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... here we come!
By Michael Kalunde Fr Dong Uk Lee, a Consolata Missionary from South Korea will be leading a group of young people from the Consolata Shrine Westlands to the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this month. The group is made up of about 15 young people, majority of whom raised money for the trip by receiving financial support from their families and from fundraisers. “I am very anxious about this trip and fully prepared for it. Our trip will be made up of two parts; we are going to join the Consolata group in Brazil for a Missionary Week with the local youths and then head to Rio de Janeiro for the World Youth Day,” said Fr Lee who will be having his first experience at a World Youth Day. Nearly all those making the trip have never been to Brazil while others have never travelled out of Kenya. “I am very happy to be going to Brazil. This is my first time to travel so far outside my country and I am very anxious. I look forward to meeting and communing with a lot of people from all corners of the world,” said Mark Mwangi “I hope I will meet him (Pope Francis) or even shake his hand if it’s possible,” wishes Mwangi while urging the youth to take their time and make a mark. The group has been doing crash courses on Spanish and Portuguese in order to help them communicate when they land in Brazil. “It is our biggest challenge, a little hard because we are doing it within a short period of time,” said Stephen Mutuma Maingi to The Seed. “I feel very much privileged to be headed to Brazil. I am very anxious for this is a unique lifetime experience – some opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. It will also be my first experience outside the country,” says Deacon Lekasuyan. For all those travelling the issue of Pope Francis kept popping up. “I already feel exited for I am going to meet the new Pope,” says Fr Lee while Deacon Lekasuyan says “This is a blessing. I feel good because I have the opportunity and privilege to go and see the Pope.” Ms Anaida Serrao wants to go and meet new people and the Pope; “because the Holy Father will be there it is a rare chance; not very many people get this opportunity,” she says. Fr Lee says that the youths should be empowered because their faith is going down. His advice to the youth in the church is to stay and participate in church activities for this will help their faith grow. The WYD is an international event that happens every two years drawing young people from around the world together to meet with the Pope. The first international World Youth Day was held in Rome, Italy in 1984. Subsequent WYDs have been held in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Czestochowa, Poland; Denver, USA; Manila, Philippines; Paris, France; Rome, Italy (2000); Toronto Canada; Cologne, Germany; Sydney, Australia; and most recently in 2011 in Madrid, Spain The 28th World Youth Day is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 23-28, 2013, its motto “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). The World Youth Day (WYD) as it was named in 1985 continues to show the world the witness of a living and renewing faith, transforming the face of Christ in every young person. WYD’s main objective is to make known to all youth in the world the message of Christ, but it is also true that, through them, the ‘face’ Young Christ is also shown to the world. For Deacon Stephen Lekasuyan, from Catholic Diocese of Maralal, the trip to the land of football legend Pele will be like a ‘honeymoon.’ He will be travelling exactly a week after his priestly ordination. “Our expectations are that we are going to learn diverse cultures, how other youth think, create new networks and get to interact with people from other parts of the world and get to learn how other people live,” he added.
Fr Dong Uk Lee
Deacon Stephen Lekasuyan
Anaida Serrao
Victor Salamba
Stephen Mutuma