Magdalena is 23 years old. She is a qualified dietitian. Sofia is 25. She did African studies at Warsaw University. In 2014 she spent three months in Ethiopia working with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA). The two young women worked together in Mansa, Zambia, with an FMA community which has a kindergarten, an elementary school, an informal school for the very poor and an oratory.
The Salesian Missions Office in Warsaw prepares future long-term volunteers (one year) and short-term volunteers (2-3 months) through a weekend training course which lasts one year. There the candidates deepen their motivation and above all get to know the charism of Don Bosco. They learn the customs of the countries where they are going to work and the characteristics of volunteer work.
After their training, each volunteer receives the missionary cross. In 2016, six volunteers will leave for a year in Zambia, Rwanda and Kazakhstan. Another twenty will go for 2-3 months to Kazakhstan, Georgia, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Madagascar. In each place they will work with children and youth in the oratories, schools and Salesian centres. They will organize computer courses, and will take care of lepers, orphans and the poor.
