Experience of Salvador Padilla
From the first day I arrived at Mariapolis El Diamante I felt very welcomed. I immediately noticed that those who lived there had a genuine desire of living the Gospel in the different activities that they were carrying out. In my case, I started working with Pilar in the library, with Edgar in maintenance and with Hugo in the carpentry and screen printing workshop.
I observed the very fraternal relationships between everyone who lived there, together with the close and pure relationship between men and women which caught my attention. There were many occasions where I was able to learn a little more about the life of each of the people with whom I shared my experience. With some of them in particular I managed to deepen my friendship, by talking about professional and also personal issues.
One of the most recurrent topics of my conversations were about the possibility of having an agroecological transition project that could be designed and executed on the grounds of the Citadel. Together with the people responsible for the Mariapolis, we began to see what activities we could begin to carry out.
I then started to work more seriously on the project about the new vermicomposter for better management of organic waste of the citadel. This project was conceived in the company of Economy of Francesco – Puebla and the financing was covered by Economy of Communion – Puebla; which was a joint achievement of all those involved.
Additionally, it was an opportunity to sensitize the students of the school of Santa María about the socio-environmental crisis that we are experiencing in the world, and also to teach some small-scale solutions. The school directors accepted this proposal and the “Teenfluencers” workshop started, under the 6×1 Methodology organized by the PIP (Promoción Integral de la Persona, “Integral Promotion of the Person”). Thanks to this, I was able to disseminate some concerns and share alternatives to a group of 20-25 high school students from the school, who began to compost their organic waste at home.
By doing this, I believe that I have been able to live the guiding values of the milONGa volunteering program: solidarity, gratuity, interculturality, sharing, becoming one with the others, reciprocity, participation and fraternity. I think that the relationships which I made there will last a long time and that I have also been able to activate my global citizenship with different levels of incidence.
In this sense, I am very pleased that I contributed to the Mariapolis by taking up on one of its goals as a community in relation to the design and execution of a comprehensive ecological project. Personally, I have been involved in two commissions: one referring to the drafting of a declaration where we all as a community assume this process of integral ecological conversion and another commission where we will make a diagnosis of the different areas of work.
So to continue with these little jobs, I hope to return to the Mariapolis very soon.