Students take part in youth programme

THE boarding students of Mary Our Help Ladies Dormitory in East Boroko left a three-day youth encounter (YE) programme by sisters there with a “deeper experience with Jesus” last week, Sr Alice Fulgencio says.
Sr Alice said the 30 girls were unsure about what to expect in the encounter but ended up asking for more.
The YE is a scripture-based formation programme for young people in different settings aimed to become community builders for the church and society.
Sr Alice said the month-long lockdown in the country made the sisters ask what more could they offer the boarders who, after two weeks, had finished answering all the take-home and online assignments, and so the community decided to give them the YE programme.
“At the beginning of the session, sharing about their expectations, the boarders said they wanted to experience deeper relationship with Jesus through prayer and reflection to get to know themselves and their companions better and to be able to share their experience with other youths when they went back to their villages,” she said.
“In their evaluation, they wrote that all of their expectations had been fulfilled in ways beyond what they had hoped for.
“Taking to heart the facilitators’ motivation to participate actively and to be faithful in their attendance, the boarders went through all the activities with youthful enthusiasm and commitment.
“They recognised that many times they put on different masks as they dealt with people around them, they needed to be listened to and also to listen more.
“They felt grateful, empowered, blessed and even surprised as they listened to their companions giving them affirmation.”