Children giggle and scramble about playing games as puppies run alongside, a common suburban scene, except that here, they are being sheltered by Koreans from poverty and violence of mafia and crime-ridden neighborhoods. (Kim Hyun, Yonhap News Agency)

The Home of Angel is just a few minutes’ drive from the center of San Jose Pinula, a bleak suburb of Guatemala City. Colored yellow and brown, the house, cradled in lush woods and corn fields, mocks the town that’s used to bloody crimes, the latest tragedy involving murders of two mayoral candidates by their competitors in June.

The 200 or so Guatemalan children at the facility are from families who cannot afford their education or are under court protection from domestic and street abuses.

“We wish to be a community that’s different from the outside world, where the children can dream,” said Fr. Hong Sung-uy, administrator-general of the Home of Angel.

…

“The biggest goal we try to achieve is to go into the culture and work with it,” said Hong, who belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheongju in South Korea. “We are not here to teach, we are here to live together. That’s the point where we always make mistakes and try to do better.”

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Unfazed by violence, Korean shelter reaches out to children in Guatemala (Yonhap News Agency)