VIDES volunteers teach needy around the world

from My San Antonio

Valentino Lucio
Express-News

At the beginning of the school year, Andrea Cisneros moved into her new home on the grounds of St. John Bosco School on the West Side. The 22-year-old volunteer lives there with the Salesian Sisters as part of the Volunteers International for Development Education Service (VIDES) program.

After graduating from the University of Delaware in May, Cisneros knew she wanted to volunteer her time to help children in need. After applying to various programs throughout the world, she found the right fit teaching underprivileged kids in the fifth grade in San Antonio.

"I knew when I graduated from college that I wanted to do volunteer work," Cisneros said. "I don't get paid for my service here, but the sisters make sure I get what I need."

"I knew a lot of people that went on to work at high-paying jobs after graduation," she said. "I wouldn't want to trade places with them. I am so inspired by the young kids I teach. And to me, that is fulfilling."

In 1987, the Salesian Sisters started the VIDES program in Italy. During a visit to Rome, Sister Mary Gloria Mar, a former teacher at St. John Bosco, learned about the program and brought its "inspirational message" back to San Antonio. In 1997, she co-founded the first VIDES office in the United States at the school.

"From the beginning, it has been an incredible program," Mar said. "I think young people want to make a difference in the world and help people in need."

The VIDES program has 67 offices in 29 countries, including two offices in the United States — in San Antonio and Kenilworth, N.J. Volunteers, chosen for their individual talents, can decide to stay at their destinations anywhere from one month to two years. People applying to the program are between 18 and 35 and choose their volunteer destinations from more than 50 nations.

Unlike many other mission projects, VIDES not only helps feed, educate and shelter the less fortunate; it also offers vocational training so the people helped can provide for themselves in the future.

"A lot of the kids we help will go from eating trash to attending college," Cisneros said. "Now that's a miracle."

Before the volunteers relocate, they must go through a training program administered by Mar, who teaches them how to deal with cultural differences and poverty. She said she loves her job because she gets to meet so many "beautiful spirits" when they come to train or when she tags along on a mission trip.

"This is the most beautiful job I have ever had," Mar said. "These young people give me life. I have received so much and I want to share what I have."

Another volunteer says he feels the same way.

Paul Alvarez, 32, is currently on a mission trip in Sudan. The former elementary school teacher for Northside Independent School District packed his bags at the beginning of the month and set out on his four-month volunteer mission.

He is stationed in El Obeid in western Sudan. His journey has brought him face to face with poverty.

"Poverty is not a choice to the majority of people who live here," Alvarez said. "It is the only thing that they know."

"Something that I have seen here is that people share their poverty," he said. "As Americans, we give out of our excess, what we have left over. I've come to see people here give out of what they need — out of their necessities."

In El Obeid, Alvarez works to help supply a training camp for 400 displaced youths from the Nuba Mountains and Darfur. Although he hasn't had enough time to get to know the natives because of the language barrier, the stories he shares with those back home in weekly e-mails support his reasoning for being there.

One such story tells of four boys who arrived at the camp in El Obeid on Oct. 23. The trip usually takes five days, he said, and many of the kids arrive on foot. As the children were about to settle in at the camp, one of the boys heard that the Janjaweed, a government-backed militia, attacked and killed six people in a camp, called Kalama, where his family was living. The boy did not confirm whether his family was affected by the attack.

"With such extreme poverty and devastating effects of war, the people here are hopeful," Alvarez said. "When there is no hope, this is a crucial moment to be more hopeful. It is easy to be hopeful when things are easy, but most difficult when things are hard, such as they are here.

"Being here has been difficult to get used to," he continued. "I have come to understand that I have to forget about who I was in the states because that doesn't matter while I'm here. In a certain way, I have to lose myself in order to find myself. It has been a difficult task to do.

"I don't think I am here to change things by implementing my ideas but supporting others who live here."