(ANS – San Benito) – “With every embrace, every kiss, evey tear I share with these extraordinary people I meet Christ and there are no words to describe what I feel. It is a privilege and an honour to devote myself to them!” This is the spirit in which Emanuela, a young Italian graduate from the  Salesian Youth Movement is undertaking a month of voluntary service in the San Benito Salesian mission in Guatemala.

Emanuela arrived at the beginning of June and was immediately struck by the beauty of the places and the contrasts: “the countryside is marvellous a natural green  landscape that leaves you open-mouthed. However, it is a very poor country, where not everyone has a house and many of the roads are not even asphalted.” Poverty is often associated with delinquency which is so widespread that “people on the back of motor cycles are not allowed to wear helmets since most of the murders are committed by killers riding by.”

In this situation the Salesian centres are in the vanguard of education and social development; they are huge but too small in proportion to the peoples’ needs. “In Italy we complain that we don’t have enough priests, without appreciating the ones we have. In Guatemala there really is a shortage of priests and many people have to be satisfied with Mass once a year since the priest has to look after 80 communities.”

The people are very welcoming: “Here this means not only offering hospitality but also sharing all the problems and the needs that people have.” And prayer is a constant in their lives. “There is a realisation that eveything comes from God and that only with Him can anything be done. It is lovely praying here, and I have to say that it is the first time I can say I prayed from the heart.”

However, the condition of women is terrible, they are the worst victims. The same has to be said for the sick and the poor who cannot afford the treatment they need: like Angel, a little boy of two and a half condemned to an inevitable death from a simple infection. “I’m left with the conviction that the Lord is trying to say something to me but as yet I don’t really understand what,” Emanuela said sadly in a moment of discouragement.

But there is light in the darkness: a day of recollection organised by the Salesians for 64 teenagers, open to everyone, with singing, games, discussions left the youngsters happy because for perhaps the first time they felt they were loved. “Having someone interested in them, showing them another way of life with different values and ideals such as those Christianity proposes is fundamental! And this is precisely what the Salesians surrounded by thousands of difficulties are doing! she concludes.

Published 30/06/2014