{"id":306454,"date":"2018-09-02T23:10:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T21:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-cuba-we-dream-of\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:38:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:38:01","slug":"the-cuba-we-dream-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-cuba-we-dream-of\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cuba we dream of"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThe first Genfest ever in Cuba ended on Sunday, August 12.<\/strong> It was dream that we had kept in our hearts, entrusted to God, and he made it happen!\u201d So write the Youth for a United World in Cuba. A wave of young people from all over the island came to Havana for the Genfest, an event that had \u201cmany firsts.\u201d In fact, they write, up until now \u201cwe had never been able to put together an event of this size, obtaining the necessary permissions from the Party office in charge of relationships with religious organizations, with whom there was an excellent collaboration. It was achieved with the help of artists and professionals who through their passion, dedication and by not holding anything back \u2013 despite enormous challenges \u2013 were able to give harmony and beauty to the content that the young people asked for, after months of working together.\u201d The opening event took place in the historic centre of the city,<\/strong> where Pope Francis had invited the Cuban youth in September 2015 to foster \u201csocial friendships\u201d with and among everyone, \u201cto build the Cuba you dream of.\u201d On Saturday, August 11, participants explored the theme of \u201cBeyond all borders\u201d in nine workshops about social economics, Economy of Communion, ecumenism, relationships, the skills need to build peace, postmodernism, etc. \"\"\u201cIn the afternoon, at one of the city\u2019s famous cinemas with close to 600 participants, there were testimonies through art and shared experiences on how it is worth living for a united world. There was a profound moment in particular: an actress portrayed Chiara Lubich and her thoughts on how suffering generates life, which is the secret to going \u2018beyond all borders.\u2019\u201d \u201cThis was the most beautiful experience of my life,\u201d wrote one young woman, \u201cwhere unity and love are the essence of a lifestyle that builds a more united world. You were able to awaken my faith and hope.\u201d \u201cFor those of us who worked on this for almost a year,\u201d says one of the organizers, \u201cit was a long journey that was not without its challenges, due to conditions in the country. However, there was always the help of divine providence, which would arrive just at the right time to give us courage and resources: from South Korea, Colombia, Bulgaria, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, the Philippines\u2026 \u201cWe threw ourselves into doing things we had never done before: singing, dancing, presenting on stage, telling our experiences, overcoming our shyness or being ashamed of anything. We learned to listen to each other more, not impose our opinions, and help ideas emerge together. Practically, we learned to love each other.\u201d \"\"They add, \u201cGenfest was an explosion of love and unity that revolutionized our city.\u201d One of the participants said, \u201cWe are making history, not the kind that stays in books, but in the souls of all of us who think, work and participate in the Genfest. The memory of Old Havana remains, and today it is reborn thanks to the Youth for a United World.\u201d \u201cCollaborating with the other movements, youth outreach, and the Council of Churches in Cuba was really nice and productive,\u201d they write. \u201cGenfest in Cuba honored its objective \u2018to go beyond every border,\u2019 overcoming huge challenges during the preparation and because of how big it became. It demonstrates how for God, nothing is impossible. We are bringing this revolution of love to the whole world, and many people who did not know of our dream have now witnessed it. We thank all those who believed in this crazy adventure and were there with us with their support. What a profound joy it is to know that we are part of such a big family!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many local Genfests was held August 10-12 for the first time in Havana. It was \u201cunheard of\u201d, they write, with more than 500 young people arriving from all over the island.<\/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":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306454","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=306454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}