Centro Comunitário Sonho RealBuilding Futures,
One Child at a Time
For over twenty years, we have given vulnerable and orphaned children a safe home, an education, and a real chance at a future they can build for themselves.
It Started with One Man's Conviction
Ernesto Samuel Chaúque, who had known hardship and homelessness himself, began gathering the vulnerable and street children of Marracuene in 2002, teaching them, feeding them, and soon after, giving them somewhere to sleep.
What started with no funding, no building, and no formal training has grown into a functioning children's home and community centre, sustained for over two decades.
Our Journey Through the Years
The Beginning
Ernesto starts gathering street children in Marracuene, teaching, feeding, sheltering
First Dormitories
Built proper dormitories and took in 50 children from the streets and struggling families
International Partnership
First international partnership, the means to build in earnest
Family Reintegration
First cohort of young adults reintegrated safely with their families
Home to 100 Children
100 children in residence, community programmes reaching 150+ families across Marracuene
Every Child Arrives Through a Different Door
The children we take in are lost, abused, less fortunate, or abandoned. Each arrives through a different door, but all of them need the same thing: safety, structure, and someone who will not give up on them.
Government Social Workers
Official referrals through the national child welfare system
Community Leaders
Local chiefs and neighbourhood leaders who identify children at risk
Police
Law enforcement referring children found on the streets or in danger
Building a Better Society
To contribute to building a better society by forming and training orphaned and vulnerable children, so that each one grows into an adult with values, principles and skills, breaking the cycle of poverty and social decline that surrounds so many of the communities they come from.
Transforming Lives
The transformation of a vulnerable child's life through the provision of life skills, education, moral formation and Christian teaching, promoting their rights and responsibilities so that they become a symbol of hope and a driver of change for the communities they come from.
What We Stand For
Respect & Value for Life
Every child's life is sacred and deserving of protection, care and opportunity
Honor & Dignity in Service
Serving with integrity, treating every person with the respect they deserve
Love for One's Neighbor
Acting out of genuine care, putting the needs of the vulnerable first
Communion & Solidarity
Standing together as a community, sharing resources, strength and hope
A Thousand Stories Changed
Since CCSR opened its doors, roughly 1,000 children have passed through our care. They have grown up, built their own families, and many are now working as builders, accountants, electricians, lawyers, and more.
Several who grew up at CCSR have come back to work here themselves, caring for the next generation of children the way they were once cared for.
We're Not Finished
We're working to complete our perimeter security wall, refurbish our kitchen, repair a leaking roof, and start a community garden. We're also building income-generating ventures, agriculture, poultry farming, a water utility, and a carpentry workshop, so that CCSR stands on its own two feet.
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Life at the Centre
