(ANS - Cayambe)- 48 young people took a decision to make a small life choice and go with some others on voluntary service to Sierra Oriente. A Mass for their departure was celebrated in Cayambe on Sunday 25 August.

This was a choice that came from the heart of each of these young people. Some of them had very little experience of serving others in missions, oratory or youth group, but they were offered support and guidance and this helped them to reach a mature decision.

The send-off was part of a journey or process in which the young people, the community and the families are involved. “Voluntary service helps us to understand that the Christian life is to be lived in service, giving all we are and all we have. ‘If we don’t help others, what good is our life?’ Don Bosco used to tell his boys that they were to be evangelizers of other young people.” So said Fr Marcelo Farfán, Provincial of the Salesians in Ecuador, during the Mass.

Doing voluntary service is a decision that each one must make in complete liberty. Christian says he is ready to go wherever he is sent and that he has high expectations. For Jorge, it is an interesting mission while for Natalia it is an experience that will remain with her for the whole of her life. Like them, these 48 young people were excited as they waited to hear where they were being sent, to the missions in the Andes or the Amazon, or to work with street children.

 "A Salesian volunteer is a person who wants to think about others and to work with them in a Salesian way – with joy and kindness towards all we meet. In the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus, voluntary service invites us to live the whole of our lives as a service to others. We need young people who will commit their whole lives in different ways, in marriage and family life, in religious life and so on.” This was the invitation Fr Marcelo Farfán gave to the young volunteers.

We thank the community of Cavambe, the families and communities from which they young people come, and those to which they will go.  

Published 30/08/2013