A group of volunteers from the Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo (UNASP), Engenheiro Coelho campus, decided to make the most of the July vacations to build cisterns in communities in the semi-arid region of Piauí. The initiative is from the Volunteer and Mission Center, which works in partnership with the LUSS Institute, providing access to water, food security, and economic development for thousands of vulnerable families.
Mission Piauí is a short-term project that is taking place for the second time on campus. In January, the missionaries had their first contact with the community. And on July 3, the 15 volunteers continued the project, which lasted until July 13.
The proposal of the LUSS Institute is that the community intervention happens in three stages: water, through the construction of cisterns; food security, through family or community gardens; and economic development, through planning activities that can generate income for the community. Currently, the UNASP students are working on the first stage.
According to Ana Carolina de Freitas, project leader, who participated in the mission in January, the communities suffer from the high costs of surviving in the semi-arid region. "Everything is very expensive. There is really an industry hovering over this need [for water], and the most humble people are exploited because of the drought," she explains.
The Mission Is Made of People
It is thinking about creating bonds of trust that Mission Piauí happens in sequence, establishing a healthy relationship with the local population. Freitas declares, "This continuity is very important because you show seriousness in your work and you show that what you promise, you keep.”
Involved with the mission in a deeper and deeper way, Freitas lived an experience that will stay forever in her memory: she spent her birthday on the mission field. "It was a great surprise because I didn't expect to spend my birthday this way, but it was one of the best surprises of my life!" she recalls.
There was no shortage of memorable moments in this project, as in all the others. For Heloisa Rocha, a teacher education student from UNASP, the most special moment was to again meet the residents she had met when she participated in the project for the first time in January. "We created a very nice bond during the days we worked there, and the stories that happen during this contact we have with them become very remarkable," Rocha says.
Relationship with God and Neighbor
The key point of Mission Piauí is the relationship with God and neighbor. In this way, all those who come into contact with the mission field experience the transformation God's work can provide.
Through the time of regeneration, all volunteers were invited to remain in reflection. "Our leader from the LUSS talked with us about the fruit of the spirit described in Galatians. During the week, we learned about each part of the fruit, and our challenge was to apply it in our daily lives in some way," says Rocha.
Mayra Munhoz, a media student, never imagined she would become so attached to the community she was serving. Initially, Munhoz's purpose in the project was only to capture images for the production of audiovisual content. However, in just a few days, the mission left the student learning for life. "Everyone should go on a mission, especially Mission Piauí, because what you experience there is impossible to describe," she says.