By Jesvita Princy Quadras

Mangaluru, September 26, 2019: When I went to Abuja in Nigeria to attend the 16th world council of International Young Catholic Student (IYCS) I took it as yet another global meet. But the African country surprised me with their admiration for India and its people.

I was there to represent Young Catholic Students/Young Student Movement (YCS/YSM) in India along with Jimmy Pdang from northeastern India, who is the IYCS Asian coordinator for the Council.

The IYCS is a Catholic action movement of the apostolate of laity. It is traditionally an evangelization agent in schools and student milieu (secondary and higher education).

The IYCS, also known as Young Christian Students (YCS), has its roots in the development of several YCS National Movements in the late 1920’s, which grew in the spirit of the specialized Catholic Action Movements that were inspired by Joseph Cardinal Cardijn (the founder of Young Catholic Workers). IYCS have offices in over a hundred destinations around the world.

The IYCS – World Council is said to be the highest body in the decision making of the movement of IYCS.

The theme of the August 30-September 10 council meeting was “Taking action for Peace here and now!”

The program comprised Global Training Session (GTS) for five days, one day of the International Conference and the next four days of the proper 16th World Council.

The GTS began with the exposure to different parishes. Our group was exposed to a rural community parish named St. Michael’s parish. It was one of my most cherishing experiences.

What I found interesting Nigerians’ admiration for Indians and the culture, mainly because they have Zee World which telecasts Indian soap operas. I was amused to see how much of our culture they admire like for instance, they kept seeking blessings from me by touching my feet and they kept greeting me by saying “Namastey.”

The very first day I had an opportunity to have a first-hand experience of their culture. I was appalled to see the women carrying their infants on their backs and singing hymns during Mass while dancing around and playing music in their very own Nigerian way. It was their traditional way of celebrating the Mass.

Moving on, we were taken to the National Christian Center where the people of different denominations come together and celebrate Mass and perform other activities of the Church.

We were also taken to the National Mosque of Nigeria and taken inside it. It was really beautiful to see the different practices of people and the way they profess their faith through diverse means.

The beauty of inter cultural faith and inter religious practices was much seen in Nigeria.
We spent the next few days in different working colleges which were – Youth Advocacy, Youth Mobility, Youth Creativity and Youth Mental health and Pastoral health.

We had serious deliberations on these topics and came out with an action plan for the next four years of IYCS which focused on how each of these areas could cater to the needs of the young people and help in spreading peace in and around.

These deliberations also served as eye openers for many of us who realized the intensity of chaos occurring in many different parts of not only the world but also within many people.

One of the days in Nigeria had the International Conference on Youth, Peace and Security. There were members from different national and international organizations, from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs of Nigeria, representatives from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), representatives of the Muslim Students Association of Nigeria and all of the delegates of IYCS World Council. Some of them were also panelists for two sessions.

Thanks to IYCS, I got a wonderful opportunity to be the moderator for one of the panels of the conference and it was my first time. We had people representing different faiths and ideologies as panelists and after hearing each of their discourse, there was only one point that I could conclude i.e. ‘Irrespective of our faith, region or community that we come from, we have the same goal which is to create Peace first within us and then around.’

Soon after the conference we were taken to IDP (internally displaced people) camps where we interacted with the migrants and saw their difficult realities. For many of us it becomes tough to leave home for a few days.

And these people were forced to do so due to the many natural calamities and had to live pitiable lives with very little funding from good willed people. We interacted with the women and little children and the youth who were around. The men worked as daily wage laborers.

The proper council began the next day with the students themselves taking initiatives in decision making of the movement and to evaluate the past four years of the IYCS. It was nice to see the representatives of many countries expressing their viewpoints seriously for the growth of our movement.

The council lasted for three days and concluded with the election of the IYCS Secretary General and IYCS Programme Coordinator. Innocent Odongo from Uganda and Roy Ibrahim from Lebanon were elected respectively.

During the days of the programme, the nights were spent with games, karaoke singing and cultural exchange.

We also had evaluation for consecutive days which helped us reflect our own actions to either becoming better or to share with the other.

All in all, my whole experience in Nigeria was truly amazing as it not only gave me opportunities to learn about the different cultures but more over I realized how peace can be created despite the negatives that we face daily only if you and I personally take the initiative to begin this peace within us. Only then can we contribute to the growth and betterment of the world and in special way be the carriers of peace just like Jesus wants us to be.

As young people we have a greater responsibility entrusted on us as ambassadors of peace. To conclude, it was an enlightening and enriching experience for me and I always will be grateful to YCS YSM India, especially Father Chethan Machado, national chaplain of YCS/ YSM India, for creating and providing wonderful opportunities to the young people of our country.

(Jesvita Princy Quadras is former national convener (2016-2019) and National Coordinator of YCS YSM India)