School walks the talk

Fr Gary Walker spoke with one of the teachers after her return from Lima

Renae Gentile and Anna Tonini are teachers at St Christopher’s primary school in Airport West, Melbourne. The school is committed to educating the students in social justice and Renae and Anna wanted to ‘walk the talk’. They were looking for a project in some part of the world, Renae thought of Vietnam, Anna of the Philippines. When they approached the principal with the idea, Gary Trainor, told them that the school already had a connection with Peru through Columban Fr Bernie Lane originally from Essendon, Melbourne.


Fr Bernie had been to St Christopher’s school in 2006 and spoken to the students about the Millennium Development Goals and the promise of the rich nations of the world to reduce poverty by 2015. He had made a strong impression on the teachers and children and this had turned into support for his mission in Lima, specifically the Manuel Duato School for children with special needs and disabilities of various kinds.  

The whole school, principal, board, parents got behind the project to buy a bus to transport the children to the school. The Manuel Duato School is an initiative of the Columban Fathers who have worked in the area for 60 years, especially among the people who have left the countryside looking for a better life in the city.

The fundraising at St Christopher’s was concentrated on the Peru project and when Renae and Anna went to visit Manuel Duato, the  primary school and friends had raised $28,000. The generosity of the children, parents and those associated with the project has been extraordinary. underestimated.

We hope to send two more teachers to Lima in 2012, hopefully with a similar amount of money.

Visiting seeing and experiencing is the only way to understand in some small way what the people of Peru live through.