There are places in the world where fraternity is cultivated with a purpose. One of these is MilONGa, a project that has established itself as a key initiative in the field of international volunteering, aiming to promote peace and solidarity through concrete actions.
MilONGa offers a concrete alternative: to experience solidarity firsthand through experiences that transcend cultural, social and geographical boundaries.
Its name, which stands for “Mille organizzazioni non governative attive” (Thousand Active Non-Governmental Organizations) is much more than a project. It is a network that connects the youth with organizations in various parts of the world, giving them the opportunity to actively engage in social, educational, environmental, and cultural initiatives. Since its beginning, the program has grown by weaving a global community that recognizes common values: peace, reciprocity and active citizenship.
What distinguishes MilONGa is not only the diversity of its destinations or the richness of its activities but the type of experience it offers: a deep immersion in local realities, where each volunteer comes not to “help” but to learn, exchange, and build together. It is a comprehensive training journey that transforms both those who experience it and the communities that welcome them.
The countries where these experiences can take place are as diverse as the youth who participate, covering various latitudes: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Peru in America; Kenya in Africa; Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Germany in Europe; Lebanon and Jordan in the Middle East.
In each of these places, MilONGa collaborates with local organizations committed to social development and building a culture of peace, offering volunteers service opportunities that have a real and lasting impact.
Behind MilONGa is a solid network of international partnerships. The project is supported by the AFR.E.S.H.,initiative co-financed by the European Union, which allows it to strengthen its structure and expand its impact. It is also part of the New Humanity ecosystem, an international organization committed to promoting a culture of unity and dialogue among peoples.
A Story that Leaves a Mark
Francesco Sorrenti was one of the volunteers who traveled to Africa with the MilONGa program. His motivation was not just the desire to “help,” but a deeper need to understand and connect with a reality he felt was distant. “It was something I had inside me for years: a deep curiosity, almost an urgency to see with my own eyes, to try to get closer to a reality that felt far away,” Francesco recounts about his experience in Kenya.
His experience in Kenya was marked by moments that transformed him. One of these was a visit to Mathare, a slum in Nairobi. “When one of them told me: ‘Look, this is where my parents live. I was born here, my children were born here. I met my wife here and we will probably die here,’ I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness. I realized that before doing anything, it was necessary to stop. That I wasn’t there to fix things, but to observe rather than turn away.”
He also experienced moments of joy while working with the children at a local school. “The joy of these children was contagious, physical. There was no need for many words: just being there, playing, sharing. It was then that I understood that it’s not about doing great things, but simply about being present,” he shares.
Two years after his experience, Francesco still feels its impact. “My way of seeing things has changed: I now value what really matters more and have learned to appreciate simplicity. This experience has also left me with a form of strength, an inner tenacity. You carry a kind of resilience, like what I saw in the eyes of those who, at dawn, wanted to do everything even if they had nothing.”
Meetings that Multiply Commitment
In April 2025, MilONGa participated in the international congress “Solidarity in Action, Builders of Peace” held in the city of Porto, Portugal. The meeting, jointly organized by AMU (Action for a United World), New Humanity and the Focolare Movement of Portugal, brought together young leaders from around the world linked to the Living Peace International and MilONGa programs.
For three days, Porto was transformed into a laboratory of dialogue and action, where young participants exchanged experiences, shared good practices, and built common strategies to strengthen their role as peace agents. MilONGa played a key role, not only through the active participation of its volunteers but also by creating synergies with other youth networks engaged in social transformation.
One of the most significant moments of the congress was the collaborative workshop space, where participants imagined and designed concrete projects with local and global impact.
MilONGa is defined not only by what it does but by the horizon it proposes: a fairer, more united and more humane world. A world where solidarity is not a slogan but a daily practice; where peace is not a utopia but a shared responsibility.
I come from a divided family background; I was born from an extramarital relationship of my father. Because of this, he kept my existence a secret, and for a long time—especially as a child—I experienced his temporary absence.
I felt there was something dark or hidden in my story. What I didn’t know was that Jesus would begin a process of radical conversion in my father’s life, one that would lead him to become a Pentecostal pastor.
My story and the sense of abandonment could very well have been reasons to turn away from faith. However, that is not what happened. Faced with the experience of abandonment, I couldn’t help but wonder about the kind of love that, even amid a child’s pain, had reached my father’s life. I often asked myself, “What kind of love is this, capable of piercing through the pain I’m feeling?” At age 16, during a high school graduation cruise, I encountered that love. One evening, sitting at the top of the ship, I clearly heard the Lord’s voice speak to my heart: “You weren’t born to do what your friends are doing, Mayara, you are mine.” Thanks to what began that night, I became a committed Pentecostal.
At the age of 19, I enrolled in the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (Brazil) to study theology. In a story that only the Holy Spirit could write, I became President of the Academic Centre and of the Student Theology Commission for the state of São Paulo. I became good friends with some seminarians, had contact with various dioceses and religious orders and several priests often visited my home. At first, my mother joked, “I never imagined I’d have so many priests in my house, Mayara.”
Through that experience, I decided to write my final thesis on Christian unity. But as I began to explore what path to take, many things happened that led me to reflect on my family history. I went through a deep process of forgiveness and reconciliation. And so, as I forgave, I wrote. I always remembered how painful it can be to come from a divided family. But it was precisely in those moments that the Lord also asked me: “And my family, the Church?” I felt I could and indeed had to, join my experience of abandonment to that of Jesus.
“I decided to write my final thesis on Christian unity (…) and many things happened that led me to reflect on my family history. I went through a deep process of forgiveness and reconciliation.”.
In the photo: Mayara during the Ecumenical Congress in Castel Gandolfo in March 2025
Drawing from the shared heritage of Sacred Scripture, I concluded that painful period with a thesis entitled: “The Spirit and the Bride Say: Come! The Figure of the Bride as a Prophetic Response to the Unity of the Church”. It was this step led me into Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue: with the Commission for Unity of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal-SP and the “We Are One” mission. Founded by laypeople within a Catholic community (Coração Novo–RJ), the We Are One Mission is based on a letter of intent signed by Catholic and Evangelical leaders that outlines four pillars for dialogue: respect for confessional identities, ecclesiality, non-proselytism and a culture of encounter. The city of Rio de Janeiro even officially recognizes a “We Are One Week” which has surprisingly been declared part of the city’s intangible cultural heritage. In practice, the Mission brings together Evangelical, Catholic and Pentecostal leaders with a common purpose: to proclaim the unity of Christians. Theological dialogue was made possible by the creation of a national Catholic-Pentecostal working group (WG). Its aim is to reflect theologically and pastorally on the charismatic-pentecostal experience, starting from the Latin American context. We recently published our first report, the result of our meetings, on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 2022, the We Are One Youth Mission began, a group in which I am wholeheartedly and actively involved. For these reasons, I see the We Are One Mission as a sign of hope. First, for all the communion I’ve experienced and secondly, because my personal story is undoubtedly intertwined with it.
Entrusted with the role of being “pilgrims of hope,” I would like to conclude with a phrase my father often repeats when telling the story of our family. He says, countless times, that our story was born in pain and wounds but was bathed in God’s infinite love: “Tribulation became vocation.” When my father glimpses this reality, he always quotes St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Paraphrasing this biblical text, during this 2025Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in the year of the Jubilee and the celebration of many significant anniversaries such as the Council of Nicaea, I am encouraged and led to believe that: amidst so many deep wounds throughout the Church’s history, God is surely making His hope abound.
Up2Me is a training and education program on affectivity and sexuality offered by the Focolare Movement. It started in 2015 as a response to the educational challenges facing the young generations of the third millennium. Today it is active in 35 countries around the world, with tailored paths for every age group: children with their families, pre-adolescent and adolescent children (with a parallel path for their parents) and young adults.
We spoke to Paolo and Teresa Radere, long-time educators, especially with Focolare’s younger generations, about the path suitable for children aged 4-8 years.
Team Up2Me Children
Paolo, Teresa, what is Up2Me for Children?
It is an experience that children can have with their parents, an itinerary for integral formation starting from the development of the emotional, affective, and sexual dimensions. It also engages the spiritual realm and existential intelligence, to foster from childhood a deep and open perspective on the world and others. The pathway promotes positive relationships, creativity in dialogue, acceptance, respect for each person’s uniqueness and a foundation for personal and communal growth and openness to others.
Who is it for?
It is open to all families with children aged 4-8 years. If, as happens in many families, there are older or younger children, participation in Up2Me is not a problem but an opportunity, because it is the whole family that has an experience. The course is also open to children in foster care, those with separated or single parents—in such cases, the child is accompanied by a trusted adult (one of the two natural or foster parents or both, an uncle, a grandparent ….).
The project can be run in family groups, parishes, or schools.
What are the objectives?
For children, the aim is to have shared experiences with their parents and other reference adults, which is necessary for the development of their identity and for an integral and harmonious growth. They learn to recognize, welcome and express in a context-appropriate way primary emotions with a positive value; experience good and effective communication with parents; develop interiority, self-knowledge, grow in the spiritual dimension – understood as the ability to contemplate and transcend, learn to take care of one’s body, others, nature.
For parents, on the other hand, the course is useful in fostering growth in the ability to dialogue between generations within the family, between families and with contemporary culture to enhance their latent potential; to deepen knowledge about the child’s socio-cognitive and psychological development and the type of relationships that favour it; to understand how parents’ behaviour and relationship with their children affect their growth and learn good educational practices for emotional regulation; and to learn about the influence of new technologies in the upbringing of children and the role of parents in it.
What does the programme include?
From the experience and study of these years and to shape the path undertaken, we have chosen the metaphor of ‘a journey together towards happiness’. We have chosen to work on the emotional-relational education of children because this forms the basis of their affective and sexual relationship; emotions then allow the body and mind to be articulated, which favours integral personal growth. The experiential training method allows parents and children to share their daily experiences in community meetings, to dialogue, to deepen and enlighten, thus building a new knowledge that comes from their own wisdom and that of others.
The content is presented through a plurality of languages: play, movement, sensory, iconic representation, narration, images and dance as characteristics of the approach to the different themes.
The metaphor of a plane trip gives the child the image of the continuity of the journey, the sense of expectation and discovery, the need for work in preparation for the trip. After each stage the experience continues at home because each family unit is given a proposal that helps to continue the dialogue and the climate built with the aim of seeking spaces for growth as a family.
We are Aureliana and Julián from Paraguay, married for 36 years, with five children and six grandchildren.
JULIAN: Aureliana was 18 and I was 19 when we married. We were deeply in love and excited to build our life together. The first five years were wonderful, we were great partners, we worked together, helped each other and complemented one another. But after seven years of marriage, we entered a deep crisis that almost led to separation. Communication became difficult: we couldn’t talk about ourselves or our relationship and this gradually distanced us. Still, we both wanted to do our best for our daughters and to progress economically. Each of us lived in our own way, we argued a lot, but managed to keep going.
AURELIANA: When our daughters reached adolescence, one of them was very rebellious and, at 17, she became pregnant and went to live with her partner. That was when we started seeking support to strengthen ourselves as parents, also in a spiritual way. We began attending family group meetings and spiritual retreats. That helped us overcome tough challenges, with each of us putting in a lot of goodwill.
JULIAN: We had achieved economic stability, we had a good family, good health and a well-established family business – we had everything! One day, I started interacting with someone through social media, we got to know each other, and I began an extramarital relationship. At the same time, my sick father was living with us and our daughter was finding it very hard to adapt to motherhood. Aureliana had to stretch herself thin to support her, keep working and manage the home. I was deeply involved in that affair and did nothing to help Aureliana. In fact, I claimed I had no time, she would complain and I would get angry. At that time, we travelled to Europe and during the trip, Aureliana found out about my infidelity. Everything collapsed. We were far from everyone, alone within the four walls of a hotel room.
AURELIANA: My world fell apart! I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t believe something like this had happened. At first, I stayed silent, hoping we could finish the trip, but then I exploded: I broke the silence by screaming, crying and demanding an answer. He, for his part, began to desperately beg for mercy, asking forgiveness from God and from me and despite the terrible pain I was in, it touched my heart. I knew I had to take a step and I placed all my trust in God’s help to do so. I finally managed to see the face of the crucified Jesus in Julián. I opened my arms to him and we calmed down a little. However, despite this interior step, I was still often overwhelmed by pain and sadness.
“That is what we want to proclaim to the world: we are here in order to be ‘one’ as the Lord wants us to be ‘one,’ in our families and in those places where we live, work and study. Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life. (…) Let us not forget: families are the cradle of the future of humanity.”
JULIAN: At night, Aureliana couldn’t sleep, she cried. She was diagnosed with depression. I felt helpless and guilty. I prayed a lot. I felt that my wife and family were incredibly precious to me, but the damage was done. I had to accept my mistake, but I also wanted to give my all and trust in God.
AURELIANA: Our family was divided, the children didn’t know whom to blame and they rebelled. Then Julián became ill: he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. That shook me deeply and almost snapped me out of my depression. After receiving the CT scan results, we gathered with our children and looked for the best surgical option. We felt that the unity of our family was the most precious good, more than any disagreement. I came to realize that I was once again capable of giving my life for my husband and fully living out my fidelity to him, “in sickness and in health.”
JULIAN: I felt loved and managed to undergo two brain surgeries with record recovery times. Immediately after being discharged, we had the opportunity to attend a retreat for couples in crisis, as we still needed to heal our wounds.
AURELIANA: That retreat helped me clarify many doubts. We received great affection from the participants and benefited from the presence of professionals and couples with many years of experience. We discovered a new path forward.
JULIAN: I realized that the will to forgive is one thing, but healing the trauma is a process. The wound I had caused was very deep and she needed time, patience, and love from me. I received the greatest gift from God—her forgiveness. We renewed our marriage vows, Aureliana said her “YES” to me again forever, and we started over.
AURELIANA: Our life has completely changed. After 35 years of marriage, we stopped fighting. We now live a full life as a couple and can look each other in the eyes and love each other like never before.
