For 50 years, the Preda Foundation has rescued, protected, healed and empowered abused and trafficked girls, saved innocent boys from unjust incarceration in jails, and given a new life through residential care services with therapy and education. Preda Founder Fr Shay Cullen updates on the Foundation’s work in 2023.
This is a project that is helping release children from prison and detention centres and also helping sexually abused and trafficked children.
There are now 65 girls aged 6 years to 17 years protected and safe in the home and they are all recovering and healing from the abuse that they have suffered.
As victims of sexual abuse by parents, relatives and paedophiles and some by human traffickers it is not easy for them. But with the help of the Emotional Release Therapy where they can shout, cry and get out the hurt and pain they become healed and strong and self-confident.
At Preda they can continue their studies and have a full life until a safe and secure reintegration. They receive financial assistance from Preda to continue going to school when they are reintegrated.
There are at present 54 children in the Preda aftercare programme receiving financial assistance and aftercare by a social worker. They can bravely and courageously testify in court against their abusers and traffickers.
These children are very brave and emotionally strong after therapy in that they win the convictions of their abusers, the average is 20 to 21 court victories a year.
In 2024 already they have had eight wins and convictions of their abusers who get long prison sentences. The abusers will not abuse any more children ever. The child has closure and is empowered for the rest of her life and will never be abused again.
In the boy’s home in Nagbayan Castillejos there are 25 boys, and they too are having therapy and are recovering and being healed and empowered and continuing their schooling.
Preda conducts frequent prevention education seminars for duty bearers, teachers and students and parents on child rights, human dignity t and the law requiring all to report abuse.
In the past quarter, the seminars, with recovered victims of abuse giving presentations on their experience as child victims of sexual abuse and trafficking and the success in winning convictions of abusers in schools and community hall in Zambales in 15 communities to increase reporting of ab use and reduce the abuse of children from Subic to Santa Cruz, Zambales.
Preda Youth home in Liloan, Cebu
There are at present (April 2024) 28 boys in Preda Cebu (25 children in conflict with law with legal cases, and two Children at Risk) for this reporting period.
Of the 28 boys, 19 were rescued from youth prison Operation Second Chance, 8 from police detention facilities, The suffered human rights abuses, were beaten, bullied and some sexually abused by other inmates. One was rescued from police holding cells/MSWD. These children in conflict with the law (CICL) and children at risk (CAR) were accused of committing offenses in the community and they were referred by the courts or by partner local government units to Preda. This referral process prevented the traumatic jail experience of these CAR and CICLs.
Rescue and Admissions
Two boys were rescued by the project and admitted at Preda Cebu for this period:
There were also referrals of boys, supposedly for admission but the referring agency changed their mind and facilitated community-based diversion for the said minor.
Furthermore, the following local social welfare offices indicated below, have pending referrals to the Preda Cebu Boys Home. We are doing gradual admissions of children as admitting big groups of boys may also disrupt the existing programme.
We are prioritising (for admission) boys who may be sent to youth prison for their serious violations or those with failed community diversion* program and those boys who have court orders. Other Family court and MSWD are also inquiring for possible referrals.
Diversion is a process whereby a child accused of a petty crime does not need to undergo formal court proceedings which are not child-friendly and usually takes a very long time to complete.
Reintegration
Three boys were reintegrated this period, after successfully completing the rehabilitation programme:
- Ajay is 16 years old. He stayed in the centre for one year and he was reintegrated to his maternal aunt in February.
- Jhon is 16 years old. He stayed in the centre for 11 months and he was reintegrated to his mother in February.
- Gerald is 17 years old. He stayed in the centre for eight months and he was reintegrated to his paternal grandparents in February.
All these boys are now being considered to receive aftercare programme after they have settled in their respective homes and communities already. One boy was transferred to the Department of Health Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in Candabong, Argao, Cebu as per the court order in February. He stayed in our centre for 1 year and six months.
Education
The formal school students and Alternative Learning System (ALS) students continue attending their ALS and Modular Classes
There were 17 boys enrolled in ALS, where 11 of these boys are in ALS Elementary and 8 are in ALS Junior High School. Furthermore, five boys are doing Formal Schooling (modular mode) where two boys are in Senior High School and three boys are in Junior High School.
Unfortunately, we have six boys who were not able to continue in ALS or formal schooling and attend regular classes because they were already late and unqualified.
The scheduled activities on education, values formation, therapy, arts, music and sports were all implemented. Life skills and values formation were also consistently conducted at least twice a week.
Home Visitations
Home visitations are conducted to allow the children to visit their families briefly. These short visits make the children feel at ease and it reduces the chances of them running away due to longings for their families. As part of the case management, these home visitations also provide an opportunity for the social workers to check the life conditions of the children before the boys came to Preda so they can better understand them. Below are the details of the home visitation conducted.
Organic Garden
At the home for boys there is a vegetable organic garden. The children and staff continue to maintain and grow the edible garden. The new seedlings planted (eggplant, pechay, tomato, chili, squash) planted are now growing. The staff and the boys already harvested eggplants, malunggay, kangkong and, papaya and banana trees are also maturing.
Staffing
In total, there are five full-time facilitators, one aftercare worker, three social workers, one night duty and one cook. Aside from this, there is also an on-going search for a project administrator for Preda Cebu to support the existing management staff. Aside from this, additional Facilitators/house parents are needed for the anticipated increase in the number of boys (Note: Any new hiring of staff is on hold until the number of residents in the centre has increased).
Aftercare
The Aftercare assistance is still on-going. The new staff, Kevin continuously communicates and coordinates with aftercare beneficiaries by calls/messenger and processes their monthly allowances for those who were able to comply with the requirements. A total of 15 beneficiaries were able to receive their allowance for this period.
The youth human development and therapy programme continues daily with more youth being rescued from youth prisons and helped to recover from their trauma of abuse in childhood and further abuse in the prison. All are recovering with therapy, acceptance, understanding and affirmation.
If you would like to support Fr Shay Cullen’s work with the Preda Foundation, please send your donation to the Far East Office, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath C15 AY2Y. Alternatively, you can donate online at www.columbans.ie or call 00353 46 909 8275.
Watch the Preda Documentary New Life at Preda: Resilience and Hope