Hungary, Cradle of the Volunteers of God
‘God! God! God! Ring out this ineffable name, source of all rights, justice and freedom, in Parliaments, in town squares, in houses and in offices!’ Wishing to answer this heartfelt plea contained in Pius XII’s radio message on 10 September 1956, which had been provoked by the repression in Hungary, Chiara Lubich wrote a letter that was to become the ‘founding charter’ for a new vocation in the Focolare Movement: the ‘volunteers of God’. Men and women, committed to bringing God, with their own lives, into society, into all the places where they are active. ‘There has come to be,’ Chiara wrote on 15 January 1957, ‘a society capable of excluding the name of God… taking the love of God from human hearts. There must be a society capable of putting Him back in His place. 
(…) ‘May there be those who hallow Him with all their strength and who gather together with those who feel the very same call to form a bloc under the orders of that Eternal Word which no one can ever cancel from the earth. ‘There need to be people who follow Jesus exactly as he wants to be followed: denying themselves and taking up their cross. People who believe in this weapon: the cross, more powerful than the most powerful of bombs because the cross is a breach in the soul by which God can enter into hearts … Creating a bloc of people of every age or condition, linked by the strongest bond that exists: that mutual love left to us by the dying God become human as his last will and testament … 
Mutual love that forges Christians into a divine unity … which alone can oppose the unity that comes from selfish interests, from reasons of this earth, from hatred. ‘Mutual love which means: practical action, giving all our love to our brothers and sisters out of love for God. ‘In summary, there need to be disciples of Jesus, genuine disciples in the world not just in the religious houses. Disciples who voluntarily follow Him, motivated only by an illuminated love towards Him, in this hour of darkness… ‘An army of volunteers, because love is free….‘There needs to be … the building of a new society, renewed by the Good News, where justice and virtue shine out with love….(…)‘A society that bears witness to a single name: God.’
«I was born in Santa Maria, in a region at the foot of the Andes, rich with aboriginal culture, but very poor. I am a descendent of the “calchaquies” (calciachies) aboriginals. I’m married and have seven children. I studied for twelve years at the Aurora School. There, besides reading, writing and weaving, I learned to live the spirituality of unity. In 2003, faced with the widespread unemployment, I started a spinning mill to supply the school’s weaving workshop. It wasn’t easy to convince the women of my land, who have always been discriminated, to take up the work of weaving again. They had to cross rivers and walk many kilometers every day in order to reach the spinning mill. We had no means. Little by little each one offered what she had: a spindle, balls of wool or her ability in this traditional art. There was still the problem of expensive machinery. One day I had to ask for a ride and I confided my concern to the driver. 
He told me that he knew how to build weaving machines. “Can you make them for us?” I asked. He replied: “Yes, you can pay me when you can.” There were other obstacles as well: we lost the place where we were working and our most expert woman quit. “With all that is happening, maybe we should just give up!” said one of the girls, expressing the doubt we all had. 
While we were moving to a new location, we found an image of Our Lady. It seemed very significant to me and I proposed to the others that we make a pact: to work every day with love for one another. Shortly afterwards, we received a donation with which we were able to buy property and equipment. That was the beginning of the “TINKU KAMAYU” studio, which means “Working together.” In the beginning there were eight of us. Today, two years later, there are 18 craftswomen and a growing production. Now I feel that I am part of a large project and involved with many other calchaquies people. We have found our identity again, and with it, hope, cultural growth, the possibility of work for ourselves and for others, and all the wealth of our cultural roots and our people. Now we feel that we are useful, no longer humiliated, but appreciated and capable of expressing our thoughts».
