(ANS - Rome) - Missionary Volunteer work is widespread in the congregation.  The young people who participate come from different countries and have had different experiences in life, but they have two things in common: the desire to serve, and a meeting with some Salesian who pointed them towards learning experiences that they will never forget.

"As I am now in my final days here in Gumbo, South Sudan, it is crazy to think that I will soon be going back home and will no longer be here. It has really made ​​me realize how much this place feels like home and how the community here - the Salesians, other lay volunteers, and the people of Gumbo - have really become family. I know I most likely will not see most of these people, if not all of them, ever again.  Though I am excited to be going home I will miss these people and this place very much. I feel very blessed and thankful for this experience. So says Pat Sabol, a young American who spent a year as a volunteer in South Sudan through the Salesian Lay Missioners programme.

He goes on to say: "So many kids, students and kids I see only at oratory, just keep letting me know they do not want me to leave. One even told me he was going to leave the school if I left because I “make the days better”. 

This is re-echoed by his fellow volunteer Michael Gumbo:  “These little things tug at my heart and I know they will make my going bittersweet. I am so grateful for this year, for the people who have had an impact on my life and those whose life I have been able to influence. Now we’ve just got to keep praying for peace in the country! "

"When I went on mission,”  says the young Portuguese volunteer Madalena Potes,  “I wanted above all to give a good example of faith. As a Salesian volunteer I wanted to convey the message of God’s love and forgiveness, through Don Bosco’s system of joy. At the end I felt that I had received more than I had given. I learned a lot. This experience has changed my perspectives and concepts. It made me look at things in a different way, and changed the meaning of terms such as simplicity and genuine. It strengthened my faith and filled my heart."

Ana Fonseca, a young missionary volunteer with the Don  Bosco Programme – a Project of Life, had this to say: "I've never seen anything miserable in those unfinished houses, the dirt roads or in any of those barefoot and half-dressed kids. No!  What I saw was my neighbourhood, my neighbours, my people.  And yes, even though I am blonde and very different from them, I was accepted as one of them. They opened their doors to me and invited me in. They entrusted their children to me, and the children taught me about their culture. (...) If I could go back, I wouldn’t say that I was coming to help. First of all, I would say thank you, because there, with the family that I lived with, I understand what life is. I learned to follow Don Bosco and I found God."

Further information on the work of these volunteers is available on the blog of Michael Gotta, and that of Patrick Sabol, and on the website of Fundacão Dom Bosco.

Published17/07/2014