Manzanillo (Cuba). From 5 to 10 August 2024, O. L. of Charity Community of Manzanillo, of the Daughters of Mary Help of St. Joseph Province (ANT), together with the laity of the Educating Community, organized an educational pastoral week for the local children, teenagers, and youth.
With an itinerant oratory, in the style of the early years of the oratory of Don Bosco, they reached different areas of the city: Immaculate Conception Parish, Vallespin Park, the Manzanillo coast, Don Bosco Chapel, and the “casona” involving a total of 70 people.
The motto “A summer to dream”, inspired by the Bicentenary of the dream at 9 years of Don Bosco, accompanied the days, which began with a moment of prayer, followed by the presentation of a theme and group work. After a snack shared together, each group then presented their own reflections on the topic treated in a creative and playful way. It was exciting for the FMA and animators to see and hear how these children shared their experiences of God with great faith and freedom.
Sincerity, peace and friendship, hope, responsibility and joy are the values with which they were stimulated and challenged to live them in everyday life with their loved ones and friends.
The last day, held in the so-called “casona”, a space belonging to Immaculate Conception Parish of Manzanillo, provided two moments of joyful participation: a contest of community games and the realization of the “festival of dreams”, in which each group artistically presented the assumption of one of the values deepened during this period of sharing as friends.
At the end of the experience, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians thanked God and Mary Help of Christians for the life of each of the children, adolescents, and young people, and also for every animator who donated their time during this hot summer in Manzanillo, to educate with the heart those who were entrusted to them.
This is how the Salesian Charism continues to spread throughout Cuba, with these and many other initiatives of the FMA present in four communities, with the aim of continuing to form “good Christians and honest citizens”.
