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in devastated parishes, volunteers hard at work

At the Nuestra Señora de Gracia parish, in the La Torre district, in the suburbs of Valencia (Spain), volunteers and residents flock around the church every day, to find food, kitchen utensils, masks too, to protect yourself from nauseating odors. The rapid reaction of parishioners made it possible to evacuate the water and transform the church into a gigantic aid warehouse, thanks to Civil Protection and the town hall.

But not all parishes were so lucky. Several of them suffered from the floods. This is the case in Guadassuar, a town of 6,000 inhabitants about forty kilometers south of Valencia, where Father Joan Sivera, parish priest of San Vicente Martir is hard at work: “We have to clean the church, where we had almost 10 centimeters of mud, he explains. The school and the hermitage were even more affected.» At 37 years old, in post for six years in this parish, the priest wants to highlight the solidarity of all: “Everyone mixes together, priests, religious, lay people, young people from other villages, it’s an immense solidarity that unfolds. Last Saturday, we had 150 volunteers. »

This solidarity has crossed the whole of society, believer or atheist. For a week, in all the affected towns, volunteers have been crossing paths, feet in the mud, equipped with brooms or shovels. Farmers intervene with their tractors. In the suburbs of Valencia, thousands of volunteers crossed the bridges this weekend to go on foot to the affected towns, the only way to get there, as it is still impossible to travel by car in many places.

“As long as you think of others before yourself, anything will be possible”

«In terms of food and hygiene products, we received a lot », assures Father Sivera. But the mammoth cleaning job will take time. About fifteen minutes away, in Algemesi (almost 28,000 inhabitants), Sister Clara Medina Serra, Salesian missionary, reached by telephone, operates her camera to bear witness to what surrounds her.

Mask on her nose to avoid possible poisoning, she came from her community of La Barraca d'Aigües Vives, about ten kilometers away, to lend a helping hand. Pointing to the San Jose Obrero church, surrounded by almost half a meter of mud, she testifies: “The work at the moment is physical. With young volunteers from the Catholic University of Valencia, we are cleaning the parish where there was more than a meter of water. »

Once scrubbed, the building should be able to accommodate material aid. “It will take at least three weeks to clean everything», believes the nun who criticizes the “lack of coordination institutions“. “I'm not going to start judging because this is the time to be with people, however tempers Sister Clara. Yes, there is anger, but I don't want to focus on that, the emergency is elsewhere. As long as you think of others before yourself, anything will be possible.»

Spiritual accompaniment to come

«The situation remains complicated», assures Aurora Aranda, director of Caritas Valencia, “but our volunteers help everywhere, while at the same time having to overcome the losses of their loved ones.” For Father Joan Sivera, spiritual and psychological support will have to wait: “We are not there yet, the emergency is elsewhere, with cleaning, the priest of San Vicente Martyr of Guadassuar testifies. But this later phase will be difficult. We will have to accompany him and this we cannot yet do in our parish. We will need time to return to normality. »

Difficult work because «we must understand that there are people who have lost everything, their house, their car, their business. It’s difficult, we see mud, people crying in the street… The next few weeks will be crucial to see how we can help.” But there is hope: “Today, Wednesday, is the first day the streets look like streets,” explains the priest.

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