Fr. Frank Cortis MSSP was ordained a priest 34 years ago. He has been working as a Maltese missionary in Peru for the last 31 years, since 1974. The first 20 years of his missionary work were spent in the Parish of Aplao, a community in a valley in the heart of the Andes Mountains, 170km away from the city of Arequipa. Back then, the people in Aplao were going through difficult times; there was no provision of water and electricity and the roads were not asphalted.

Through his spiritual guidance, Fr. Frank took particular care of the children and youths of the community. Amongst other things, he built 2 centers for them where they could educate themselves in an integral way both spiritually and academically. He also planned to improve the academic standard of the area and for this reason he built a college which became one of the best in the province within a short period of time.

In 1998 he was proclaimed chaplain of the Parish of the Santisima Cruz of Acequia Alta, in the district of Cayma, close to the city of Arequipa. In this parish, Fr. Frank found the Aldea Sagrada Familia abandoned and utterly ruined. The ceilings had disappeared as well as all the doors and windows. Everything was stolen and only the bricks were left standing to show what had once been a children’s home. The provision of water and electricity was interrupted because the bills had never been paid. Fr. Frank immediately set up a consultative team of lay missionaries in the Parish to study the needs of the area and the first thought was obviously to think of the orphan and abandoned children in need of a home. After this study, work on the restoration of the Aldea started in October, 2000 with the aid of Maltese benefactors. In April 2001, the Aldea was opened for the first intake of children after years of abandonment.