| RMG – Everything ready for the 141st Missionary Expedition |
| Italy – Harambeé 2009: meeting Christ and communicating Him to everyone |
Harambeé 2010 begins on Saturday 25 September at 15.00, at Colle Don Bosco in Castelnuovo di Asti and will continue on Sunday 26 September at Turin-Valdocco.
About 400 young people and adults from Salesian Provinces in Italy and Europe are expected to attend Among these about 300 have spent the summer in various Salesian communities in many parts of the southern hemisphere. This summer experience a form of missionary training has enabled them to share the dedication of the Salesians to the young, to come in contact with other cultures, to examine together the causes of poverty and also to get to know at first hand the development projects of the International Volunteer Movement for development (VIS) and to contribute in identifying new projects.
A second group of volunteers will also be taking part in the event: lay people from different countries who are international volunteers ready to leave for an even more significant missionary experience lasting one or two years.
Harambeé is always a very profound and moving experience, thanks to the stories told by those who have had various missionary training experiences. It is also an opportunity to get to know about the lives of young people in poor countries and to understand better how important and even indispensable a serious and definitive plan of life is nowadays.
The word Harambeé – borrowed from the Swahili language meaning “working together”, “encounter”, “festive gathering” – provides the serious significance of this annual meeting.
The programme will be as follows: Saturday afternoon at 16.00, in the theatre at the Colle, Fr Václav Klement, General Councillor for the Missions, will welcome everyone and then there will be several accounts of personal missionary experiences during the summer. Later at 21.30, there will be torch-light procession, the saying of the rosary and the Good Night given by Mother Yyonne Reungoat, Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.
On Sunday at 9.15, in the theatre at Valdocco in Turin, there will be a meeting with the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, who will speak about “Come and See.” At 12.00 in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians the Rector Major will preside at Mass and present the missionary crucifix to some Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and lay volunteers from around the world.
Published 23/09/2010
