Everyone has followed a one-year formation process, with face-to-face and remote meetings, and everyone will be able to count on a designated companion in their mission territories.
Salesian Missionary Volunteering is a service resulting from the Christian vocation and the desire to share with others, and is an initiative coordinated with the Salesian Provinces of destination.
These communities are where the life and work of each volunteer will be accompanied. In these common guidelines, the relationship that the volunteer has with their Salesian house of origin is valued as something important, since most of the missionary experiences will be lived in Salesian houses.
During this pastoral year, a total of 6 volunteers have prepared with the Salesians of SMX to carry out international volunteering experiences. “Everyone was involved in the formation process. In total, there were six in-person formation weekends in which issues relevant to their vocational discernment were tackled, as well as the global situation and that of the countries in which they will volunteer, "explained the course organisers.
The Mass of Sending for all of them was celebrated on 6 June in the Salesian parish of Navas, in Barcelona, and was presided over by Fr Jordi Lleixá, Youth Ministry Delegate for SMX.
Volunteers will serve during the summer months of July and August as follows: two in Sunyani (Ghana); another two in Lungi (Sierra Leone); another volunteer in Kara (Togo) and another in Santa Cruz (Bolivia).
SSM Salesians organised a formation process with four face-to-face meetings (in León, El Plantío, Mataelpino and Astudillo) and an online meeting.
In the formation process, each volunteer was assigned a companion who encouraged and supported them in the formation process, even if that person does not travel with them.
This summer, 33 volunteers are being sent by SSM to 14 Salesian communities in Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Angola, Uganda, Mexico and Bolivia.
The formation process ended with the celebration of the sending Mass on 2 June, celebrated in Astudillo, where the volunteers received the Salesian Missionary Volunteer Service Cross from the hands of the SSM Provincial, Fr Fernando García.
As for the medium-to-long term volunteers managed by Misiones Salesianas, a formation process was carried out with 3 face-to-face meetings and 7 online sessions.
Of the participants in this process, 9 volunteers were sent to South Sudan, Angola, Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia; another 4 volunteers, with the support of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, were sent to Mexico and Bolivia; and another 2 with the support of the Autonomous Community of Navarre, were sent to Colombia.
In addition, Misiones Salesianas also promotes technical volunteering, which receives its preliminary formation in 2 face-to-face meetings. This year there are 4 volunteers who will have this experience: they come from the Carlos III University of Madrid, specifically from the master's degree in International Solidarity and Social Inclusion Actions, and are sent to support the Planning and Development activities of Salesian offices in the Dominican Republic and Colombia.
Source: Salesianos.info
