The General Councillor for Social Communications, Fr Gildasio Mendes, took part in the event and said that the expectation is that the "Voices" project can be expanded. "We must listen to the voices of indigenous peoples, ordinary workers, young people, creating a network of people who build communication" he said on the occasion.
Among the guests was Fr Carlos Hernández, from San Pedro Carchá, Guatemala, who shared the situation of the community, emphasising the importance of the Estéreo Emmanuel 98.3 FM community radio which reaches more than 100,000 people belonging to indigenous populations. "Our biggest challenge today is the lack of electricity, because we spend a lot of money buying gasoline every day to run the radio from 8 am to 10 pm. We have a project to install electricity, but we can't afford to do everything on our own, but we need $15,000 to do it " the Salesian said.
For his part, Emmanuel Feliz shared his personal life experience. Since he was a child he was helped by the Salesians, as he had no family ties. With the support of the Church, he was able to develop his academic and professional training. Today, Enmanuel is part of the Radio Juventus team in the Dominican Republic. One of the challenges he is facing is the need to professionalise the radio team, through training and the use of tools to improve the technological quality of the equipment used.
Another guest, Oscar Posoraja, from the original Ayoreopeople in Paraguay, spoke of the help received thanks to the arrival of priests in the region. He said he was the first of his tribe to receive formal schooling. "The Salesians accompanied the Ayoreo community so that there were people prepared in the community, and they helped me so that I could train as a teacher" he testified.
Fr Efrén Mejía, from Nicaragua, also participated, illustrating a project to train a group of communicators in a small school in Masaya. Finally, Armando Grijalba, from Ecuador, shared his experience with the indigenous populations of the university where he works.
After the presentations of each guest of the "Voices" project, Fr Ricardo Campoli, Salesian contact for America in the Social Communication Sector, met ECSA members in Santiago to organise the next commitments of "Voices".
