However, this situation turned out to be a little more complicated than expected, both for the young people and for the parents, as educating their children from home was not an easy task. This situation seriously jeopardized students' academic performance. Thus, at the request of the parents and with the consent of both the institutions and the Wasakentsa mission, all the students returned to class, receiving lessons from Monday to Friday and giving priority to teaching the most important subjects.
The pandemic did not prevent the Salesian missionaries of Wasakentsa from traveling through the jungle to visit the various Achuar communities. One of them is Fr Agustín Togo, who says that during the pandemic, the NAE (Achuar Nationality of Ecuador) sent people trained in the communities of the Amazon to hold workshops on the preparation of natural medicines. “For the inhabitants of these communities,” explained Fr Togo, “it's very important to take advantage of the benefits of plants."
Even when there are no protective devices such as masks or when it is difficult to find Western medicines, Fr Togo asks to be treated with the tools available to us, always relying on God. “Faith in God,” he says, “is very important to overcome the pandemic, as is helping each other.”
In the Wasakentsa Mission, however, it is not just about medical treatment and the pandemic. Fr Togo himself is developing various projects, such as devoting himself to sports and writing a booklet on football. The booklet will highlight the human values of sport, which are often also linked to cultural and Christian values. It will therefore not just be a set of rules and description of the discipline, but a real guide for those responsible for the formation of students.
The brochure will be written in Spanish, but the idea of translating it and adapting it to the Achuar language, to make it easier to understand in Amazonian communities, is being considered.
