Fundraising by Noemi

"Breathe the same air."

This is what we doves were told when discouragement and frustration assailed us and brought uncomfortable questions to mind.

The long nights in the desert alongside Palestinian families often lead you to ask , "But does our presence here really help? Can we really protect you? Why do you want us here?"

Confronted with these doubts, one Palestinian's answer stuck: "to breathe the same air."

A phrase that strikes so deeply that it stops one's breath.

Sometimes we forget how much more powerful presence and sharing is than a photo or a report.

Operation Dove is the Nonviolent Peace Corps of the Pope John XXIII Community, I met them when I was "using" their reports to denounce Human Rights violations and exactly one year ago I was leaving for my first field experience, inside one of the cruelest conflicts of our times.

After Palestine I left for Chile, an equally important but lesser known conflict that falls on the indigenous Mapuche, a people I have come to understand and love, and who taught me the importance of land and roots, because "la Tierra no se vende se defiende."

Today, on the occasion of my thirtieth birthday, I ask you to make a small but great contribution to ensure that Operation Dove continues to breathe the same air together with those who are oppressed and often forgotten, lighting a small light of humanity in a world that I no longer recognize.

Simply Thank You!