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I COME HERE TO LEARN, NOT TO TEACH.

Mother María Teresa de Simone (+2021) was a teacher and the principal of the first ABC Prodein schools in Cuzco, Peru.

Just a few days after arriving at one of these schools, she experienced something that would mark her life forever.

Let’s allow her to tell the story in her own words.

“When I first arrived, the altitude affected me terribly, and I remember that when I stood up to write, I would faint. The first time it happened was just a few days after starting school with the children. And those little ones, with all their love, took off their sweaters — the only thing they had, because they don’t wear shirts or T‑shirts underneath — and they put them on me to keep me warm.

They were all standing there, looking at me, trembling from the cold. When I came to and realized that I was covered with their little sweaters, I burst into tears because I thought: “I’m here to learn, not to teach.” That spontaneous gesture from a child truly showed me the meaning of what I was going to do in Cuzco.

I arrived in Cuzco thinking: ‘Let’s see how much good I can do here,’ and then I realized that the good was going to be done to me by the Lord through the people He placed in my path.

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