(ANS – Madrid) – On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May, seventeen teachers and fourteen young people from Social Action Groups from the whole of Spain came together at the Arlep Centre of the De La Salle Brothers in Madrid, to take part in a course called “Take the Reins”. 

The course was organized by the National Coordination of Salesian Social Action Programmes (CEPSS in Spanish). It was the 25th such meeting but the first at which young people, the beneficiaries of the programme, were involved.

The theme of the meeting, “Take the Reins”,  was chosen in order to emphasize the basic objective of the course, which was to make young people capable of, and responsible for, bringing about change in their own situation and that of their peers. It served also to create a space in which educators and young people could share ideas and ways of bringing various organizations together.

Among the participants were teachers and pupils from the “Proyecto Don Bosco”(from Cadiz, Malaga and Jaén); “Fundación Ángel Tomás”                (Valencia), “Valponasca” (Aravaca-Madrid), “Fundación Main” (Las Palmas) and “Fundación JuanSoñador” (Valladolid).

Over the course of the two days, two main themes were developed. Axel Moreno presented the first of these, “social participation as a means of prevention and of transforming society”. The second was “drugs prevention as a specific intervention to help groups of young people”, with a talk given by Cristina Alonso.

Of particular interest was the personal testimony of a well-known singer and radio presenter from the Pan Bendito area of Madrid. His story gave the teachers and pupils an example of someone who found himself in a disadvantaged situation but fought tenaciously and saw his dreams come true.

Published 22/05/2013