Casa Cuna is a free-of-charge childcare center in Puebla, Mexico serving young children from poor and dysfunctional families. Subud became involved with Casa Cuna at the 2014 Subud World Congress, when the Children’s Garden of Peace, “Subud’s Gift to Puebla,” was established (the result of a collaboration between A Child’s Garden of Peace, Susila Dharma Mexico, Human Force Camp, and Subud and local volunteers). The 2014 project transformed an abandoned lot in the corner of Casa Cuna’s premises into a vegetable garden and orchard.
Since the establishment of the garden, numerous Subud Mexico members have continued to volunteer at Casa Cuna. The garden still thrives, providing the children with hands-on nature education and bountiful locally grown produce. However, it became apparent that the children at Casa Cuna were looked after only by nurses (no teachers), whose job was simply “to keep the children fed, clean and quiet.” The Subud focus since 2014 has expanded from the garden project to the children’s overall developmental needs: several qualified teachers (educadoras) have been hired, and staff have received practical trainings in early childhood education as well as integrating environmental education techniques into their existing routines. In addition, Casa Cuna has begun a partnership with local schools that brings Social Work students to the center as volunteers.
Susila Dharma USA provided Casa Cuna with a grant to supplement teachers’ salaries. The extra funds made it possible for Casa Cuna to retain better qualified teachers (prior to 2017, qualified teachers had repeatedly resigned after a short time, due to high work demands and low pay). Susila Dharma Mexico reports: “The constant rotation of educadoras has stopped, the quality of the attention and education given to the children has improved significantly… [The staff] has shown to have the capacity and willingness to plan, implement and enjoy educational strategies to transform the children from violent, negative and deprived families into positive humans.”
Casa Cuna’s Facebook page