Peace is possible anywhere
16 October 2017A few days ago, the Young World Peace Forum (YWPF) 2017 was held. It took place in Madaba, a city about 45 km from Amman, Jordan’s capital.
At the Forum, organized by Caritas Giordana, Living Peace and Non-War, with the prophetic title “Now is the time”, from the 17th to 22nd of September, a hundred young people from 25 countries attended an incredible experience has changed their hearts forever.
Peace, not just an abstract word, but also a concrete way of living. This is in fact what the young participants have experienced, there were 5 days of the forum and they had the opportunity to work actively with Caritas, with and for some refugees from Syria and Iraq who currently lives in Hanina.
In fact, for two years, 125 families who escaped from the wars of their lands have lived in some containers.
The youth that participated the YWPF had the chance to go experience the way of life there, like living beside the caravans, they had the possibility to enter the lives of the people, in their profound stories, living side by side in their caravans. Just like Ramon Abosh, 22 years old, he will soon leave Jordan to move with the family to Australia, where his uncle is waiting for them.
To represent the Youth for United World there were twenty young people from all over the world who tried to live this experience, keeping faith in what inspires them, with unity, and a big focus on building relationships and always seeking good in others.
For example in one of the activities they did, during the house renovation of one of the family refugees, one of them noticed that all the boys painted the walls, but no one talked to the owner of the house. At first they were just doing sign language because they don’t understand Arabic, afterwards, the rest of them followed.
Aside from the concrete experiences with the refugees, there has also been a mutual relationship among the participants. They were 94 participants and that means they also have 94 different ideas and experiences on peace. But by sharing these different ideas, it has been a possibility to create a new idea of peace: Peace depends on me.
The experience in Jordan has been an experience that was able to leave an incredible mark in those who participated, just like numerous occasions, the idea of giving something and spreading it stronger than before.
Before returning in their countries, the Youth for United World wanted to write their warm-hearted impression to Maria Emmaus Voice, president of the Focolare Movement. Among the other things, they underlined some points:
“To see right before us what we see everyday in the news, made us more aware that war is not done with numbers but with people. The news of these countries and these people from now on will also be ours because we have listened to their stories, stayed with them and played with their children. Going back home, we don’t want to just listen to the news about the war, but to write news about peace with the things we did.
Yes, Now is the moment! It is the moment to do something concrete; it is the moment of prayer, and the moment to give fully to others; to others who are completely different from you yet same as you. Here we are 100 young people from the whole world connected to various associations, among which the Caritas, the Scouts, Not from the war, Amnesty International, Living Peace International and others.
Peace is a distant destination, but we must not think that what we are doing is not enough, because if I don’t do something small, nobody would do it in my place. Putting together our “small” act we will make this world a place that we all dream of.
At the end of these days, the youth made already an appointment for the next Youth World Peace Forum that will be held in 2018 in Manila during the Genfest “Beyond all borders.”
Now it is the time to do something: talking about it, listening to it, seeing the news on the television is not enough: now it is the time to be protagonists in the first row. Because, in Jordan, it was possible to build it among the youth with different languages, religions, cultures, so PEACE is possible anywhere.
Daniela Baudino
