Sendas ODV ©
T.I.N.: 97943350153
RUNTS no.: 108962
RURAL MISSIONS
The "veredas" are the villages of the Antioquia region, Colombia, whose capital is Medellin. These villages can only be reached after several hours of walking or off-road driving.
Many people in these villages have been victims of killings and violence in Colombia's recent history with the narcos. The people who live there are trying to rebuild their lives and are almost entirely devoted to agriculture.
With the kids, we go to volunteer in these villages not only by bringing them food, medicine, and basic necessities, but also by organizing summer camps for the children of the village and moments of gathering and culture with the youth and adults.
WHERE WE ARE
During the experiential trip to Colombia in July 2023, where we brought 9 boys and girls from Milan to experience Colombia and do volunteer work in the newly established youth centers around Medellín (visit the dedicated section), we had the opportunity to leave with the older youth leaders of the Coredi Marinilla oratory for 5 days of missions in the town of Santa Ana Granada and the surrounding hamlets.
We left on Sunday, July 30th, and were warmly welcomed by children and adults who waited for us at the entrance of the town together with the town band and accompanied us in procession to the parish of Santa Ana, where we were introduced and celebrated the opening Mass of the mission with the whole community.
Santa Ana is a small town in the corregimiento of Granada in the Antioquia region, about an hour and a half from the nearest urban center, which today, including the hamlets, has about 500 inhabitants.
In the 1980s, with the arrival of the guerrillas, many people were killed or expelled from the town, dropping from 3,000 to 320 people in the entire corregimiento, and only 4 people remained in Santa Ana, including the parish priest. With the end of the war between the narcos and the Colombian government, people gradually returned to live in their hometown.
Today the town is alive: there are families, young people, elderly people, and many children, but it still remains a very shaken town, still recovering and with many poor people who cannot access a pension because the nearest bank is too far to reach on foot. The sick are visited at home when there is a doctor, children receive education from the school present in the area, but some hamlets are so far away that some give up studying to go to work with their parents as early as 8/10 years old to help the family survive.
Every day we visited hamlets, some near and some far, bringing games and recreational activities, without forgetting the Holy Mass (a priest always came with us); in some villages the priest can only go once a month. We brought food parcels to the poor and sick in the town and villages, visited them, washed clothes by hand and cleaned the house of an elderly couple with a disabled daughter who can no longer even do household chores. We spent a day at the school oratory with the children of the town. Every evening there were recreational or prayer activities organized with the whole community.
On the last day, after delivering the last food parcels and visiting the families of the town, the bishop, Mons. Fidel, wanted to celebrate the closing Mass of the mission and meet us for dinner one last time before we left.
Many things were done, but what remains most is the imprint on the heart, in both directions; anyone can do things, but the big difference is that Sendas becomes attached and puts its heart into everything it does and lets itself be swept up by the enthusiasm of the children who, despite everything, smile at you and cry when you leave, and lets itself be embraced by that woman who is sick and cannot be treated and, despite the linguistic and cultural distance, confides in you and lets herself be comforted by you.
The difference is this: letting yourself be touched and continuing to be there even though your heart is in pieces, doing all this with your heart.
Sendas ODV ©
T.I.N.: 97943350153
RUNTS no.: 108962