Ecuador - Paúl Cuadrado: "guardian angel" watches over entire community

02 October 2020

(ANS - Guayaquil) - At only 18 years old, Paúl Cuadrado has taken on the responsibility of caring for an entire religious community infected with the coronavirus. This young man, who was completing his year of volunteer work, became the "guardian angel" of the Salesians of the "San Juan Bosco" community in Guayaquil, mostly elderly. His work was instrumental in keeping most of them alive.

“The Salesians told me that thanks to me they are alive and I replied that it was God who put me there so that they were well. I was an instrument of God in that situation,” he says.

The whole experience began on March 19, when everyone was confined to their rooms because one of them had symptoms related to Covid-19. After nine days of isolation, the first problems arose. The kitchen manager did not come and they had no food to eat.

Everyone was locked in their rooms, except Paúl, who since that day has become the only one to move inside the house and to have contact with the outside. During the period of the crisis, he always lent a hand in preparing food, cleaning work and even washing clothes, since there were no substitutes for carrying out these tasks.

After a few days, the test results confirmed their suspicions: they had all been infected with the coronavirus. Thus began an odyssey for Paúl to search for medicines for the treatment of Covid-19, which couldn't be found.

Time passed and the prospects were not encouraging. The first emotional blow for Paúl came with the death of Fr Jorge Bustamante, followed, weeks later, by a second, Fr Néstor Tapia, to whom Paúl was very attached.

It was hard for Paúl, but he didn't have time to stop: he had to continue working for the other Salesians alive. There were days when he slept three or four hours a night and he asked God for strength not to faint. Then came Holy Week, which was a balm for the health of the elderly Salesians. Paúl managed to get them to watch the celebrations via smartphone or TV and this raised their spirits.

The recovery of the various Salesians was such and generalized that on 24 May, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, they were able to meet for lunch, albeit at the right social distances. On June 6 the community met again and from that moment on community life returned to normal, and everyone began to gather for moments of prayer and for the celebration of Mass.

After finishing his volunteer service, he realized that this experience had left its mark on his heart and was decisive for the direction of his life. A few weeks ago he began the aspirantate and is now preparing to follow in the footsteps of Don Bosco.

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