Helping others is something that Gabriel grew up with as it was in his mother’s nature. She always wanted to help people and care for those that needed help.
   Gabriel loved going to church when he was little and knew by the age of seven that he wanted to become a priest. When he travelled to the capital Bogotá at the age of 13 to train for the priesthood it was against the wishes of his parents, and they didn’t think he would stick with it. But his parents were wrong.

Helping the poor
At the age of 27, Gabriel was ordered to travel to the Vatican in Rome, Italy, to work with the leaders of the Claretian order. The Claretians are made up of thousands of Catholic priests working to help the poor in over 60 countries around the world.
   After returning to Colombia, Gabriel was placed in one of Colombia’s poorest and most inaccessible regions, Chocó, on the Pacific coast. His task there was to help the area’s poor people.
   Gabriel loved the people he met in Chocó, which was home to indigenous peoples and black Colombians. People whose rights had been abused for hundreds of years and who had almost nothing.
   “It was an important mission for me. Claretians are required to call attention to and condemn injustices. We see hungry, unemployed and people who are discriminated against and we suffer with them. You feel their pain,” explains Gabriel.
   When Gabriel left Chocó nine years later he had helped give the area’s residents something that had never existed in these impenetrable wetlands and jungle. With the help of Gabriel and the Claretians, three small transport planes were purchased for the area. Three runways were built, along with 30 clinics and several schools, and lots of children were vaccinated against diseases.

Wanted to kill Gabriel
When Gabriel and his colleagues helped Chocó’s poor farmers to form a cooperative, this angered lots of businessmen. The cooperative allowed the farmers to sell their produce themselves at larger markets outside Chocó and receive more money for their goods. This was how the businessmen used to earn their money.
   Late one night there was a knock at Gabriel’s door. It was one of the farmers from the cooperative. He told Gabriel to get dressed and get out of there quickly.
   Gabriel saddled his horse and rode through the night away from his house. He was far away by the time the house was surrounded by several men with rifles. They set the house on fire and riddled it with hundreds of rounds of bullets. The businessmen had taken out a contract to have him killed.
   On another occasion, Gabriel and a colleague were travelling by plane over Chocó when the engine suddenly caught fire, forcing them to make an emergency landing. When the pilot inspected the engine he found it had been sabotaged. The intention had been for the plane to explode in mid-air.

House for street children
By the time Father Gabriel, as he is known as a priest, arrives in Medellin he is 37. There’s a group of street children living outside his front door in the centre of the city.
   “I was working lots and always had a lot to do but I had a bed, a room and food. Meanwhile, there were children sleeping on the street who had nothing.”
   Gabriel is an outgoing and positive person. He talks to everyone. He gets to know the street children. Gives them food, blankets and clothes. When they’re unwell he takes them to the doctor.
   It’s now that he has the idea of a foundation that will have a reception centre for street children. The foundation would be named Hogares Claret (Claret Homes) after the founder of the order of the Claretians.
   Gabriel and a French priest buy a building in Medellin. They open it up for street children. Together with the children, they renovate the building and create Hogares Claret’s first reception centre.
   It’s a simple idea: Doctors, psychologists and social workers would live together with the children and take part in their daily activities. The children are offered schooling and therapy. The families of those children who are not orphans are invited to get involved.