Beloved, fragile, fertile, trusting and promised land

Three Manos Unidas volunteers at CIDSE’s Sustainable Camp 2022.

A family farm, dating back to 1906, converted into a Rural Tourism Centre, where ecology and spirituality go hand in hand. A magical space where three volunteers from Manos Unidas had the opportunity to live and share the connection with nature, people and God through a programme full of testimonies, dynamics, games and work on the land, linked to moments of reflection and spirituality in which we felt that the best way to take care of our Common Home is to be in contact with it.

The beloved, fragile, fertile, trusting and promised Earth became the five fundamental pillars that guided our paths and marked the theme of our days there. We learned to take care of our Common Home in community, to live with joy, to respect the rhythms of nature, to reflect on our fragility and to be aware of the importance of listening to and trusting others. To value effort and teamwork, commitment, the gift of silence, gratitude, to learn to wait and to be patient. In short, to be part of the ecosystem, knowing it in order to be able to live in accordance with it.

The moments of prayer became spaces in which we could connect with God, with the earth, with the group and with ourselves. And, ending each day with a moment of gratitude, led by the different organisations, allowed us to share with the rest of our companions the Manos Unidas prayer and to create the hymn of our stay there, a song in which we were grateful for every detail that marked us: from the food, in which we could savour the care and affection with which the three volunteers who wanted to feed us there cooked it, to the warmth of the bonfire around which we dined the last nights.

In short, it has been seven days that have taught us the importance of establishing connections, of weaving a network between people and with the local, the need for reconciliation with the planet, of the effect of example for change and of being aware that it is time to dialogue, to understand each other and to share everything we have experienced. To be an echo of the people.

Text written by the three young participants: Sara Gómez from Alcoy (Alicante) belonging to the Valencia Manos Unidas Delegation, Esther Triviño from Badajoz (Mérida-Badajoz Manos Unidas Delegation) and Natalia Díaz from Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife Manos Unidas Delegation).

Original article (in Spanish): https://www.manosunidas.org/noticia/campamento-internacional-sostenible-cidse-2022

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