INTERCONGREGATIONAL MISSION / CHILE

28 Sep INTERCONGREGATIONAL MISSION / CHILE

On the long weekend, from August 15 to 18, a group of 8 religious, from different congregations, and two lay people, we ventured into the beautiful inter-congregational mission among the migrant brothers and sisters. During the previous weeks, we were preparing the heart and, under the coordination of Maggie Jaque de las Carmelitas de Vedruna, we were getting excited and ready for this great challenge. In Quinta de Tilcoco, a colorful agricultural town south of Santiago, Chile, the Christian community, the sisters of Merciful Love, the sisters of Santa Marta and the priests of the Mother of God Order were waiting for us. In their midst and thanks to the thousand details of their welcome, we began to realize where we were coming from and what … In this town, in the last two years, the population of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants has increased greatly. We visited their homes, talked with them and they, and in the afternoon, from the gifts of each one, we began to teach in the organized workshops, according to our simple skills in the different activities we proposed: children’s workshop, sewing , of fabric, of jewelry… The women, the boys, the boys and the girls, all of them Haitian and Venezuelan, at the beginning were arriving very timidly, but with the passing of the days they were getting more excited, so much that in the end we could even make a small exhibition of The work done. The experience between us was a lot of joy, sense of team and dedication, with deep desires for mission. The experience with migrants was to admire the welcome and courage of those who have left everything to seek a more dignified and better land. Thank you very much to God and to the Conference of Religious of Chile, who has entrusted and supported the experience. Soon we will meet again in a new mission stage, October 31, November 1,2 and 3. Long live Quinta de Tilcoco, migrants, migrants and integration! Claudia Muñoz, ACI