College Students Minister in El Salvador February 7, 2018

For the past five years Sister Diane Capuano, OP, and Sister Flor de Maria Buruca, OP have selected local college students to take part in organizing a camp for children in the village of Sol Naciente, El Salvador. With the help of our Sisters, these students are living the Dominican Mission.

During this years’ Experience El Salvador Trip, Saint Martin de Porres is being recognized. Each day, our students from both Dominican College and Molloy College read a passage from the Gospel of Matthew in both Spanish and English. The reading was: Jesus began to teach the crowds. Blessed are those who know they need God. Blessed are those who feel sad; God will help them feel happy again. Blessed are those who are humble and do not brag or put others down. Blessed are those who want to do as God would want them to do. Blessed are those who try to do what is fair and act peacefully.

One of the Molloy students from this year’s program, Joseph Marino, reflected on his experience: “Each morning when we arrived at the camp we were greeted the same way. As our van would pull up to the gate, a group of kids would come running toward us yelling “Buenos Dias” and giving us hugs. During the camp, the kids were split into groups by age. The group that I worked with had kids ages 9-13. Our days were full of activities from sports, music, art, and even some community service. As these activities are going on I had the opportunity to form bonds with many of the kids. We did things like make bead bracelets for each other or create secret handshakes. One of my favorite memories in the camp is when a boy named Jefferson came up to me and said we were no longer friends. When I asked him why he said because we were brothers now. To imagine that 5 days before we didn’t know one another and we were able to get so close was unbelievable. As each day of the camp went on it seemed that the hellos become more eager and the goodbyes were harder.”