Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>Italy has finally promulgated a law dedicated to autism, inserting it among the essential levels of assistance for treatment. Federico De Rosa is autistic. At the age of eight he learned to write with the computer. His story talks about autism from the viewpoint of those suffering from it.</em></p> <p><em></em>“<strong>I dream a lot and often.</strong> A recurring dream is that of a sunny day in which my sentiments and thoughts flow freely in a surge of words for all my friends. What a joy it is to be able to speak!”</p> <p>Federico does not speak, even if he knows that communication does not only come about through language. The first symptoms were already evident at the first year of age. The more he grew the more his capacity to interact with reality diminished. At the age of three came the diagnosis. He was totally incapable of communicating, and was suffering from the strongest forms of generalised disorders in development, a very serious disorder that could be traced to the extensive and varied universe of autism.</p>
<p><em><span id="result_box" lang="it"><span title="One teacher's way to reconciliation in troubled Baltimore ">One teacher’s way to reconciliation in troubled Baltimore</span></span></em></p> <p><span id="result_box" lang="it"><span title="I have been in a Baltimore City Public School for the past 10 years teaching students with special needs."></span><span title="In some cases a father figure is absent. ">I have been in a Baltimore City Public School for the past 10 years teaching students with special needs. Many come from poverty and drug-stricken areas. The majority of the children are raised by their grandmothers or single mothers. In some cases a father figure is absent.</span></span></p> <p>A few months ago a part of the city was engulfed in fire as protestors showed their anger over the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who was injured while being detained by police and who later fell into a coma and died. Stores were burned; bricks and rocks were thrown at the police, whom they held responsible for Gray’s death.</p>
<p><em>The Island will soon welcome the first Latin American Pope. The expectation of the people, State-Church relations and the thawing in Cuban-USA relations. Message from the bishops and the Focolare’s contribution.</em></p> <p><strong></strong>There is much expectation on the island for the upcoming visit of the first Latin-American-born Pope, planned for September 19-23, 2015. The expectation is certainly expressed in a wide variety of ways depending on the conscience and awareness of who and what the Pope represents. If you ask the people on the street you get all types of responses: “I think we are dealing with a great human being; I’m hoping he’ll feel at home amongst us;” Let’s hope that he brings beneficial changes for the people;” “It seems like a dream! We feel privileged;” “It’s a blessing for this small people of great heart to welcome three Popes in only 13 years.” Indeed, only Cuba and Brazil can make this claim. Many Cubans are of the same opinion and do not hide their pride over the third visit of a Pontiff – both believers and non.</p>
<div><em>They wanted to massacre everyone and burn the place to the ground. But after listening and being heard something changed.</em></div> <p><strong></strong><strong>Geneva, Switzerland, <em>Rue de Montbrillant, n. 3. </em></strong> Like every other Friday I go to <em>Jardin de Montbrillant, </em>a welcome centre for needy people in this cosmopolitan city where you can have a free hot meal. Today, as always, at noontime, we welcome around 150 people of every nationality.</p> <p>The room is already full and everything is going fine.
<p><em>Experience of Pietro, Chiara and Matteo about political commitment and active citizenship<br /></em></p> <p>Good morning to everyone,, <br />We are Pietro, Chiara e Matteo, three students representing the school of participation in Turin, Italy.</p> <p>Together ith twenty other boys aged between twenty and thirty years we decided to begin a process of active citizenship reinterpreted in the light of the ideal of brotherhood expressed by the political thought of Chiara Lubich.</p>
<p><em>In the rural villages of North-Eastern Nigeria, the drought is creating huge problems for the population. From Onitsha (a 24-hour journey away), some youths and adults of the Focolare went to visit to share the situation and bring some material and spiritual help.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>In Nigeria, there is great inequality in the development between cities and rural villages</strong> where there are almost no infrastructures and no electricity, medical care, roads, etc. Yakoko is one of these villages located closest to the desert, amid mountains – where the Christian and Muslim communities have always lived in great harmony. In the evening after working the fields, the men gather in the square to discuss while sipping an alcoholic drink produced from their <em>Guinea corn.</em></p>
<p><em>In the rural villages of North-Eastern Nigeria, the drought is creating huge problems for the population. From Onitsha (a 24-hour journey away), some youths and adults of the Focolare went to visit to share the situation and bring some material and spiritual help.</em></p> <p><img style="margin-right: 5px; float: left;" src="http://www.uww2015.com/assets/pages/gallery/imgs/u-nite1/IMG_1807.JPG" height="150" /><strong>“Fabric, Flavour, Festival. Discovering Fraternity”</strong>, Mumbai and Coimbatore, India, 27th April – 4th May 2015, the main event of the United World Week 2015 (<a href="http://www.uww2015.com/">www.uww2015.com</a>), attracted around 150 participants from 18 countries across the world. In recent months we have updated you a lot about the activities held there in India, as well in the other corners of the world.</p>
<p><em>"I wanted to start some activities which young people can freely join and feel at home"</em></p> <p><img style="margin-right: 5px; float: left;" src="http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7299/9593048563_1d55ec837e_m.jpg" height="150" />I'm Kyoko, I live in Tokyo.</p> <p>The life in Tokyo is very individualistic and too busy to create relationships with others. Many of us feel alone though places are so crowded. As I choose to live for a united world, I wanted to start some activities which young people can freely join and feel at home but in our society its hard to invite any activities where you would meet many new people.</p>
<p><em>A step towards equity and social justice in Ecuador</em></p> <p><img style="margin-right: 5px; float: left;" src="http://www.mppu.org/images/news/2013-2015/Quito_montage_794x488.png" height="150" />Hundreds of people participated in the national dialogue for peace and social justice conventions held in Ecuador, including invited guests: opposition and civil society. President Rafael Correa gathered proposals for a more equal distribution of wealth after the occurrence of protest and controversies last June.</p>
Economy & Work
Thirty-five years ago a dream was born: the Economy of Communion. In late May Argentina will host an extraordinary celebration where people of all ages will come together to breathe new life into this project and write the future for a different kind of economy.
Lorna Gold, Executive Director of Laudato Si’ Movement, reflects on ten years of the encyclical, analysing how integral ecology is an essential path to global unity and tackling the climate crisis.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
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