The Mariapolis Center in Paraguay during the pandemic, helping the needy in their neighbourhood The “Mother of Humanity” Mariapolis Centre is in Paraguay, just 20 kilometres from the capital city of Asunción, in a neighbourhood where close 200 families live in favourable economic conditions. Three focolarine live permanently at the Mariapolis Centre, along with three other married women. When the quarantine for Covid-19 began, “we didn’t want to be closed inside the Mariapolis Centre,” they say, “so we began to look at the needs of the families in our area.” In the neighbourhood, “pots of solidarity” were set up – that is, when everyone brings what they have and all together make a big pot to share with all the families. It was a good opportunity to make the big kitchen at the Mariapolis Centre available. “We wrote letters to get all of the Mariapolis Centre’s clients and vendors involved. A lot of help came immediately, so we cooked a good Bolognese sauce with pasta and rice, which was distributed to about 4,000 people in the neighbourhood. “We uncovered a lot of vulnerability: children who didn’t have a home, or had health problems, or houses without a bathroom or windows. So we started to take care of their needs.” At the same time, a WhatsApp group was created in the neighbourhood to share experiences of helping the poor and requests of all kinds. “In a short time, neighbours helped us by bringing milk, oil, clothing and cell phones, so that children could attend classes at school, as well as a refrigerator and construction materials, so we could build five bathrooms for families that did not have any.” The pandemic lingered, and with it came the problems of managing and paying expenses at the Mariapolis Centre. “Our strength was to have a well-organized kitchen, so we started offering a menu for takeaway food for sale. The main orders came from our neighbours, and this gave us the opportunity to get to know some of them better. “One day, for example, a neighbour asked us for help to confess: it had been 32 years since he had received the sacrament of reconciliation. Another neighbour, a professional cyclist, wanted to organize a race through the three main cities of Paraguay. With the proceeds we helped two ethnic groups of indigenous peoples bring electricity and drinking water to their homes.” Providence is never at a loss. “A member of the Focolare community donated a sum of money to cover four months of salaries. Then came an industrial fryer, lots of vegetables, fruit and many other things. What surprised us most was that even a car arrived so we could distribute the food. “But the gift, the greatest gift that the pandemic has given us focolarine has been the possibility to be close to our poor and to live our charism of unity to the full. We are here in this rift, where we can generate this communion between rich and poor and bring this culture of fraternity.”

Lorenzo Russo