It´s
for sure to say, that the work of the Fundaciòn Cristo Vive began 30 years
ago, when Sister Karoline recieved the call to be a missionary
and came from Germany to Chile. Soon after she began living and working
with the poor, together with other sisters as well as amateurs. She realised,
how important it is to improve the living conditions of the poor people.
She was not thinking about founding an institution, but the crisis of
1975/1976 was a signal for her to react to the misery and to establish
services that, for her part, called for a legal basis. That way, the Fundación
Missio was initiated in 1977 with the president Monseñor Jorge Hourton,
the Regional Bishop of northern Santiago.
Under the protection of the church and in close cooperation with organizations
from the poor neighborhoods were clinics, cribs, kindergartens and horts
created. In addition to that were fostering and supportive programs for
community-initiatives as well as programs for the education of women,
teenagers and unemployed men. In Renca, which is a northwestern part of
Santiago, a whole settlement for homeless people was built, which the
people called „Villa
Mercedes“ *.
174 homeless families had found a new home there.
The transition from the military dictatorship to a democratic government opened much
better possibilities of the social development of the people and Sister Karoline and her
compagnons decided to found a new institution. That is how the Fundación Cristo Vive was
initiated in 1990 – as an ecomenic institution, approved by the Chilean state and
law.