WYA Newsletters | July 2005
Dear Friends,
This month we bring you a reflection on the first World Youth Alliance Training in Rwanda. The training was conducted by WYA Africa Director of Operations, Esther Kanyi, who was assisted by one of our certified members, Mary Moorman.
In addition, WYA-Latin America and North America report on their projects and we invite you once more to apply to the International Roundtable on Human Dignity and Solidarity, to take place August 16th in Bonn, Germany. We hope to see many of you there!
For a culture of life,
The World Youth Alliance
“A groundswell of hope”
My impressions following the first WYA training in Rwanda are those of young person visiting from the West, who lived through the agonized deaths of many Rwandan young people but did nothing about it. When plans for this training session began to develop, I thus felt at a loss; how was I to stand with a group of young people who had perhaps suffered to the utmost in a national epoch characterized by the quotation which appears on the Kigali memorial placard, "In 1994 the murderers did not kill a million people. They killed first one. Then another. Then another..."?
Our two-day training session for students and graduate students met in a classroom of the St. Paul's pastoral center, a place of refuge during the 1994 genocide, set on one of the highest hills in Kigali below the enormous cathedral of St. Famille, where the faithful still flock by the hundreds for worship. The young people who crowded into our small classroom would defy any statement to the effect that their country is merely a nation in recovery; rather, these young people expressed a vision of vigorous, victorious resilience and progress. As we discussed the familiar WYA principles of human dignity, responsibility, and love, the room hardly seemed large enough to contain the young people's enthusiastic resonance as we applied those principles to potential initiatives in the local treatment and prevention of AIDS and to local, "small" initiatives for peace and reconciliation in Rwanda. I will be forever grateful to the Rwandan young people who so graciously allowed this remorseful American to ride, for a time, on the groundswell of their hope.
There were times, of course, when strong voices caught on the descriptions of the post-genocide times, whether in terms of widows, orphans, or ongoing recovery from trauma. The inevitable question arose even in the last hour of our training, "Were was the West then?" "Where is the West now?" The critical call to the young people of the international community is for the affirmation and support of the slow process of communal justice in Rwanda, and for sincere gestures of reconciliation and solidarity from those of us in the West. May we respond to these remarkable, courageous brothers and sisters of our with hope and diligence to match theirs as they implement a culture of life in their beautiful country.
~Mary Moorman
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Still accepting applications for International Roundtable on Human Dignity and Solidarity
We have extended our application deadline for our International Roundtable, scheduled for Tuesday, August 16 at WYA’s World Youth Day site in Bonn, Germany.
We are no longer able to offer registration to World Youth Day, but if you will be at World Youth Day or can travel to Bonn, we encourage you to apply for the roundtable. The application may be downloaded at www.wya.net. The new deadline is July 16.
North America International Negotiation Training
The North American Region is hosting an International Negotiation Training in Washington DC on July 27th. The workshop will include training in international negotiation followed by two interactive role-playing sessions. The themes for the workshops will include the Millennium Development Goals, international migration, family reunification, and maternal health. We will have presentations by lawyers, U.S. State department officials, and university professors. All are welcome to attend. Please contact Blair Miller (blair@wya.net) to register.
Latin American Internship Program:
We have now launched our Internship Program in Latin America Region! The program is a two or three month training on the vision and mission of the World Youth Alliance with an aim to equip young Latin American people with the skills necessary to advocate on behalf of the dignity of the human person in international policy.
The process is open for the Fall Term if you are interested; please contact us in our office in Mexico City:
World Youth Alliance-Latin America
Pedregal 17B-388
Lomas Virreyes
Mexico D.F. 11000
MEXICO
Tel +52(55) 5207-2875
Fax +52(55) 5208-7645
latinamerica@worldyouthalliance.org
Movie Club in Mexico
Latin America Region has launched its first “Movie Club”, several conferences where scientific and humanistic specialists are guiding us in topics related with the dignity of the person and human life. After see a movie we express our ideas and listening other young people who likewise want to feed their minds with new ideas and experiences
These are the subjects of the sessions:
Origin of the Life.
Diversity of the Life.
Beauty.
Eugenics.
Euthanasia.
Cloning.
Smart Design.
If you are interested in joining us or having your own Movie Club in your city, please contact us to victor@wya.net to receive further information.
Fifth National Congress of Young Mexican People 2005, about Millennium + 5 Summit:
On May 27th and 28th we participated represented by Alejandra Morones on the Fifth National Congress of Young Mexican People 2005, about Millennium + 5 Summit in Mexico City.
We worked together with other young people to elaborate the youth demands for the preparation of the position of Mexican delegation at the Millennium +5 Summit.
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