I’ve been with TVE for 25 years, and as a journalist, I look for stories that resonate with viewers and show them the reality of what we see and experience wherever we go. This general principle of the profession is combined with one of the core values of Pueblo de Dios: to tell the best of humanity, the stories of people willing to give up everything to dedicate themselves completely to those most in need while spreading the Word of God; even when, to highlight the good, it’s necessary to denounce the bad.
Pueblo de Dios’s international trips last fifteen days. This time, it took us almost six just to get to and from Lábrea (Amazon, Brazil). There were challenges like crossing the Trans-Amazonian Highway, traveling by boat in torrential rain with only a canvas canopy for protection, or when night fell two hours from our destination and the pilot, a real pro, dodged logs floating in the dark waters… Or when we almost got trapped in a mangrove swamp, if it hadn’t been for his skill.
It was so moving that I can’t even begin to imagine what life was like for those missionaries who arrived in this part of the world when it wasn’t even on any map. Despite the many logistical and human difficulties they encountered in bringing the Word of God, for a hundred years they have brought dignity to the Amazonian people.
In Lábrea, in the heart of the rainforest, I encountered a people with open arms, willing to share everything and possessing a dignity far exceeding their needs and hardships. For me, visiting the Amazon was a dream come true. Since I was young, I’ve followed the work of Sebastião Salgado, who has captured the lives of these communities like no other. To be there, to live with its people, to share their lives in such a brutal environment… Yes, I was fulfilling a dream. I brought back nearly 2,000 photographs.
The missionaries of the Augustinian Recollect Family told us that the Brazilian people share the same charism of fraternity and sharing as they do. Juan Cruz Vicario, the delegate of the Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Brazil, recounts that he arrived more than 35 years ago to foster fraternity and evangelize, but he himself has been evangelized by this way of being, sharing, and understanding life. His preconceived notions crumbled, and he recognized his own Augustinian Recollect vocation through the Amazonian culture.
I believe that statement best describes the spirit of this religious family. This has been my first collaboration with the Augustinian Recollects, but it won’t be the last, because I’ve made friends who will always be in my heart. I’ve discovered a mission where they give themselves completely, where they are moved and weep because they can’t do more. Their testimonies give anyone goosebumps.
In 2026, they will celebrate the first centenary of the Augustinian Recollect presence in the Amazon. There, you realize how much they have done in areas such as health, education, the dignity and rights of the people; they have even given their lives for it.
The native peoples have advanced in rights thanks to the work of the missionaries; and the river dwellers, abandoned by the local institutions, recognize the importance of that “just being with them”, as Friar Luis Antonio Fernández told us.
I think that if it weren’t for that centuries-old presence, children would still be dying simply from drinking water; indigenous peoples might have completely disappeared; river dwellers would be abandoned; and, probably, economic interests would dominate the Amazon over people.
Those essential scenes began to unfold, scenes that will undoubtedly be included in what viewers will see at home, such as the emotion and affection with which the pastoral care for the elderly is carried out. We accompanied the Augustinian Recollect missionary Inés and witnessed the love she transmits to Irene, a very elderly woman afflicted with leprosy since she was five years old. Or the struggle to give a better future to the young people at the Esperanza Center.
I was truly moved by a testimony in a riverside community. We traveled eight hours each way by speedboat along the Purús River to meet Friar Luis Antonio and Sister Marisa (MAR) in Bananal do Bande. Antonio opened his heart completely. With feeling and emotion, he spoke to us about the river people, about accompanying them in their lives, about the importance of simply being present.
In Fortaleza, we visited Saint Monica’s Home, a project run by the Augustinian Recollects that, by court order, takes in minors who have suffered abuse and sexual exploitation, almost always within their families. The entire TVE team was deeply affected by this experience shared with the girls and the professionals who strive to restore their stolen childhoods. In some cases, they are not even five years old yet.
There I left two friends, Luiza and Lucélio, dedicated to restoring those broken lives; and my dear Larissa, an example for the girls taken in at the Home, where she went years ago and who, with her experience, speaks to them of hope and a better future.
The best way to balance the denunciation of reality with people’s hope is through the testimonies of those directly affected. They provide the balance. Their stories, which we seek out or encounter, will convey the harsh reality we filmed; but, at the same time, they will also transmit hope to the viewer.
In the Amazon People are happy with very little; it’s enough to share what little they have with others. What a lesson there is in that! The image I take away is that happiness that the missionaries continually transmit through their arduous work, through the hope they bring to a people so in need of it. If I had to sum it up in three words, I would say dignity, community, and happiness.
While at the Santa Monica’s Home, I had a personal experience that touched my heart deeply: they left it full of “airplane hugs”.
