By Santosh Digal

Manila: The Philipines is to host Focolare movement’s 11th edition of the “GenFest” for youth in Manila next year.

The July 6-8, 2018 meeting has chosen as its theme, “Beyond All Border” in this Southeast Asian country, Philippines, where eight to 10 populations belong to Christianity.

The theme intends to focus the boundaries that need to be overcome at personal and social levels. It was chosen with the purpose of opening the minds and hearts of the participants in the GenFest. This eleventh edition aims to inspire participants to feel capable of building a happier and a united world. To breathe, love, work and live with concern for everyone. This is why the GenFest values artistic manifestations, music, dances, expositions, and forums to enable everyone to think differently and to transform life into something more beautiful.

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.

The central program will be held at the Metro Manila World Trade Center, while all the workshops will be held at the De La Salle (Catholic) University and other universities.

The whole event is captioned as “GenFest” that denotes as a march of the youth generation for a united world.

Asia will thus be the continent of the future and of the youth who will host this convention.

The U. S. Census Bureau data indicate that three billion youths in the world are below 25 years of age and 60% of these live in Asia. And so, almost half of the Asian populations (over 4 billion people) are under 25.

“It is clear that the event could not but be held in our continent in Asia,” said Kiara Cariaso, a Filipino and member of the organizing team.

“We want the world to see not only the network of projects, camps, solidarity actions, support to lawfulness, and “no” to war and armaments but also the solitude, abandonment and superficial relationships which millions of youth scattered around the world are already engaged in,” Cariaso added.

The genesis of various versions of GenFest began in Loppiano (Florence, Italy), Bethlehem, Turunga and Mumbai (formerly called Bombay, India). The GenFest starts from the world’s peripheries.

“Also this time the GenFest will be a milestone, essential to the journey towards a united world,” said Maria Guaita of the United World Youth’s central secretariat.

“It will be a wonderful occasion to share the ongoing endeavours for unity and peace, and also to gain strength and courage from one another. Many of the youths live in territories of war, conflict and social distress. This is the frontline where many have chosen to start changing the world,” said Marco De Salvo of the United World Youth’s central secretariat.

“We are working on many and different fronts: we are in the peripheries, but we engage in education, sport, and solidarity,” pointed out Raffael Torquini, Brazilian, of the GenFest Marketing Team, who has been in Manila for five months now.

“We want to be there where we see the needs and hear our people’s cries for help at all latitudes. We could summarise the GenFest logo with the motto: ‘less is more.’ There are infinite challenges and barriers but what matters is to overcome them together and take one step ahead towards unity,” added Torquini.

Youth delegates from 14 countries across the world, including India are to attend the international gathering. They hail from different cultures, nations, and religions. Registrations will be open in October 2017.

The Genfest is a worldwide event which brings together all the youth who express their commitment to live for a more united world, a world where peace and fraternity are the first, true laws of all of the humanity. In more than 40 years, the Genfest has brought together tens of thousands of young.

Patrick from the Slovak Republic, Jose Luis from Brazil and Cariaso from the Philippines, work at the International Centre of the Youth of the Focolare Movement and are a small part of the team that is preparing Genfest 2018.

The previous GenFest (2012) was held in Budapest, Hungary with the theme “Let’s Bridge” in which 12 thousand youth gathered in the city on the crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe. All other GenFests (1973, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 2000) were held in Rome, Italy.

The Youth for United World is tasked to organize the event. It is a sister organization of the Focolare movement, founded by Chiara Lubich. Members are from different cultures, religions, and nationalities and live in 180 countries from the five continents.

Focolare is a worldwide organization that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood, founded in 1943 by Chiara Lubich, who conceptualized the GenFest in 1973.

Spread over now in 194 countries, the Focolare movement is a Catholic Church-based body, of social and spiritual renewal. Its aim is to foster unity between peoples and the universal fraternity, through dialogues born spontaneously from the love experienced in interpersonal relationships. It is privileged to overcome conflicts and prejudices, promote unity and collaboration, without syncretism, in full fidelity to each one’s identity.