“Mercy”, and that is forgiveness, which leads to peace, “for a new world”: this is the invitation to the youth of the diocese of Bobo-Dioulasso – the second largest city of the country – as a reflection for the coming year. Burkina Faso lives an important phase of transition, after the riots of last October, when the capital Ouagadougou had been hit by demonstrations of the opposition and civil society, so much so that there was talk of a ” Burkinabé Spring “.

And it is an experience of forgiveness that is offered by Fidèle during the day for young people on 7 December: while he was going around looking for work, he was convinced by a friend to pick some fruit from a tree for an old lady who was sick, thus arousing the anger of those who had misappropriated the tree. The story ends for Fidèle with a broken nose from a stick in the face. “The anger inside me grew as I pondered revenge. I was going home to treat the wound when I was approached by the boy who had hit me. He had his mother with him who was very upset. I did not want to give in, but then I remembered the words of the Gospel where Jesus says we must forgive 70 times 7 … The next day I bumped into him at the store and I greeted him first, showing that I had forgiven him. Since that day we became good friends.”

David and Laetitia, on behalf of the Youth for a United World of Bobo-Dioulasso, tell us about the initiative: “This year we decided to change our usual way of doing things in order to facilitate work with others. We got involved in coordinating the activities of the Youth Chaplaincy. Amazed by the previous experience of the Youth Festival, the leaders of the Chaplaincy asked us to organize a day of friendship among all the youth movements of the city, on the theme chosen for this year: “Young people, be merciful so as to build a new world. ‘”

“The time was short,” they continue, “and the hardest thing was to work with people who have a different way of seeing things. The difficulties in agreeing things were not missing, especially when it got to drafting a program for the day; but our goal was primarily to establish unity among all, even at the expense of the quality of the organization. But the common desire to work together, to get to know each other, to have mutual esteem won out … And finally we got to the long awaited day. “

There were testimonies on forgiveness, including that of Fidèle, dancing, singing, “This day allowed us to get to know each other better. There have been many exchanges of contacts and we understood how the contribution of each one, however different, was necessary. We understood how the different movements are complementary and called to work together for the realization of unity, the same one that Jesus always teaches us. “

“This – they conclude – encourages us and gives us the desire to work together again. In a year’s time the next edition!”