The MIV (Marianist International Volunteers) is a program that networks the whole Marianist Family in order to receive and publicize information about those parts of the world with lay volunteer programs. This information facilitated by the MIV is about:

• Marianist Volunteer Programs: Description of each program and permanent communication with its directors.
• Current Marianist Volunteers: Stories and pictures of current Marianist volunteers.
• Former Marianist Volunteers: Stories and pictures of previous voluntary experiences in some of the current Marianist volunteer programs.
• Prospective Volunteers: Counseling, support and networking with programs directors and with Marianist volunteers.

At this particular moment, the MIV is happy to share with you all the following volunteer experiences that have been made possible thanks to the MIV and to the support of many people within the Marianist Family who have collaborated with us:

• Patrick and Amy: Two young graduates from the University of Dayton, who between August 2004 and June 2005 volunteered in El Callao, Peru, at the Chaminade Institute of adult training and formation. Here, they lived with local families, who welcomed and loved them as if they were their own children. Their placement and mission was at the Chaminade Institute, where they worked with the students, and with the catechism and human formation teachers. They also animated and participated in the local MLC, and they collaborated with the pastoral work of the local parish. Thank you Pat and Amy for your wonderful testimony of inculturation and of shared mission with the lay and religious Marianists in Callao. Another big thank you to Bro. Phil Melcher S.M. too for his continuous support to the Marianist volunteers in El Callao.

• Gabriela: A young woman, member of the MLC in Santiago de Chile, who since December 2004 has been volunteering in the Otuzco Hills, also in Peru. She’s living in a mixed-composition community with lay and religious Marianists. She works in the explicit evangelization of the local community by means of catechism, animation in the liturgies and of the local small church communities, and in the broadcasting of the Good News through a local radio called Radio Chaminade. We highly recommend you to visit the site www.marianistas.cl, where you can read Gabriela’s stories and see the photo gallery of her experience as a Marianist international volunteer. Thank you Gabriela for your bold testimony of Marianist shared mission, and for your protagonist role in the Marianist Family in Chile today as a result of your mission in Peru. Another big thank you to Fr. Javier Nugent S.M. too, the coordinator of the Pastoral Formation Center in Otuzco, Peru, for his continuous support to the national and international Marianist volunteers.

The following are prospective volunteers for 2005, and one for 2006, whom the MIV is currently accompanying and supporting during their discernment and final preparations:

• Jane: A 25-year-old lay Marianist from Malawi, who as soon as her visa documentation is ready, she will start her year of service in Bangaldesh, at the IIRD (Integral Institute of Rural Development), supported and coordinated by Fr. Bill Christensen S.M.
• Lucas: He met the Marianists through his brother and Fr. Ted Cassidy S.M. in New Jersey, USA. He is currently getting ready for his year of service as a Marianist volunteer also in Callao, Peru, where Pat and Amy volunteered this past year. He will collaborate at the Chaminade Institute with his skills in information technology and marketing.
• Phil y Jérémie: Two French guys in their early twenties, recommended by Fr. Bertrand Bougé S.M., who are also interested in volunteering with the IIRD program in Bangladesh as from September 2005.
• Nathalie: A French young woman currently studying classic languages in Austria, who is thinking of volunteering either in Kara, Togo, or in Brazzaville, Congo as soon as she graduates next year.

All the information about the MIV, both about volunteer programs as well as about volunteers’ stories, is available in English, French and Spanish at www.marianist.org. For further information, do not hesitate to contact me at joseluisperez@sinectis.com.ar

Thank you very much to all those whose continuous support and publicity of the MIV is so valuable and necessary. We hope that more people will soon collaborate publicizing this program, since it is a clear example of shared mission of lay and religious within the Marianist Family.

May Mary Our Mother keep on inspiring and accompanying us as we collaborate with the Mission of his Son, in our different ministries all around the world as one Marianist Family.

José Luis Pérez
MIV Coordinator