Missionary projects result in 2,000 visits 

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian Youth Missionary Project in Brazil provides volunteer opportunities for people ages 17-30. The project is carried out in the Salesian parishes of São Joaquim, Nossa Senhora de Fátima and Nossa Senhora da Conceição. A similar volunteer project for older adults, known as the Adult Missionary Project, takes place in the Salesian Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora Parish.

Between these two projects, volunteers have made over 2,000 visits to the cities of Missal and Ponta Grossa in the Paraná state and Pouso Redondo and São Joaquim in the Santa Catarina state.

During recent missionary activities, 100 volunteers visited several families to provide support. Volunteers met with residents to help address shortfalls in their basic needs and living environments.

A Salesian noted, “By engaging in volunteer work, youth have the opportunity to cultivate empathy, develop leadership skills and gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. Through these visits, youth were not only helping others, but they were improving themselves with better social skills and self-esteem and increased happiness.”

Salesian missionaries in Brazil provide education, workforce development and social services throughout the country. Missionaries help to meet the basic needs of poor youth, including street children, and provide them with an education and life skills to gain employment, break the cycle of poverty, and lead productive lives.

According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on Brazil with poverty tripling in 2021. Nearly 17 million people fell into poverty in the first quarter of the year and the poverty rate now is higher than it was a decade ago. Researchers estimate that 12.8% of Brazil’s population, some 27 million people, are now living below the poverty line.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Brazil – Salesian Mission Projects in the South of the country leave their mark on the more than 2,000 families visited

Salesian Missions – Brazil

World Bank – Brazil