Pastoral de Joventud

While in VOICA formation, the sisters and past volunteers stressed how important flexibility is, and the days leading up to my departure for Seth’s wedding were a great example. Caitlin and I were hoping to get to go to Asuncion together to explore before my flight but were nervous about asking since we weren’t sure about “vacation” days. So, when Hermana Maria Jose asked us if we’d like to get to know the capital city we were thrilled—what we’d hoped for and we didn’t even have to awkwardly ask…so we thought. It was about two weeks before my flight when Hrn. Maria Jose mentioned that there was a meeting for young adults representing each of the different parishes in the southern departments of Paraguay. She said she would check to see if we could attend and then head up to Asuncion. After not hearing anything else about it, we figured that it wasn’t going to work. Finally, the Saturday night before my flight (Tuesday) we found out that we wouldn’t be going to Asuncion after the meeting but we were going to be leaving for the meeting the following morning at 4:45 a.m.

Caitlin, Delma, Maria and Lauri

The Cathedral in San Juan Bautista in Misiones

Our procession through the streets of San Juan Bautista

Dancing!

At the time, waking up that early wasn’t sounding that good, but I’m really glad we were able to go. It was a great chance to meet more young adults in our area and learn about some of the difficulties they face, even if I did have to dance a lot—Paraguayans love dancing and music, which is somewhat unfortunate for someone like me that generally requires a little liquid courage before hitting the dance floor. 

The last part of the meeting focused on statistics and the mission of the church towards young adults in Paraguay. I was scrambling to write down and translate all the facts, but here are some I found interesting and was able to record.

• 54% of the population of Paraguay is under 30
• 26% are between the ages of 15 and 24, and of this group 43 % are below the poverty line
• The richest 20% of the population has 62.4% of the wealth
• The poorest 10% have only 1% of the nation’s wealth
• 26% of kids ages 7 to 14 work
• 40% of young adults are in lower grades in school than they should be according to their age
• Problems for young Paraguayans: poverty, hunger, lack of opportunities, lack of work, separated families (divorce or one parent working and living in other place), lower quality of education, lack of father figure, frustration, lack of authority

To end the meeting they talked about the next big World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro…if only it was this year.

This video isn't as cool as the one they showed, but it still makes me want to go.