PROJECT REFUGIO AGAPE

The History

In 2012, God gave us our firstborn son Ruben, and in 2019, our second son Bruno was born. Tragically, both of our sons inherited a neurodegenerative disease to which both of them lost their lives. Ruben passed away when he was nine (9) years old and then Bruno passed when he was only eight (8) months old. During the time that they were with us, the Lord caused us to experience a new reality where we discovered a new ministry opportunity.

Given the condition of our oldest son Ruben, we spent a significant amount of time in hospitals and intensive care units, ultimately being able to bring him to our small home after six (6) long months in intensive care. Ruben was able to leave our home with the assistance of an invasive ventilator and a lot of special care for his condition. It was through that experience that we were able to create a network of families with children that have similar or other medical conditions as had Ruben.

Since 2012, we have been able to communicate and minister to these families through WhatsApp. We began with five mothers and their children and have now grown to sixty-two (62) families, of which some have lost their children just as we had lost Ruben and Bruno.

The Lord has placed upon our hearts the desire to focus on families that have children with significant disabilities and minister to their specific needs. The following is a description of this Christian ministry we are calling “Refugio Agape,” a non-profit organization in Chile.

Primary Objectives

One of the primary objectives of Refugio Agape is to construct various structures and facilities that are designed for the specific needs of the children, such as a retreat center kitchen/dining room, bedrooms, bathrooms, nursing station and pool. All of these facilities will provide for wheelchair access.

The hope is that these facilities, and the associated program, will provide a very special place where special needs children, along with their parents or caretakers, can enjoy a spiritual vacation without any cost to them.

The program of Refugio Agape will include:

1. Activities designed with both recreational and evangelical purposes where the entire family can participate.
2. Provision of professional health services for the children during their time at the retreat center.
3. Pastors and speakers that will provide seminars addressing important issues for parents focused on the specific needs of their special needs children.
4. Reaching out to parents who have already lost their children.

Development of the Retreat Center

The retreat center will be developed to include the provision of a recreation center of health, healing and evangelism for families that belong to the group called “MAMITAS UCI.” This group has homes for children with chronic terminal conditions, providing care for them in home hospitalization (hospice care) with the assistance of medical devices from state programs.

Given the conditions that these families have had to deal with — specifically the exhausting care-taking — they have experienced physical and emotional trauma, extreme stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

This project will be constructed on property that will be available for the retreat center. The land includes mature vegetation with a variety of large native trees, shrubs, a eucalyptus forest, a small stream, and a view of the Andes Mountain range.

Social Program

The social program of Refugio Agape will serve the various families with an initial week of rest and recreation. During the week, this program will focus on serving the special needs children and their parents or caretakers. This time will be dedicated to providing for the daily needs of the families, including instruction on proper foods and diet, emotional care, spiritual growth and recreation — helping the children and their families with much-needed physical and mental rest. Given the complexity of the health conditions of the children, this program will take place in the warmer months between September and April, since the children can be negatively affected by viruses and illnesses during the colder winter months.

During the winter season, we will organize activities for families with special needs children that have lost their faith in God. The purpose will be to bring healing from the trauma experienced by those parents and families who have lost children, encouraging them with the message of salvation in Christ. In this season, we will also organize seminars with Biblical teaching, workshops, and marriage counseling sessions.

Social Group

The families that Refugio Agape is designed to minister to consist mainly of mothers as the caretakers of their children with special needs. Only in some cases are the husbands and fathers present. There are also situations where grandparents are taking care of their grandchildren due to the inability of the birth parents to do so. These families belong to the highest percentage of risk of vulnerability. Those at the very low poverty level struggle to provide for their families, given the poor health condition of their children, which requires high costs for medicines and medical care. We have also come to know families where the parents have been obligated to resign from their jobs in order to dedicate themselves to caring for their special needs children twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week — which is what is required of them.

Collaboration and Assistance

The following are the ways in which individuals, small groups, churches and other interested parties can help us achieve the vision for Refugio Agape, through the financing of the construction of the needed facilities:

1. Offerings
2. Special gifts
3. Fund raising activities
4. Volunteering
5. Short-term team mission trips