Work of Salvation Army In Chile

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31154, 2 September 1966, Page 12

Work of Salvation Army In Chile

The number of Salvation Army officers working in the whole of South America was fewer than the number serving in New Zealand. although South America had a population of 250 million, said Brigadier G. Norman, a New Zealand officer who has served there for nearly 20 years, in Christchurch yesterday.

At present the Salvation Army was engaged with a large social programme in Chile and other countries, but the desire for expansion could not take place because of lack of staff and finance.

Brigadier Norman, who originally came from Wellington, has spent 13 years editing Salvation Army newspapers in Spanish in Argentina and Chile, and at present is also principal of the officers' training school at Santiago, the capital of Chile. Among facilities provided in Chile are day nurseries, a training farm, homes for women and men, an alcoholics centre and a primary school. The training farm trains young boys how to work on the land and at the moment takes up to 60 boys. The Chilean Government, however, has asked the Army to ex-nand its programme to take 100.

An extensive, hospital visiting programme, in which 10,000 very poor hospital patients are visited each month, is another part of the programme. A feeding programme providing foodstuffs to be cooked and cooked meals served on the streets from trucks is also undertaken. Much of the needed support of church social work came from foreign residents living in Chile, Brigadier Norman said. Americans. Germans, Dutch and English groups and others adonted particular homes. They raised money and took personal interest in remembering children’s birthdays. The Chilean Government showed real appreciation of the work of the Salvation Army. Brigadier Norman said. The Army also had contacts with and support from all parts of the community.