Italy North East. The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Triveneta Province S.M. Domenica Mazzarello (ITV) and the Salesians of Don Bosco of the St. Mark Province (INE) North-East Italy, put in place for the summer of 2024, several missionary proposals for those who felt the desire to live an adventurous experience in the “perfume of the Gospel”.
About 300 young people from the Provinces of Europe, who in the summer of 2024, accompanied by FMA, lived a missionary experience.
53 young people left Triveneto to live an experience in Egypt – from 14 July to 11 August – to teach Italian in the house of Cairo El Sahel; in Moldova – from 1 to 18 August – for animation activities in the rural countryside of Cretoaia; in Brazil, from 5 to 28 August; and in Madagascar from 1 to 22 August.
The missionary experience in Brazil of Sister Claudia Simonetto, FMA, with the young:
“On Tuesday, 6 August 2024, young people from different Salesian communities in the Triveneto region set out on a missionary journey to Brazil, with two different destinations: the city of João Pessoa on the coast and that of Juina, in the federal state of Mato Grosso, Close to the Amazon Forest. Among the young people who went to Juina, there were also three boys linked by experience of animation or work at the oratory in Percoto (Udine): Enrico, Ilaria, and Paolo, with sister Claudia.
The occasion of this missionary journey was born from the personal story of a married couple from Vicenza, Lorenzo and Micaela, who lived from 2000 to 2004 in Juina in support of the first local Bishop, a Salesian. They were eager to return with their three teenage children to show them the places and works born in such an important period of their life and be able to contribute again with donations collected in previous months. From here came also the willingness to accompany a group of young missionaries – formed precisely by us four – and two friends, Philip and Magdalena.
Juina is located in the center of Brazil and it takes twelve hours by bus from the federal capital, Cuiabá. It is a transit city, born in recent times to welcome those who found work in the diamond mines and enterprises created to work wood of the nearby forest. Around the city, which has about 50 thousand inhabitants, there are several neighborhoods (bairros), inhabited mainly by people in conditions of material and cultural poverty. In the bairro Palmitera rises Don Bosco oratory, born under the episcopate of Mons. Franco Dalla Valle and currently managed by the Diocese.
Most of our efforts have been concentrated in this oratory, especially in activities for local children and small maintenance work, financed by donations. To this service, in the rest of the time available, we combined the knowledge of the many initiatives carried out by the Diocese and the current Bishop, Mons. José Neri Tondello.
We decided to fund some of these initiatives, such as a community for pregnant women (Casa da Mãe Gestante) and an Institute for children and adults with disabilities (Escola Pestalozzi Renascer), having experienced the goodness and results first-hand. We spent the last two days of our trip in Rio de Janeiro, guests of a great Salesian work, the Colégio Santa Rosa. In the colorful city of Rio, we greeted Brazil and concluded our missionary experience under the majestic and comforting embrace of Christ the Redeemer.”
Sister Katalin Kovacs recounts the experience in Madagascar:
“Last summer, my Provincial asked me to accompany seven boys to Madagascar, precisely in Mahjanga, especially for the animation of the grest. For the grest, there were 1244 children registered, ‘a flood of boys’, with many good animators and Salesian Cooperators.
We were divided into different groups. Actually, because of the language, we could not do great things, but only stay with them. During the workshops, I was amazed at their great desire to learn. I helped in the Italian workshop where children and adults together, very willingly learned the basic expressions of the Italian language and some simple songs, which we also presented on the stage of the Oratory. There were many children who came every afternoon to study Italian.
Despite the language and cultural barriers, this did not prevent us from creating indissoluble ties after a short time. I felt at home. When I think back to Madagascar, I see myself in the courtyard of the oratory, surrounded by the bright smiles of the children of Mahajanga. In my heart this time also, there is immense gratitude for all the good given and received, but I believe that I have received much more than I gave.”
These and many others are the young people who have welcomed Jesus on the shores of their heart and, with courage and passion, have cast into the deep to become a gift for others.