Syria, generation of hope
Many humanitarian projects seek to alleviate the difficulties populations have to face. Since 2012, even the Focolare Movement has been offering its support and assistance through the non-profit organizations AMU and AFN. High currency devaluation, a continuous increase in the cost of living together with a constant decline in public services, are only a few of the problems that mark the social and civil state of affairs in Syria after seven years of war. The effects of this war are becoming more and more unbearable. Those who lost their jobs have been forced to spend all their savings in order to survive and pay for medical care, in a country where doctors, teachers and many other professionals have been constrained to emigrate abroad. But, as reported by those responsible for projects carried out in Syria by the Focolare community, through the non-profit organizations AMU and AFN, “marvellous values such as solidarity, hospitality, generosity and fraternity” flourish in this extremely arduous situation. “God is with us; He sustains us and encourages us”, they affirm. The “Emergency Syria” project supports more than 200 displaced families from Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Kafarbo and other coastal localities. These are visited regularly by teams of volunteers, who at various moments, such as births, birthdays and particular phases of school life, have never failed to support them, always respecting their sensitivity and dignity. Through this project, families have been helped with payments of school expenses and with buying necessary appliances, food and blankets. But what they appreciate most is the fact that they feel accompanied in this difficult phase of their life. 
For the last six years activities have been programmed and carried out in the fields of health care, education and family income support; recently other programmes have been added, especially in the field of vocational training and education. “This commitment emerges not only from wanting to meet the urgent material needs of the people supported, but also from wanting to offer work opportunities to many others, especially to young people, who would otherwise be unemployed because of the country’s current situation”. Last year, in Dueilaa, there were more than 90 children who attended after school activities and this gave excellent results. The centre remained open even during the summer months and it could cater for an intake of 115 children. “Some mothers tell us that their children opt to come to the centre even when they are sick or when there is some other family programme”. “A Generation of hope” is the name of another centre located at Homs.The students who attend this centre have successfully passed their school exams. Here, the possibility of psychological support is also offered to both children and parents. “We target mainly the traumas suffered because of war, and this helps to restore confidence and to find solutions for their many problems”. Just over two years ago, at this same place, and also at Kafarbo, a health care project has been set up. More than a hundred people, who needed special medical care, have already benefitted from this project. “We try to collaborate with other organizations to be able to help the patients even when the cost of treatment or surgery exceeds our means”.
Chiara Favotti
For a business owner, it goes without saying that having the president of the republic visit your business is an exceptional event. But if that visit happens on the president’s birthday, it’s even more so! That’s exactly what happened in Daejeon to Amata Kim and Fedes Im, two Korean entrepreneurs who are part of the Economy of Communion and run the well-known bakery Sung Sim Dang. Moon Jae-in, who has been South Korea’s president since May 2017, is known in the West for starting the peace process with North Korea after almost 70 years of cold war. He celebrated his birthday at Sung Sim Dang with a magnificent cake and was able to get to know the business’s history and reality up close. His Instagram post got more than 76,000 likes in just a few hours. “I was pleasantly surprised today to celebrate my birthday at the Sung Sim Dang bakery in Daejeon,” he said. “During the war in 1950 my father and the bakery’s founder (Fedes’ father) were on the same evacuation ship, Victoria, fleeing North Korea. Remembering this moment of history is for us is something we hold dear and precious. My birthday is a day like any other, but today I am recharged with new strength from the well wishes of so many. Thank you!” The event resonated widely in the media, partly because Sung Sim Dang is universally recognized and highly valued throughout the city of Daejeon. 
Splendid sunshine provided a background to a special day in Ischia, an island in the Bay of Naples in Italy, when on January 23, a group of students from Giovanni Scotti High School attended the presentation of a book entitled “I Will Speak for as Long as I Live”. At this event, they learnt about Alberta Levi Temin who was a direct witness to the tragedy of the Holocaust and an admirer of Chiara Lubich. The young people listened to an emotional account of her life story in the presence of a group of friends of the Focolare Movement including teachers, students, parents and even the author of the book Pasquale Lubrano Lavadera and Diana Pezza Borrelli. The latter had met Alberta through the “Association of Jewish–Christian Friends” in Naples and had enjoyed a warm relationship with her. Pasquale said, “One day, Alberta came to speak in my school. She was Jewish but she came with her dear friend, Diana, who was Catholic. She had been invited to speak to staff and students about the horrors of the Shoah but also to witness to the fact that dialogue is possible among people of different races, faiths and beliefs. I was very struck by one thing she said, ‘There is only one human family and we are all brothers and sisters.’” 
Alberta died in 2016 but throughout her life, she was sustained by one idea. It was the Golden Rule “Do to others what you would like done to you and do not do to others what you would not want done to you.” This idea always filled her with joy. She was committed to creating dialogue at all levels of society. She said, “I understand that today, more than ever, we need to love: as Chiara Lubich says, ‘We need to love another person’s country as much as we love our own.’ We should love the whole of humanity: it is only in this context that dialogue can develop.” “Every school should dedicate an hour or two each week to teaching all classes about the value of relationship. This helps young people to live together in a peaceful way and to collaborate in their studies for the good of all. Their school years are their first experience of being part of society and they should aim at making this a time of mutual support.” Alberta was convinced of this. 
At the conclusion of the presentation, the young people were invited to live the Golden Rule – “do to other whatever you would like done to you” – an instrument of peace and dialogue shared by all religions. To mark the occasion, the director of education, Lucia Monti, put a plaque by the olive tree dedicated to Alberta to express gratitude towards her and to encourage people to remember her example. Chiara, a student from the school, also said, “Thank you for the message of fraternity that you have given us. I am so impressed by the fact that Catholics are meeting with Jews and people of other religions to contribute to building a united world.” Pasquale Lubrano said, “I feel that I should thank Alberta for her life and wisdom. Now that she is no longer among us, I hope that by reading her story, each person here can experience her unique interior “beauty” and share this with others.” He concluded by saying, “Today I have been deeply moved by the attentive way in which the young people have listened, by their enthusiasm and by their searching gaze. In each one of them I have seen the need to live Love for all human beings and the awareness that the human family is one.”