Friendship Mission Update

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Friendship Mission faces challenges caused by their limited resources but has faith that gives them hope for the future and is strengthened by the confidence that the community holds for the institution.

Friendship Mission in Paraguay was founded in 1953 by the United Christian Missionary Society (predecessor of the Division of Overseas Ministries) and by graduates of the International School in Paraguay, the first Disciple mission in Paraguay, founded in 1917. The original purpose of Friendship Mission was to attend to needs of the urban poor living near the Mission and in Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay. In the 1960s, Friendship Mission began the first school for the deaf in Paraguay. The Friendship Mission Clinic was an important program founded in this period, along with basic social services to poor families and educational opportunities for community children and adults.

Today Friendship Mission, under Paraguayan leadership, is actively engaged in programs which are critical to the community.

Friendship Mission Clinic: Each year over 33,000 people are assisted by physicians and specialists at the clinic and receive outpatient services, laboratory, radiology, and ultrasound. Friendship Mission is well known in Paraguay for offering high quality medical attention at reduced costs.
Betty and Raymond Mills School of Nursing: Approximately 35 new students begin studies each year to become nurses’ aids.
Work with the Elderly: Friendship Mission holds weekly meetings and activities for elderly members of the local community.
Work around Domestic Violence: Friendship Mission works with other church and social organizations to educate about issues of domestic violence.
School on the Street: Friendship Mission reaches out to children who spend most of their time on the street because they are working children or because they are children who live on the street.
Children’s Workshops: Sessions are offered in painting, puppet making/theater, guitar, and recreation to community children as well as to those participating in the School on the Street and children from nearby Disciples congregations.

In the last couple of years, the streets that are adjacent to Friendship Mission have been paved. While this improves access to Friendship Mission, the buildings are quite old and the vibrations to the ground surrounding the buildings caused a great amount of damage to the buildings themselves. With the paving now complete, Friendship Mission has been working to repair the buildings and make upgrades that were needed in the process.

Repairs and improvements to the clinic included:

Reinforcing the walls with iron rods and concrete
Replacement of the majority of the wall and floor tiles which were already cracked and broken even before the road construction damage
Repairs to the clinic’s electrical system

Because the church building was never completely finished, work there included completion of the building needs as well as repairs for an aging building:

The building’s electrical work was completed, including the installation of fluorescent lighting
Repair and replacement of pipes that have been damaged through the years
Repair of the roof and walls of the church building

The Friendship Mission School has grown over the years and needed an additional restroom as well.