Lombardy and Emilia (Italy). From 22 July to 24 August, at the end of the journey proposed by the Holy Family Provinces (ILO) of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and Saint Charles Borromeo (ILE) of the Salesians of Don Bosco, just over 30 young people have lived the Summer Missionary Experiences.
Accompanied by two FMA and two SDB, three groups of young people, from eighteen to thirty years old, went to three places where they could be of service and live together. Ethiopia, Bosnia, and El Salvador were the destinations for which each of the participants prepared in the previous months dedicated to formation.
The protagonists tell their experiences leaving simple thoughts that in a few lines can relay the beauty and intensity of what they lived.
Donatella and her husband were married exactly one month before leaving for Ethiopia:
“With the joy and enthusiasm of those who have recently chosen to build a family, we recount the welcome received and how from the very beginning we felt at home. The first strong experience, arriving in a place where you do not know people, habits, language, and culture, is to need the help of all! Only after this perception can one put oneself at the service of others. You start doing small things: painting, cutting plants, and taking care of the garden, a little maintenance, rearranging rooms…
The main activity was to provide a path of approach to work for women attending workshops in bakery, tailoring, and ceramics. The girls who attended the workshops were at first wary of us, fearing that we would look at them as if they were ‘museum pieces’. Slowly the wall of mistrust fell and beautiful friendships were born. It was easier to relate to the children who every afternoon, crowded the courtyard of the oratory and it was difficult to accompany them towards the gate at 6: PM. They filled us with hugs and smiles and clung to the fingers of our hands until the exit and still on the threshold, we invented games and smiles, because we had learned that these moments here for many of them are the only ones of true serenity.
We are thirty years old and in the group that started with us there are younger people. We look at them with a little envy, thinking that they are luckier than we because they started to live the mission early. From this experience, we took home the desire to live the with same full happiness lived in Ethiopia, going to bed every night with something to thank the Lord for.”
Some young people have lived the summer experience in Bosnia where, during their two weeks of stay, they made themselves available to carry out an animation service with children and young people from Gromilijak, a small village a few kilometers from Sarajevo. Here, in the Salesian style, they invented a kind of summer oratory. In the second experience lived in the Bosnian capital, the animation continued with the small kindergarten, alternating gardening and restoration of murals on the playground. In Sarajevo, volunteers had the opportunity to visit and deepen the contradictions of an area of Europe that, although it has not been at war for decades, still shows all its wounds.
In the guest book of the Sisters’ Community in Sarajevo, they left this message that well summarizes the experience, “We started thinking to bring something and we return with so much that has been given to us. We thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to meet you and for filling our hearts with smiles and love. We hold you very strongly with the desire to come back and find you… Thank you for everything!”
The third summer experience is in El Salvador. The long journey that the young people who went overseas faced was rewarded by the warm welcome of the Salesian Sisters in the houses that hosted them and which they would share with them the following month. And it is from the story of one of the FMA of El Salvador that we discover the depth and liveliness that characterized the month spent at the service of the children of the Salesian houses of Santa Ana, of Holy Savior Province (CAM). These young people experienced a brief but intense inculturation in the Salvadoran land through knowledge of history and traditions. The volunteers did not lack the opportunity and desire to deepen the life of Msgr. Oscar Romero, martyr and symbol of the suffering of this people. The days were marked by animation service to the children through workshops in English, Italian, manual drawing activities, origami, and play times in the courtyard. Day after day, a very strong connection with the children and young people was created.
There are about 300 young people from the Provinces of Europe who in summer 2024, accompanied by FMA, lived a missionary experience.
In November, the Provinces take up their journey again, starting from the stories of those who lived the summer mission. The proposal is open to many other young people whose arrival would be beautiful if they have been fascinated by the stories and the effective word of mouth of those who went to El Salvador, Bosnia or Ethiopia.
