Once again, Manos Unidas, a Spanish Catholic organization that raises funds to help people around the world, has launched its campaign against hunger. With the slogan “Declare war on hunger,” it has called on people to combat the structural causes of poverty, inequality, and injustice.
For our part, we continue to collaborate as volunteers in the campaign, helping to raise awareness about these realities.
Our role is simple: to bear witness to our missionary life and explain firsthand some of the projects we have seen financed by Manos Unidas in our mission. This is not just any organization, but the way in which the Spanish Church is committed to the realities of impoverished countries and collaborates with them. Most of its funds come from this campaign, which is carried out by parishes throughout Spain every second Sunday in February, and it is time to report on it to all the people who offer their help each year.
This year we have had the opportunity to visit several parishes. Often what we do is attend weekend Masses and share our mission experience and the realities of different countries where we have been as missionaries at the end of the Eucharist or after the homily.
It is very nice to see how in some parishes, such as La Encarnación in Bormujos (Seville), the whole community gets involved in the campaign. Catechists, children, and young people work during the week to help raise awareness in the community, while volunteers organize charity markets or activities such as hunger dinners.
Also, in the parishes of Cerro, Ascensión, and Los Ángeles in Seville East, the volunteers of Manos Unidas and the parish priests lovingly prepare the Masses for that weekend. At the last one, we not only had the opportunity to share in the Eucharist, but also to give our testimony to the adult catechesis group. It was an hour in which we were able to delve deeper into these realities and share photos and a deeper understanding of the causes of these situations and the struggle these countries are undergoing to move forward. In reality, our help as missionaries or our support for certain Manos Unidas projects is nothing more than support for the work and sacrifice that the communities carry out. These communities are the real protagonists and the ones who teach us so much about resilience, about not losing hope, about being creative when you have few resources. We learn so many things from them that it is only fair to share them with our communities of origin at this time.
We hope that the faith and energy they show will also revitalize our communities in Spain and that we will be able to collaborate in building a more just world for all.
Best regards, Alberto and Maricarmen.
