This experience marks a turning point in the lives of the young people who come. This is how they themselves express it. The International Mission to Peru 2025 has opened their eyes to the fact that 80% of humanity lives in precarious conditions. Lack of economic resources, poor working conditions, and lack of educational opportunities for all are some of these. The young people realize that they have lived in their European societies as if in a bubble, with a much easier life at all levels.
What did we do during these three weeks of mission? Some of us reached out to hospitalized children and those attending outpatient clinics at the children’s hospital in Lima. Others talked with the elderly in a social shelter, cooked with and for the poor in the soup kitchens in our neighbourhood, and repaired the roof of a very needy family. We also painted a mural to contribute to the dignity of a marginalized neighbourhood and visited many families with sick members in the area. In short, we cried, laughed, sang, prayed shared and ate with the people. We lived!
Fruits of fraternity
This year, 24 young Italians, Poles, and Peruvians were able to share the same house and the same activities. The culture of encounter that Pope Francis speaks of in Fratelli tutti became a reality. We were able to transform borders into bridges, instead of walls. In the evaluation, a young Peruvian put our experience into words: “When solidarity is lost, humanity is distorted. But when the connection with people in need is not lost, then the possibility of a life of continued happiness opens up.”
And so the International mission in Peru has ended. But the hope for today’s world has become very concrete to me: “Always seek out and care for the most vulnerable.” This will be my “after Peru” challenge.
Anne Ve SEMD, Peru
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