks, working with families, schools and local organisations.
• Strengthening the autonomy of young people, promoting their education and training for work.
These spaces do not provide welfare, but social promotion. It is not a matter of providing help at the right time, but of accompanying young people in a process of transformation, strengthening the capacities and opportunities of each one so that they can develop an autonomous future.
In this oratory, Don Bosco's dream of forming ‘good Christians and upright citizens’ becomes a reality every day. This space is a testimony to how prevention, commitment and faith can transform lives, sowing hope and building a more just and united world.
