It was 1975, the whole Salesian world was celebrating the centenary of the first missionary expedition carried out by Don Bosco. the Association of Salesian Cooperators of Italy was already offering summer work and Christian animation camps: in Montalto and Longano (Isernia), in Gallicianò (Reggio Calabria), in Gressoney (Aosta), in Codigoro (Ferrara), in Palma of Montechiaro (Agrigento), in Biancavilla (Catania) but, at the conclusion of the centenary of the first Salesian missionary expedition, the young Cooperators were invited to have a little more courage to face the missionary experience in an “international” way. To address the issue of their presence in the missions, study days were proposed on the theme: “Salesian Missionary Cooperators”.

It involved analyzing both proposals for twinning with missions abroad and the implementation of micro-realizations in mission areas with the parallel aim of spreading the missionary spirit in the local Centres.

Some Cooperators were already working to raise money for the foundation of a training center for future leaders of the Shuar people in Ecuador.

The National Council, with the coordinator Paolo Santoni and the delegate Don Armando Buttarelli, examined, among others, the request for a lay missionary experience in Trelew in Argentina.

Trelew, a city in Patagonia, was booming. Many people arrived from neighboring towns, especially from the uncultivated and inhospitable countryside, attracted by the illusion of secure work and easy well-being. However, all this remained an illusion.

People arrived in the city with nothing and had to settle in makeshift shacks on the outskirts; thus a cluster of cardboard or sheet metal shacks developed which gradually grew and formed the so-called “barrios”, neighborhoods without any type of service. In this context, material and spiritual poverty, delinquency, prostitution and degradation took root and grew; many children and teenagers lived on the edge of legality.

In that period it was the Salesian Don Lucio Sabatti, parish priest of Trelew, who proposed to our national Council of Salesian Cooperators to take charge of one of the community centres, a meeting and aggregation point in the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. The volunteers were supposed to organize an oratory for the many children, involving their families in a journey of Christian and social education. On 7 November 1976 Bernardino Proietti from Cannara (Perugia) and Romano Ridolfi from Corchiano (Viterbo) received the crucifix from the hands of Rector Major, Don Luigi Ricceri, and they left to start the new missionary project of the Association.

They arrived in Trelew and were sent to the Community Center in the Barrio Norte neighborhood where a container was the only environment available for the various initiatives. In a short time, thanks to the financial support of the Association from all over Italy, it was possible to build halls and rooms suitable for the various educational proposals. Over time, other Salesian Cooperators joined the Trelew project. The following year Daniela Beretta from Lecco (Como) joined the first two lay missionaries and in 1979 Oliviero Zoli from Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia) and Giuseppe Belardo from Cesano Maderno (Monza Brianza) took the place of Bernardino and Romano after their return in Italy. The Trelew project lasted ten years and involved other Cooperators: Rosa Ottaviano from Fresagrandinaria (Chieti), Olimpia De Gennaro from Molfetta (Bari), Maria Concetta Firrincieli from Ragusa, Marco Todeschi from Rovereto (Trento) and Tiziana Farina from Rome. Over time, some local young people and Cooperators joined the Cooperators who left Italy to collaborate and carry forward the project. The Salesian Cooperator missionaries who have lived this experience have dedicated some two, some three, some five years. Someone then stopped permanently in Argentina.

Their objective was to be with the poorest, lonely, marginalized children, those most at risk and then also reach their families. This meant immediately learning the language of the “Castigiano”, and then talking to them about Don Bosco, teaching the catechism, animating the celebrations, organizing games interspersed with the distribution of snacks which often, for some children, was the only meal of the day. In the community center, “talleres” were also offered, that is, small sewing, photography, music, acting workshops… which later became job opportunities for some kids.

It must be said that the various pastoral activities were carried out in close collaboration with the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Trelew, and the Cooperators themselves accompanied the missionary fathers to the indigenous villages to meet other children and bring them the message of Jesus with the style of Don Bosco.

The “Trelew project” involved the entire Association of Salesian Cooperators of Italy. In fact, with the motto “Here and there together missionaries” the Italian Cooperators were also participants in the project: they supported the missionaries with constant correspondence, with prayers and with fundraising. In particular, on November 7, “El dia de Trelew”, the Cooperators were invited to offer the entire day of work for the missionary project.
In Trelew, at the end of the project, some young people from the community center who lived firsthand with the “tanos” (as they used to call young Italians), tried to carry forward, in their own way and with their own strength, the message received.
Currently these first children, now adults, have a job, a home, they have formed a family, they are parents, they have given their children an education, they have followed them in their studies, they are involved in social work and in the parishes and continue in collaboration with the Salesians some activities proposed at the time by the Cooperators.
The Cooperators who directly lived the missionary experience in Trelew kept in contact with each other, had the opportunity to meet several times, to hug each other again, to talk about and relive the moments spent on the mission. And naturally they involved wives, husbands and their children in this adventure.
There were moments of joy and emotion coming together to celebrate the celebration of various weddings or to greet friends who came from Trelew or who returned to Patagonia for short holidays.
There were moments of sadness when they attended the funeral of Daniela Beretta who flew into heaven on 12 May 2002 or when they said goodbye for the last time to Father Lucio Sabatti, now buried in the cemetery of his native town in Magno di Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia) or when they shared in the pain of the sudden passing of Giuseppe Belardo in Trelew on June 16, 2023 and buried in the cemetery of an indigenous village as he desired.
We can say that Trelew’s experience is not over but remains alive in the hearts and daily life choices of those who have lived or shared it in different ways.
Thanks to all those who have shown closeness to this project which has marked a path of Salesianity for the entire Association. We are confident that it can happen again in the near future.

Oliviero Zoli