The second day is full of novelties. With its 117 activities like forums, workshops and 10 ecological, social, intercultural and interreligious activities, the Genfest participants will be offered a unique chance to pass from theory to practice in less than 24 hours. “Learning by doing,” is one of the pillars of the professional pedagogy. This is exactly what the youths are now experiencing: a personal and social school of change, and the overcoming of walls and fences not only as themes of discussion and sharing of good practices, but also with action and hands-on experimentation in a “global” context like the Philippine scenario, with ideas, projects and actions from the whole world. The young finals have been signed up in the workshops for months now, and expectations are high. A Portuguese boy said: “I’m going to the ’I want to help’ forum on how to win over the ’spectator’ effect. The title is attractive and I feel at times that I am a powerless spectator facing situations that are bigger than me: unemployment, racism, and the sense of inadequacy before the challenge of life in relationships. I want to succeed in overcoming the feeling that there is nothing I can do to change things.” A group of young people from Cebù will participate in the very popular forum, “Nurturing Nature.” Kim Atienza, a famous Filipino anchorman and expounder of environmental issues, encourages the youth to get to deeply know nature with the cycle of life and its processes, and will lecture on sustainable lifestyles and production. One can also do a full immersion in Asian culture, with workshops in origami and fusion cuisines, or attend laboratories dedicated to knowledge and working on oneself: management of stress, fears, and care for the others. Many workgroups will be dedicated to social, civil economy and economy of communion, architecture, and the language of cinema. Politics will not be missing, “but will be the politics of hope.” A girl from Burundi said: “I signed up for that on corruption. We studied the different forms and the tools to fight it. I come from a continent where corruption is a wound. What has given me hope? It is the fact that we came from all over the world to bring down this wall.” In the afternoon the young people will pass on to phase 2 of the day, “Hands4Humanity.” The proposal will consist of 10 activities in solidarity, reception and urban re-qualification in various places in Manila, to experience small acts that can change the reality around us, slowly but in an irreversible way. Then upon returning home proposals will be offered to implement ad hoc initiatives. There is a wide choice: from service in the children’s canteen to the social center of Bukas Palad, to the cleaning of roads and other city areas, visits to hospitals, the aged, the deaf and dumb, up to street theater and the intercultural exchange with the Muslim and Hindu communities. In Tramo Street in the peripheral belt of Manila, a big group of kids coming from Australia, Brazil, Europe, besides other Filipinos, will paint and clean together with the local people. A Californian boy explained: “I would never have thought of doing something for a city which isn’t mine, and where I may not return to, but I am glad, and what’s more I would like to know Manila better. At the start I thought I didn’t care, but now it’s no longer so.” “Making Genfest a laboratory for learning and experimentation on human transformation techniques is a choice of great impact, both for the youths and the city,” explained Tina Bonifacio, businesswoman and coordinator of the forums. “The aim is to make a real experience of the overcoming of borders, both physical and mental. Each person, culture, and piece of the world always has something to give and share with the others.” It will be an intense day therefore for the young people now in Manila. But this is not all: it will end tonight with the international concert where many will stage their songs and performances. Music and art will recount another piece of “Beyond all borders.”
The Genfest is a meeting of youth who want to show the world that universal fraternity, a united world, is an Ideal worth living for. Over the years, the Genfest has become a great festival of ideas, thoughts and actions that inspire thousands of youth to change their life, their future and, finally, the world. Born in 1973 as the brainchild of Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, the Genfest will reach its 11th edition in 2018 in Manila (Philippines). GEN ROSSO band will perform at the evening music festival on July 7.
Here we are: Genfest kicked off today in Manila’s World Trade Centre. It’s the main international event, while around 20 national Genfests are taking place in all five continents. The program has one main focus: to overcome every sort of barrier and thus the slogan: “Beyond all borders”. The daring title was chosen by the young people as an answer to the many forms of divisions present in many parts of the world. It’s also the motivation behind all the activities which preceded this moment during the period of preparation. Right from the start, the Genfest has been a collaborative effort; every actor is a main actor. The morning session, which has just concluded, began with videos from several locations showing pre-Genfest activities that have been taking place in twenty south-Asian countries between June 28th and July 5th where hundreds of young people organised social projects for communities. The microphone is passed onto the presenters and the “vloggers” who accompanied the participants in the program. For those born before the mid-1990s, we should specify that the vloggers have had great influence on teenagers and young people through the social media. In recent months, Louis from Burundi, Maria Clara from Brazil and Ceska from the Philippines all have a growing number of followers on Facebook. Powerful testimonies have been shared during the first session of the Genfest, like that of Josef Capacio from San Diego, California and Noah Herrera from Mexicali, Mexico. At a time of political and social imbalance and all kinds of division, they decided to promote peace right beside the wall that divides nations.
Watch interview on Facebook
The joint initiative carried out by young people from the United States and Mexico, Noah recounts, allowed us to discover the values, objectives and vision of the world from opposite directions. “We are all equal and we can love our own country as our neighbour’s.” Then, there was the story of Jean Paul Muhanuzi from Burundi, and Egide Nduwayezu from Rwanda. Theirs was the story of a true and growing friendship amidst dramatic conditions. After an assassination attempt on both of them, which left Jean Paul seriously injured, Egide gave up everything to support him during his rehabilitation after spinal surgery. The overcoming of borders in their case led to mutual appreciation of the beauty of different peoples and cultures. Jaime Zayas, from El Salvador, launched the idea from the stage of the need for a change in one’s own “square mile”, as he himself had experienced in his own land within the context of urban violence and mistrust. The strength came from the desire of being peace-builders: “We know that our country has huge problems, but we can change things on a daily basis, building relationships founded on reciprocity.” Tommaso Carriere, Italian and founder of the association, “Not From War,” a project formed by people of peace, showing what war is like and how development brings growth in the form of “fragments of solidarity, little steps that draw people closer and nurture peace. “We recount what we’ve seen in a country afflicted by war and how conflicts only serve to destroy society, undermining hope and the possibility of a better future.” Since 2014, the association promotes summer camps in Jordan where European teenagers visit refugee camps and interact with those who suffer through the consequences of war. The voices of these first days in Manila speak of pathways of life and plans for the future.
After having retraced features of the youth reality in the ‘80s, emerging from the private life following the riots in the squares of different worldwide capital cities, Chiara Lubich explains how the young people “have believed in the possibility of the world’s rebirth and they have rolled up their sleeves in order to give their contribution. They have done so through a wealth of incredible initiatives.” And she continues: “They are present, walking along the different pathways in order to reach the goal of a united world. There is the pathway of unity among races, of unity among peoples; the pathway of development, of unity between the rich and the poor, of unity among generations; the pathway of unity among nations at war, in order to achieve peace; among the faithful of different religions, between people and nature; among persons of different ideologies; the pathway of unity among ethnic minorities, of unity with those who are alone or who suffer in every way. Without being concerned about what people might think of them, they have recognized this pathway in Jesus. ‘I am the way’ (Jn 14:6), Jesus said, and they have followed Him trying to live His doctrine to the letter by putting the Word of God into practice. … Moreover, in whom can young people trust if not in Him? He alone can help them to realize the ideals that they have in their hearts and that they seek to defend. They love freedom; they strive for it; they want it. Who can give them freedom if not Jesus, who said: “If you remain in my word … you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn 8:31-32). Young people want respect for nature. In many countries, they struggle to save people from self-destruction due to pollution. Who can respond to this desire more than the One who has created nature for human beings? Young people love peace; they want peace. Who can guarantee peace more than the One who said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give it you” (Jn 14:27). Young people want human rights to be respected. Did Christ not come on earth precisely to announce the Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to prisoners, to give sight to the blind and the oppressed back their freedom? (see Lk 4:18). Young people ask for social justice. Where do they find the courage to come face to face with contradictions, misery and hypocrisy, the open wounds of a consumer society, if not in Him who calls blessed “…the hungry and thirsty for justice?” (Mt 5:6). Young people do not love divisions. Who can satisfy them more than the One who sees humanity as one and who came to knock down the barriers between different groups, ethnicity, cultures and peoples? Young people are attracted to non-violence. Where can they find the incarnation of their ideal if not in the One who has told us to love even our enemies, thus bringing non-violence to its extreme consequences? Young people love solidarity and the communion of goods between the rich and the poor. Jesus, who told us to give to whoever asks and not to turn our backs on whoever asks for a loan, is their model of solidarity. Just as the first Christians had understood Jesus’ requirements, so that no one kept any property as his or her own, likewise, young people find all their needs satisfied in Jesus. … Yes, young people with Christ, young people and Christ, the ways and the Way: this is the binomial which can give us true hope. … Go ahead, my dear young people, with total confidence. Go ahead with perseverance. Enlighten people with your actions. Let your faith shine forth before a humanity which often drags on with a life that is mediocre and meaningless. Show it how disunity can be avoided and how unity can be built. Speak out clearly on how this Ideal is not a utopia; indeed, only those who have great ideals make history.” (Extract from: Message by Chiara Lubich at the Genfest, Mollens (Switzerland), 24 March 1987 – Source: www.centrochiaralubich.org)
It’s countdown to the start of the Genfest! (Focolare Youth Festival in July 2018). Together with all the young people present at the Genfest in Manila and those who will follow the event live around the world, we want to be a “Wave of Love” going beyond all barriers in our relationships, when there are misunderstandings and in the great challenges facing our world today. So, here’s a taste of what Gen Verde will be singing in Manila… see you soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh75HR_YI1g&list=UUuSTi05GBlACXtCu4zEY7FQ
The second day is full of novelties. With its 117 activities like forums, workshops and 10 ecological, social, intercultural and interreligious activities, the Genfest participants will be offered a unique chance to pass from theory to practice in less than 24 hours. “Learning by doing,” is one of the pillars of the professional pedagogy. This is exactly what the youths are now experiencing: a personal and social school of change, and the overcoming of walls and fences not only as themes of discussion and sharing of good practices, but also with action and hands-on experimentation in a “global” context like the Philippine scenario, with ideas, projects and actions from the whole world. The young finals have been signed up in the workshops for months now, and expectations are high. A Portuguese boy said: “I’m going to the ’I want to help’ forum on how to win over the ’spectator’ effect. The title is attractive and I feel at times that I am a powerless spectator facing situations that are bigger than me: unemployment, racism, and the sense of inadequacy before the challenge of life in relationships. I want to succeed in overcoming the feeling that there is nothing I can do to change things.” 
A group of young people from Cebù will participate in the very popular forum, “Nurturing Nature.” Kim Atienza, a famous Filipino anchorman and expounder of environmental issues, encourages the youth to get to deeply know nature with the cycle of life and its processes, and will lecture on sustainable lifestyles and production. One can also do a full immersion in Asian culture, with workshops in origami and fusion cuisines, or attend laboratories dedicated to knowledge and working on oneself: management of stress, fears, and care for the others. Many workgroups will be dedicated to social, civil economy and economy of communion, architecture, and the language of cinema. Politics will not be missing, “but will be the politics of hope.” A girl from Burundi said: “I signed up for that on corruption. We studied the different forms and the tools to fight it. I come from a continent where corruption is a wound. What has given me hope? It is the fact that we came from all over the world to bring down this wall.” 
