A Maryknoll brother in Cochabamba, Bolivia, serves at a home for boys at risk of living on the streets.

Maryknoll Brother Joseph Bruener remembers the day that Daniel arrived at the San Martín-San Vicente home for boys in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

“His arms and legs were like little sticks, and his hair was falling out,” the missioner says. The child was so malnourished he was almost bald. Asked his age, Daniel lies that he is 5 — but in reality, he is 7. “He is ashamed,” Brother Bruener explains. “His growth has been stunted.”

Daniel is one of 44 boys living at San Martín-San Vicente, where Brother Bruener serves two days a week. About half of the boys there have already experienced homelessness. The other half, like Daniel, were abused, neglected or abandoned, making it likely that they, too, would end up on the streets.

Before making the hourlong bus ride to San Martín-San Vicente, Brother Bruener goes to La Cancha, the city’s huge, sprawling market. Today, he buys two dozen aluminum spoons to replenish the home’s supply. The visitors with him ask what they, too, can bring, and he replies, “A spinning top.”

San Martín-San Vicente belongs to the network of Amanecer children’s homes founded in Cochabamba in 1981 by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Another Maryknoll brother, Alexander Walsh, served with Amanecer for two and a half decades before returning to the States.

There are now more than three dozen centers or homes for children in Cochabamba, says social worker Jhonny Nava, who has worked at San Martín-San Vicente since 2013. These include orphanages, afterschool programs and neighborhood youth centers. However, he continues, Amanecer homes such as San Martín-San Vicente are “the only ones for this population.”

Daniel’s parents turned him out  of the house every morning to fend for himself. School staff, concerned, called the local social welfare department. When a social worker brought Daniel to San Martín-San Vicente, she said his teacher seemed to care more about him than his own parents.

Some of the older boys, including Bernardo, 16, have engaged in alcohol or substance abuse such as sniffing clefa, a type of glue. This highly addictive habit replaces cold, pain or hunger with temporary euphoria; however, it also causes irreversible damage to the brain and other vital organs.

Still, there is hope, Nava says. “The fact that they are still here and haven’t run away means that they are trying to change.”

The short-term goal is to keep the boys off the streets, says Nava. The long-term goal, he continues, is to reunite them with their families when possible. Parents are allowed to visit on weekends.

The boys living at the home are divided into two sets, ages 7 to 11 and 12 to 17.

Maryknoll Brother Joseph Bruener volunteers at Hogar San Martín-San Vicente in Cochabamba, Bolivia. (Adam Mitchell/Bolivia)

The property includes cornfields and a huge garden with potatoes, onions and other vegetables. A large chicken coop houses dozens of hens. “The boys like collecting the eggs,” Brother Bruener says. Two cows wander the fields. The boys’ laundry, which they wash by hand at outdoor sinks, hangs on a clothesline. Walls painted with murals and motivational messages encircle a large soccer field.

In the fierce midday heat, most boys seek a patch of shade in the patio. The younger boys shoot marbles. The older boys play with spinning tops — except for Bernardo, who just stands watching.

Inside, it is time for lunch. Supervised by staff member Richard Fuentes, the boys in the younger group sit at rough wooden tables and chairs or stools in a small dining room. One of them says grace. At the end of the prayer, he adds, “and for children living on the streets around the world who are on their own and have nowhere to turn and no one to help them.”

As is customary in Bolivia, the main meal begins with soup. Brother Bruener’s two dozen spoons are quickly rinsed and put to immediate use. Soup is followed by a bowl of rice or quinoa with lentils or beans, perhaps with a bit of meat or chicken. For dessert, fruit is served. Each boy washes his own bowl and spoon.

After the meal, it is time for homework. Brother Bruener shepherds the boys to an area with books, puzzles and games.

Before arriving in Bolivia in September of 2021, Brother Bruener spent 17 years in greater China, mostly teaching. The 66-year-old missioner from Wisconsin, who has a master’s degree in English education, has also worked in schools in the States.

While the older boys attend a public secondary school within walking distance, the younger ones go to an Amanecer school in downtown Cochabamba, transported by the home’s vans.

“These children cannot be placed in a regular classroom,” Brother Bruener says of the younger boys. “They cannot focus. They are so attuned to their surroundings and what is going on around them.” This is due to the boys’ traumatic backgrounds, he explains. “They are always on the defensive, and that takes a lot of their energy.”

“This work takes a lot of patience,” says staff member Ramiro Tola Mamani. “Some children need more attention than others.”

As students, the boys face another problem, Brother Bruener says. “In Bolivia, kids get promoted by age, not grade level. Even if you’ve never set foot in a classroom before, if you’re 10, you go to the assigned grade.” Without extra help, they can’t catch up academically. And if they grow discouraged, they are more likely to drop out.

Students like Bernardo have already had many interruptions to their schooling. He and his older brother lived on the streets with their mother, who then left them. They dulled their pain by sniffing glue until Bernardo, a minor, was brought to San Martín-San Vicente.

Recently, his older brother had come to tell Bernardo that he came across their mother living under a bridge. Bernardo ran away to join them. Brother Bruener and Amanecer staff scoured the city until they found him. They urged him to return, and Bernardo came back.

The spinning top bought by visitors at the market is for Bernardo, whose face lights up as he receives it. Now he can join the older boys in their game.

“These are still kids,” Brother Bruener says.

Although his duties as house manager at the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers center already keep him busy, the missioner says he will continue to serve at San Martín-San Vicente.

“It’s a hard ministry and it’s draining,” Brother Bruener admits.

However, he adds, kids benefit from consistency — especially those such as Daniel and Bernardo. The need he witnesses at the home keeps him going back.

Featured image: Doorman Ivan Gutiérrez Choque, who has overcome disabilities, was himself raised in an Amanecer home, cared for by now-retired Maryknoll Brother Alexander Walsh. (Adam Mitchell/Bolivia)