Between Wednesday, April 30 and Saturday, May 3, the XXX National Meeting of Vedruna Educators was held in Boca de Uchire, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela.
Three decades of national meetings represent a very significant indicator of success in the history of Catholic education in the country. This event not only highlights the continuity and commitment of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of Charity Vedruna with Venezuelan education, but also shows the ability to articulate objectives, goals and contents in a unique Educational Proposal, which has evolved from its beginnings in Campo Mata, Anzoátegui, to its consolidation last weekend in the town of Boca de Uchire, in the same eastern Venezuelan state.
Since its presentation, the Vedruna Educational Proposal has sought to integrate values, integral formation and a humanizing approach in the teaching-learning process in each of the Educational Centers of the Vedruna Education Network in the country. The meetings of Educators have been consolidating despite the difficulties and threats of the Venezuelan socio-political and economic context as opportunities for growth to strengthen the identity of the Vedruna Family in the country. They have literally become professional, vocational and personal in that vital space that leaves room for the exchange of experiences, continuous formation and reflection on their educational practices. This is a truly transcendent event in America, important because in none of the regions where the congregation is present has anything similar happened. This highlights the uniqueness and relevance of celebrating three uninterrupted decades of Meetings in the regional and local framework.
The celebration of these 30 years in Boca de Uchire, with the participation of seven educational centers, symbolizes not only an anniversary but a substantial event, a reaffirmation of the collective commitment of the Congregation and the Vedruna Charismatic Family for an education that promotes the development of personalizing relationships that are evolving in the midst of a deeply individualistic environment towards more human subjects and persons more in the tone of the Gospel and the construction of the Kingdom of God, of the universal fraternity of the Children of God in Jesus the Only Begotten Son of the Father. These meetings have allowed us to build a solid network among educators, facilitating dialogue and collaboration around the challenges and opportunities facing education in Venezuela today.
In addition, the Meetings have been fundamental to update and enrich the Vedruna Educational Proposal, adapting it to the changing realities of our Venezuelan context in each community where our Centers are inserted. Through workshops, conferences and group dynamics, the educators have been able to share good practices, innovate in their methodologies and strengthen their vocation as educators and their passion to transform the country as followers of the Good Jesus according to the spirit of Joaquina de Vedruna, with a contagious joy from which our most genuine Venezuelan roots drink.
These meetings leave a rich legacy for future generations, as the educational process experienced in thirty years is undoubtedly marked by important milestones in the training of these educators who are today even more committed, if possible, to an inclusive, supportive and transformative education. This commitment transcends the academic field and becomes an engine for social change. The experience accumulated in these meetings is an invaluable resource that can be used to continue building a humanizing education that responds to the needs of the country.
In conclusion, the 30 years of Encounters of Vedruna Educators in Venezuela are not simply a celebration of the past, but an invitation to continue working together for an education that inspires, forms and transforms. The history of these meetings is a testimony of the power of subsidiarity, collaboration and commitment to an educational mission that seeks the integral good of each student, of each family, of each educator who lives in our Centers. This Education, more than reaping success, has for thirty years strengthened the social and cultural fabric of our nation. Today we can affirm the fruitfulness that this work has had and continues to have, a work that draws from the roots of the profound relationship with the Good Jesus of Joaquina. This personal relationship makes each neighbor the center of her action, makes him the Jesus and projects her personal and community effort in all those seeds of hope that she continues to spread throughout the length and breadth of the old and new furrows in the land of grace that is Venezuela.
On this path of joint search, nestled in a paradisiacal place, bathed by the Caribbean Sea and the rustle of palm trees, we arrive today, to live this 30th issue to the fullest, with the motto: “the old has gone, the new has arrived”.
A common objective brings us together: to participate in the formation as a Vedruna family, to receive and live a wealth of experiences to later share them in our centers.
The dynamics developed for this great event was that of a “Congress”, that is to say, to share different presentations, which cover the life and reality of Venezuela today and which have a direct impact on the reality of education in the country today, with the purpose of outlining the profile of the Vedruna educator in the current and concrete context.
The presentation of Sister Isabel Miguélez, founder of these meetings and companion of the same for more than 15 years, opened the Congress with a simple, dynamic and at the same time profound exposition, entering us, with the figure of a tree, in the Vedruna roots, those that have sustained us, nourished and strengthened us throughout time, to make us reach today, with the fruits that we are harvesting, with the branches that we are pruning and with all that we need to contribute so that the tree continues to live, nourished and strengthened throughout the time, to make us reach today, with the fruits that we are harvesting, with the branches that we are pruning and with all that we need to contribute so that the tree continues with life and a life that does not die because it is rooted in the Good Jesus. , and projected always, always… as a living gift: open to tomorrow.
Throughout the 3 days we continued with different presentations by the participating centers on the “Role of the Vedruna Family in the construction of a better world”; “Educational villages and the Venezuelan educator”; “Venezuelan migration and education”; “Education in the Venezuelan regions” and “The role of women in society”. All of them were developed in a very creative way, through projections, exhibitions and human images, which helped us to understand the reality we live in as a country and to project ourselves towards the future, without losing the essential that identifies, characterizes and nourishes us.
The prayers, prepared in advance and inserted in the different realities, helped us to concretize and materialize daily life and to look at it with our feet on the ground, from the eyes of Jesus incarnate, especially in the most vulnerable.
As we were together, it was the right time to launch the year of the “Bicentenary”, with the motto “Vedruna in synodality” that will accompany us during 2025. There were many ideas and activities to be carried out, which were collected to be reflected throughout the year. Some local activities, others regional and some national.
There was no lack of festivities, joy, baths, walks on the beach, dances and dances… characteristic of our Venezuelan being, which help us to integrate, fraternize and be “resilient” in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty that we have to live every day.
We return happy, with our hearts overflowing with names, laughter, faces, dynamics, and learning that encourage us to continue betting on the Vedruna spirituality that unifies us as educational centers to strengthen the legacy of St. Joaquina.
Trina Bajo, Vedruna Charismatic Family, Caracas
María Virginia Martínez, Coordinator Carmelo Caracas
