(ANS - Rome) - More than 310 young people from Italy have decided to  spend the summer in service, prayer and sharing in disadvantaged areas of Italy and the world. They will do this with the Salesians of Don Bosco and VIS (the International Voluntary Service for Development).  They offer their services and at the same time they grow in maturity in the various missionary communities they are sent to.

"On the streets of the world" is the slogan that accompanies this formative experience in disadvantaged areas. It gives young volunteers the opportunity to learn about other cultures, to explore the causes of poverty and underdevelopment, and to try to identify possible solutions. This direct experience of the situation in less privileged areas will allow participants, when they return, to be more aware of others and better able to become agents of social and political change.

This summer experience is not a tourist trip. The participants are motivated by the desire for an experience of service and a challenge that will lead to serious reflection on their choice of a way of life. It began with a period of winter training which lasted from October to May. This was done at the "School of Universality" promoted in various parts of Italy by the Salesians of Don Bosco.

International destinations for the Salesian summer experience 2014 are Albania, Moldova, Romania, Benin, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Bolivia.

Thanks to the collaboration between VIS and the Salesian Social Services, this year for the first time, eight Italian regions were identified where young volunteers can go for their summer experience: in Campania, in the disadvantaged areas of Torre Annunziata; in Calabria, in Plati, a region with serious social problems; in Sicily, in the heart of Palermo, in the district of Santa Chiara, and in Piazza Armerina; in Turin, at the second Oratory founded by Don Bosco, working with migrants, and with the poor and marginalized; in Tuscany, in the bathing places and in the streets of Livorno; in Lombardy, at Varese, Isolaccia, Bagnolo and Stazzona and in Emilia-Romagna, at Lizzano and Jolanda, taking part in work camps and getting involved in the activities of the oratories.

Together with the 310 volunteers there are thirty-two leaders who accompany them and help them to give of their best.

Published 11/07/2014