The Asociación Misioneros de San Carlos Scalabrinianos in Peru, for the second time, is recognized by the UN INTEGRHA-BITAT for its good practices in the work of accompanying migrants, refugees, and the empowerment of host communities.

On May 16 and 17 of this year, as Scalabrinians we were present at the Ciudad del Saber – Panama to share our good practices at the II Regional Conference of Habitat Integration and Co-creation Centers – IntegrHa-Bitat. Considering the moment to be opportune, we began our presentation by sharing our mission and vision, which consists of recognizing, safeguarding, and promoting the well-being of people in human mobility, ensuring practices that affect the statutory responsibilities guided by governments, as well as complying with best practices and standards internationally accepted to “Be a migrant with migrants”.

The focus of our work is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG. 8 “Decent work and economic growth” and the SDG. 10 “Reduction of inequalities”, these being transversal to the other SDGs. Our methodology is participatory, therefore it is the person who is at the center of our actions, and, from the Scalabrinian charisma and spirituality, we provide active listening in the various areas (social, psychological, and spiritual) to identify the needs and capacities of each person. The shelters are reference points for the care and accompaniment of migrants and refugees, we identify that this occurs in “centripetal and centrifugal” movement, that is, we welcome the people who arrive, we accompany them in their process while they are in our shelters, and from there, we go to other communities, especially in the city of Lima (capital of Peru) peripheral areas of Lima North, Lima Center and in the Diocese of Carabayllo. We encourage, accompany, and empower in their daily work, especially women, who are 80% of those who participate in our activities, thus we value the responses that they have already been developing from the pastoral field. We teach soft skills workshops for personal and community strengthening and provide tools for guidance on immigration regularization issues.

With the objective of being a sustainable pastoral response that contributes to personal and community development, we work together with religious communities, parishes, and people of goodwill who understand and embrace the Scalabrinian charism and spirituality. This is work that requires close support to strengthen alliances and collaboration to reduce gaps and build integrated communities that know how to overcome the I, you, we, and them to form we, as Pope Francis says to build: “An ever-bigger us” to make the world the homeland of humanity.

This comprehensive and integrated support for people is made possible thanks to the spirit of service undertaken by the collaborators of our missions, as well as the cooperation of the various organizations that trust in our work and contribute by financing various activities.

 Fr. Luiz Carlos Do Arte, cs