Participating in humanitarian missions is a task that demands, besides much love for life, a lot of physical, mental and emotional preparation to deal with situations from the simplest ones, such as helping at nursing homes and orphanages, up to the most extreme, such as catastrophes and accidents. The teams of Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Missions, undergo much training before joining a mission and, later, constant updating and preparations, to be always tuned up to act in any situation and condition.
With a background of 22 humanitarian missions already conducted, among them some of a permanent character, such as that of Roraima, where it has been supporting Venezuelan refugees since 2016, Fraternidade maintains a training calendar for those who have the wish to help and collaborate in Missions. This week, more than 30 people are attending theoretical classes and practical activities in Carmo da Cachoeira, a town located in Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil, where Fraternidade has its headquarters and where it conducts some of these instructions.
This class is already in the second module of an integral training, which can last between 14 and 18 months, and this part is totally an on-site work, with a lot of field activity. Imer, an instructor and one of the oldest missionaries of Fraternidade, says that at this stage people are learning, especially, about security and preventive actions. “we are working both individual and group prevention, so that they can act in situations of different degrees of risk”, he explains.
How to react physically, mentally and emotionally in the face of circumstances, what equipment is necessary and how to use it, according to each situation, are the topics worked at this phase, says Imer, adding that being in good physical conditions is essential, but to maintain mental and emotional balance is also fundamental.
Simulations and Practice
On the first day of training of this stage, on June 17, the class already undertook accident simulations and various complex situations: how to act preventively in storms, tornados, electric shock, fuel leakage, among the main ones. The instruction, also open to the local community for it to adjust to these occurrences, lasts for two days. However, in the sequence, the class will participate in a Missionary Experience, that is, practicing what it is to be in fact on a mission. The Missionary Experience lasts for three days, and extends from June 19 to 21st.
Also held in Carmo da Cachoeira, the Experience will include, among other actins, activities in one of the poorest regions of the town, the district of Palmital; at APAE – Association of Parents and Friends of Disable People; and at a town nursing home. The group will also participate in a volunteer group service to organize the Saint Joseph Shed of distribution, the arm of donation of clothes, blankets, among other articles, of the Carmo da Cachoeira Permanent Mission, also of Fraternidade and dedicated to the needy population of the town. The idea is to make it ready to receive the people who knock on its door every Saturday.
In July, in the next module, the training will focus first-aids and pre-hospital attendance, informs Imer. It should be noted that these trainings are totally free of charge, imparted by volunteers like Imer, and financed by spontaneous donations, just like all humanitarian missions organized by Fraternidade, which receives with open arms, those who volunteer to participate in these actions. But only after the training, of course.
If you want to help your fellow being and animal and environmental causes, by participating in humanitarian missions, or if you want to collaborate with donations so that they may continue this helping work, send an email to secretaria@fraterinternacional.org .
