From August 17 to 30, the Shalom Volunteer Program held another edition of the Chaves Expedition, on Marajó Island, in the Brazilian state of Pará. The initiative brought together 11 volunteers from different regions of Brazil, who joined the 10 missionaries serving in the mission of the Espaço de Paz (“Space of Peace”) in Chaves, along with volunteers from the region itself. Together they supported the activities of the Espaço de Paz, a socio-educational service of the Shalom Catholic Community, and the work carried out with local families.
This time, the expedition centered on the Espaço de Paz Olympics, offering the children, adolescents and young people served by the center moments of fellowship, learning, sport, culture and spirituality. The program also included family visits, talks for parents and psychological support.
Olympics bring together sport, learning and spirituality
Over the course of the activities, 42 participants took part in the Olympics: 33 of them assisted by the Espaço de Paz and nine invited young people. Of the total, 13 were children between 7 and 11 years old and 29 were young people between 12 and 18.
The program was designed to work on different dimensions of the participants’ development. There were logic games, language games and activities focused on spirituality.
More than a competition, the Olympics became an opportunity for fellowship and for discovering talents, encouraging participants to develop skills, work as a team and experience new ways of relating to one another.
The mission also reached the families
During the expedition, 23 evangelization visits were made to the families of those assisted, reaching around 60 people. The visits allowed for closer contact with the reality of each family, favoring listening, fellowship and presence alongside the people accompanied by the service. The expedition program also included two talks for parents.
One of them was given by a social worker on “Rights and duties regarding public assistance”, offering guidance on how to access and use social benefits. The second was given by a podiatrist and addressed foot hygiene, care and prevention.
“That was where I found true love”
Among the fruits of the experience is also what cannot be measured in numbers alone: what the young people served by the Espaço de Paz lived.
A young woman assisted by the Espaço de Paz who took part in the Olympics shared her testimony afterward:
“I could be anywhere in the world, but the place I most love to be is here, at His feet. And these are moments I would not trade for anything.”
In her testimony, she also tells of having found, in her encounter with God, a love that welcomes and transforms her:
“There I left everything behind and needed nothing more, because when He comes, the emptiness disappears, the pain falls silent and the soul rests. There I understood that only He makes sense. Only His love is enough for me. Only He is everything.”
The testimony expresses an essential dimension of the mission carried out by the Espaço de Paz in Chaves: being close to people, offering not only activities and services, but also spaces of encounter, listening, care and experience of God.
A mission built together
Over those days, the volunteers were able to put their gifts and knowledge at the service of children, adolescents, young people and families, while also being invited to live a concrete experience of mission and self-giving.
The Chaves Expedition 2026.2 thus reaffirms the commitment of the Shalom Volunteer Program to the promotion of human dignity and to being present alongside people in situations of vulnerability, in the belief that every gesture of care can open space for new encounters and for the transformation of lives.
You can also be part of this story. Registration is open for the Amazon Expedition 2027, a new opportunity to put your gifts at the service of others and live a concrete experience of mission. Be part of this mission!
Amazon Expedition 2027
Read the call for applications: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1h-I_-91GL5bw8DrDrLSvk1vchJc1S7o_?usp=drive_link
Sign up through this link: https://forms.gle/zaBE6faybhTvdZhJ9
