A more fraternal world is built day by day

“Volunteering Experience at the Clara Luz Children’s Center” By Jessica Acuña

Growth—that is the most meaningful gift this great experience gave me. It lasted only a short while, yet it became one of the most important, so transformative that it changed my life completely in every way.

Before traveling, I had many expectations: leaving my comfort zone to dare to discover a new place, new people, and new life experiences. But I also recognize that it wasn’t easy to leave behind so many important things in order to embark on a unique, challenging, and deeply enriching experience.

When I arrived, I was fully open to slowly getting to know those who welcomed me and with whom I would share everyday life. Being a foreigner—from the outside—with its pros and cons, with all the fears and curiosity of being in a new place, I felt that I was challenging myself at every step to face difficulties using the tools I had.

Incredibly generous people opened the doors of the center and of their families to me. As time went on, we got to know each other more and more—everyone at the Clara Luz Center: Reina’s family, the educators, and the families of the boys and girls who attend. I admire the love and responsibility with which they carry out one of the most complex tasks: the care and education of the little ones.

I must emphasize that this chapter of my life would not have been the same without the presence of the companions with whom, by God’s grace, I crossed paths at just the right moments so we could support each other and enjoy our time more peacefully. Because in moments of loneliness or homesickness, having a companion was the greatest gift God could have given us. This also makes me say that my bonds grew, and my map of friendships expanded greatly. Thank you, Karol and María, for wanting just as much as I did to go out and encounter others in this way.

The work at the center was truly intense. Every task or request for help required not only a response but also finding the most appropriate way to fulfill it in a context and culture that, while familiar, was not my own. But little by little, through time and shared moments, we came to understand one another and see that you truly arrive ready to give what you have—respectfully, but offering what you carry with you—so that a part of who you are can find harmony with what is different. Everything I lived during those five months becomes eternal, because the marks left on my heart will never fade.

My world expanded in unexpected ways, and I am no longer afraid to discover it, to connect and build bonds with others who, in the end, are brothers and sisters with whom we share joys and sorrows. Because when it comes to our humanity, what moves us remains the same: the pain of the other, and what drives us to meet them—the love for the other. A more fraternal world is built day by day; perhaps it resembles the Kingdom of Heaven.

You will always remain in my heart.