It was just a normal day at our Charity Superstore in Seaforth when out of the blue, I received phone call from my boss Marc. He asked me if I had a passport, I replied yes I have, and he told me of this trip to Uruguay for the Emmaus World Assembly and would I like to go. I said yes of course I would love to go but asked where’s Uruguay. He told me it was in South America. Well, I was very excited as I had never been out of this country before. In fact, this would be my first flight in an aeroplane at my age, a young 61 years old.
Well, the big day arrived and I made my way to Heathrow Airport by train from Liverpool Lime Street Station on the 7 May 2022. We took off from Heathrow, myself and other companions and staff from various communities in the UK. Three flights and a coach journey later, we all arrived in Piriapolis in Uruguay.
The #EmmausWorldAssembly started yesterday in Uruguay. 🌎
Stewart, an attendee representing @EmmausMersey, provides a short update on the day's activities… including salsa dancing! 💚 pic.twitter.com/ltH3hkrsWr
— Emmaus UK (@EmmausUK) May 10, 2022
An intensive week
The hotel we were booked into was amazing. Built in the 1930s, it was very art deco and a beautiful building. We all booked into the hotel then the following day and the rest of the week it was very full on, from 9am after breakfast until 6pm, then evening meal. The staff at the hotel were fabulous – you didn’t want for anything. The workshops, talks and classes that we took each day were very intensive but enjoyable. Some of the subjects were a bit over my head to be honest but I enjoyed it all the same and met a lot of very interesting people from Emmaus communities all over the world. It was very enlightening.
On the final day we had a trip out to a museum in Uruguay and it was very interesting. We then had a trip to an Emmaus (spelt Emaus in Uruguay) called Nuevo Paris. The people there worked long hours and it was quite a shock to see how little they had compared to the communities in this country. Then on the Saturday we all had to say our goodbyes.
It was an amazing week and I had the time of my life and I hope in the future I will be able to see other communities in another country. I would like to thank all the staff at Emmaus Merseyside for making this trip of a lifetime possible and I have made lots of new friends. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
