By Cecilia fcJ
As we try to respond to Jesus’ I Thirst in the Myanmar context, we find various “thirsts” in our people: thirst for good education, thirst for healing, thirst for companionship, and thirst for developing knowledge. One of the ways we respond is by helping the young generation through our Summer Programme.
Every year, during the long summer school holidays, the FCJ community offers a one-month programme for young people in some parishes within Yangon city. Most of the participants are between 5 and 17 years old.
The programme includes topics like environmental awareness, Scriptures as drama which tells of God’s love and God’s creation, and character building for spiritual development. Furthermore there is singing, dancing, art and crafts. Our hope is that they develop their gifts and self-confidence through our programme.
This year we offered our summer programme in the Thonze parish, about four 4 hours by bus from Yango. We asked the parish priest to gather 30 participants for an intensive one-week programme in early April. The schedule was full from 6 in the morning to 9 at night. On the last day of the programme, we brought the young participants to Yangon and visited places such as Bishop’s House, Saint Mary Cathedral and People’s Park. Most of them visited these places for the first time.
According to their evaluations and feedback, they feel they have learned Gospel values, particularly God’s love for each one, their parents’ love, and the gift we are to each other in our difference. In addition, they have learned how to keep their environment clean by taking care of their rubbish properly. They mentioned that they are going to bring home what they have learned from us and apply them in their daily lives. These are wonderful fruits of our programme and the FCJ mission in Myanmar.
