Widening dreams

Some 120 Spanish volunteers have travelled to 17 different countries – starting from June this year – through the Spanish Marist NGO, SED, in support of the Right to Education in Africa, Latin America and some countries in Asia and Europe.

The countries where the volunteers are involved in the 2019 work-mission camps this summer (in Europe) are: Benin, Bolivia, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mozambique, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Romania, Zambia and South Africa.

Preparation for and promotion of volunteering are among the main activities of SED. According to the NGO, volunteering is understood as a lifestyle, working for peace and development through education and solidarity. SED volunteers are key agents of social transformation whose witness encourages change in the impoverished settings where they are stationed.

During their experience of volunteering, the people collaborate in projects that local organisations and communities are working on in the fields of education, health, focus on children and women, and community development.

The website (http://www.tugranodearena.org) contains personal testimonies from the SED volunteers.

SED is just one of many Marist entities encouraging volunteering. Within the General Administration the Department of Collaboration for Mission, International (Cmi) conducts a Program for Marist Interprovincial Volunteering.