![\"2_Stella_Marilene_Nishimwe_e_Nelson_Vanegas\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2_Stella_Marilene_Nishimwe_e_Nelson_Vanegas.jpg\")
<\/a>Nelson Vanegas and Stella Marilene Nishimwe<\/p><\/div> It will be a week of work to get to know the reality of kids and youths of the world, their ambitions, hopes, fears, expectations, and to hear what they have to say. It will be a moment of sharing which will be channeled, with all the other contributions received, into the \u201dInstrumentum laboris\u201d in view of the Synod in October, defined by Pope Francis \u201cnot about, but of the youth.\u201d \u201cIn this pre-synod Meeting\u2013 explained Card. Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod \u2013 we will try to better understand what they think of themselves and of the adults, how they live the faith and what difficulties they encounter as Christians, how they plan their life and what problems they meet in discerning their vocation, how they see the Church today, and how they would like it to be.\u201d There will be Catholics, other Christian faiths and other religions, delegates of associations and movements, but also agnostics, or people coming from situations of unease like jail or drug dependency. Stella Marilene, 24 and Nelson, 29, of the Focolare Movement will also participate in the works<\/strong> (together with a girl from Paraguay,<\/a> Noemi S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>). While anxiously waiting for that day, we met them at the Gen International centre, where all are working intensely for the world events of 2018: besides the Synod of October, also the <\/strong>Genfest in Manila<\/a> in July.<\/strong> In preparation for the Synod of the Youth, there will be a pre-synod meeting in Rome from 19 -24 March with about 300 youths from every part of the world. Among them will also be Stella Marilene Nishimwe (Burundi) and Nelson Vanegas (El Salvador) of the Focolare Movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>What is the situation of the youth in your country? <\/strong>\u201cIn Salvador.”<\/a> answered Nelson, “the general situation of the youth differs from inside and outside the cities. Life outside is more difficult, services are lacking, and education is guaranteed only up to the compulsory education. Despite this the youth have huge aspirations and greater determination to make their dreams come true.\u201d Marilene explained: \u201cIn Burundi<\/a> we are undergoing a serious political crisis. Unemployment is sky high and also is uncertainty for the future. The youths often leave the country to seek other prospects elsewhere.\u201d At the meeting, they say, they will carry out the role of facilitators of the linguistics groups in Spanish and French. \u201cIt will be our chance to do our part, a small contribution \u2013 Nelson added \u2013 but we shall do it with all our hearts.\u201d And Marilene: \u201cThrough the synod\u2019s official site (www.synod2018.va<\/a>) and the social network connected, all the youths will be able to let their voice be heard and send proposals, as also those who cannot participate directly.\u201d Speaking about communication, beyond the fears with which adults often regard the youths, as to the risk of detaching themselves from \u201creality\u201d and immersing themselves in a virtual hub, what does communication mean for you?<\/strong> \u201cTimes have changed\u2013Nelson answered \u2013 we are immersed in technology which effectively helps to bridge distances. But we have to try to make it possibly more humane. Cell phones and tablets draw people closer but communicating \u201cface to face\u201d with those who we really see before us is another thing altogether. In this sense we, the youth, can take the first step.\u201d Marilene added: \u201cFor authentic communication we have to think of \u201cwhat\u201d we communicate.\u201d <\/a>In his message for the youth day, which will end the pre-synod Meeting, Pope Francis mentioned the \u201cfears\u201d of the youth. \u201cOften the youths are scared of going forward, to make choices from which they cannot turn back<\/strong>. \u201cPersonally,\u201d Marilene explained, \u201cI try to live God\u2019s will in the present moment. Each one has his own story, and I entrust myself to Him.\u201d Nelsno continued: \u201cIn such a materialistic world, often the message the adults pass to the youths concerns studying, working, earning, or buying a nice house. The dialogue between the first and second generation is important, but it should not destroy one\u2019s dreams. Together, our energy and their wisdom can do a lot.\u201d Being listened to means taking up some responsibilities. \u201cIt is a big responsibility to speak out for the youth<\/strong>. It\u2019s an opportunity offered by the Church which wants to dialogue with all, and not only with the Catholics. It\u2019s here that we Gen can offer our experience, because we have already started to walk together, with Christians of other faiths and also with agnostics. This is why I would call all the youths, also from afar, to participate! Let\u2019s make our voice be heard.\u201d Chiara Favotti<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"