During the volunteer trip to Colombia in July 2023, where we brought 9 boys and girls from Milan to experience Colombia and do volunteer work in the newborns' oratories near Medellín (visit the dedicated section), we had the opportunity to start with the oldest animators of the Coredi Marinilla oratory for 5 days of missions in the town of Santa Ana Granada and in the surrounding villages.
We left on Sunday, July 30th, and were warmly welcomed by children and adults who waited for us at the entrance of the town along with the town band that accompanied us in procession to the parish of Santa Ana, where we were introduced and celebrated the opening Holy Mass of the mission with the whole community.

Santa Ana is a small town in the district of Granada in the Antioquia region, about an hour and a half from the nearest urban center, which today, including the villages, has around 500 inhabitants. In the 1980s, with the arrival of the guerrillas, many people were killed or expelled from the country, dropping from 3,000 to 320 people in the entire district; in Santa Ana only 4 people remained, 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.The town today is alive, there are families, young people, elderly and many children, but it is still a very shaken country, 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 the doctor is there, children receive education at the local school, but some villages are so far away that some stop studying to go to work with their parents as early as 8/10 years old to help the family survive.Every day we visited villages more or less far away, bringing games and leisure activities, without forgetting the Holy Mass (a priest always came with us); in some towns the priest can only go once a month. We brought food packages to the poor and sick in the 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 had a day of oratory at the school with the children of the town. Every evening, leisure or prayer activities were organized with the whole community. On the last day, after bringing the last food packages and visiting the families in the town, the bishop, Monsignor Fidel, wanted us to celebrate the closing Holy Mass of the mission and gather for dinner one last time before leaving.Many things have been done, but what remains most is the mark on the heart, in both directions; anyone can do things, but the big difference is that Sendas gets attached and puts its heart into everything it does and lets itself be filled with the enthusiasm of the children who, despite everything, smile at you and cry when you leave and hug you, a woman who is sick and cannot be cured and who, despite the linguistic and cultural distance, trusts you and lets herself be comforted by you.
The difference is in this, letting yourself be affected and continuing to be there even if your heart is broken, doing all this with your heart.