This second year Ora et Labora has brought us, in the month of July (from the 9th to the 20th), to Córdoba, to the Parish of Santa Luisa de Marillac, in the Guadalquivir Industrial Estate. Puerta Verde is developed here, a project promoted by its parish priest Don Miguel David Pozo. The Guadalquivir Industrial Estate is one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Europe.

Puerta Verde is not just another summer camp, it is light in the middle of the darkness. It offers children and young people in the neighborhood the opportunity to experience experiences that their context denies them. There are many children who come to the camp, this activity can reach a hundred children, who try to transform their lives. It is not just about providing leisure activities, but about offering the hug, the affection, the listening, the home atmosphere that families and the neighborhood (the sale of drugs, mark the routine of these streets) cannot always provide.

Our group of Conceptionist volunteers have tried to be salt and light these shared days. We have worked with enthusiasm, in a spirit of fraternity and commitment, with volunteers from other parts of Spain and the world; summoned by the Lord, for a direct encounter with Him: We have touched Him in each child, in each encounter.

The love of Christ urges us. After what we have received these days, we wonder if it is possible to continue living as if this reality did not exist. Without a doubt, the great gift has been the awakening to a reality that demands a response of love.