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>Like every year, in early May the Youth for a United World all over the world have made a lot of activities and initiatives within the United World Week. Below you find some fragments:<br /></em></p> <p><strong>Chaco, Argentina.</strong> "Change the face". In the main square, the activity had the young people in a leaing role, thay participated with different games. The idea was to promote the smile, realizing that it's the first individual action that you can do for peace. Also they made a collective mural, and took pictures with the tag "I work for peace". They finally talked to the youth of Washington, in the United States, to pass them the baton.</p> <p><strong>Curitiba, Brazil.</strong> In the activities the imprint was the relationship between young people and adolescents:
<p><em>The first international and pan-African EoC school is underway: involving the dynamism of a young population with high aspirations and dreams amid the great challenges facing the continent.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>«We are a new generation that wants to take the helm of </strong>the <a href="http://www.edc-online.org">Ec</a><a href="http://www.edc-online.org" target="_blank">onomy of Communion. </a>We are well aware of our inexperience and immaturity but we are also glad to feel that this is precisely our strong point, and we do not want to stop dreaming.» Liliane Mugombozi, a journalist in Kenya, picked up the voice of a young Cameroonese among the participants of the international Economy of Communion (EoC) school, underway from 22 to 26 May at Mariapolis Piero, the Focolare town close to Nairobi, Kenya.</p>
<p><em>Udisha is a Sanskrit word which indicates the “first rays of the sun” and symbolizes the hope we want to give to the children of our project (<a href="http://www.umanitanuova.org/en/pdf/italiano/223-udisha-2015.html">see the PPT</a>).<br /></em></p> <p><strong><strong></strong></strong>Mumbai, called Bombay till a few years ago, is a megalopolis with a population of over 14 million. It’s India’s commercial capital generating 5% of the country’s GDP, 25% of the industrial production, and 70% of capital transactions of the Indian economy.</p> <p>Its population has significantly increased and the worrying fact is that the numbers of people who live in the poorer quarters have increased by an alarming 50% within a decade.<strong> The numbers of people who live in the slums and shantytowns have incredibly increased by 3 million.</strong></p>
<p><em>Providing school meals, improving health and nutritional awareness<br /></em></p> <p>The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Royal Health Awareness Society and the Ministry of Education, has started a pilot project to provide school meals to around 2,300 students in 10 public schools in Madaba governorate in central Jordan.</p>
<p><em>1300 students and professors of Egyptian schools and universities witness their commitment to peace</em></p> <p>“The Peace Forum was a unique experience. I enjoyed every moment of the programme. Such a meeting (. . .) makes one hope that better days are coming and that one day poverty, hunger discrimination and violence will see their end.”</p> <p>This is how Rasha, an English teacher at Rowad American College, describes <a href="http://living-peace.blogspot.it/p/italiano.html">Living Peace 2015</a> which was held in Cairo on May 4-6, 2015, following a three-day congress in Alexandria, Egypt that provided the young people with the necessary background knowledge.</p>
<p><em>A ten-day worldwide initiative aims at creating awareness about the daily effort to build peace. Some flash from the Holy Land, Syria, Congo, Argentina, Hong Kong, Macau, Germany, Slovakia and Portugal.</em></p> <p><strong>Focolare <strong>Youth and children and their many friends.</strong></strong> Signs of persistent commitment towards peace in the whole world. A focus on some initiatives, not amongst the most crowded or those held in well-known cities, but very significant because they show that everyone, anywhere can contribute towards peace.<strong><strong><br /> </strong></strong></p>
<p><em>Eradicate hunger and malnutrition. Halt the rise in obesity by promoting a culture of prevention.</em></p> <p><a href="http://www.expo2015.org/en">Expo Milano 2015</a> is the Universal Exhibition that Milan, Italy, will host from May 1 to October 31, 2015. Over this six-month period, Milan will become a global showcase where more than 140 participating countries will show the best of their technology that offers a concrete answer to a vital need: being able to guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while respecting the Planet and its equilibrium. In addition to the exhibitor nations, the Expo also involves international organizations, and expects to welcome over 20 million visitors to its 1.1 million square meters of exhibition area.</p>
<p><em>May 10th marks the anniversary of the encounter between the Bishop of Rome and the head of the Coptic Church, the largest Christian church in Egypt. Traveling the path towards visible unity. Some comments from Sherin, focolarina from the Coptic Church.</em></p> <p><strong>May 10, 2013. Pope Francis and Pope Tawadros II meet </strong>at the Vatican to remember the historic appointment that took place 40 years ealier between their predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III, and their <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/speeches/1973/may/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19730510_dichiarazione-comune.html" target="_blank">Common Declaration</a> on the one faith that is professed by churches with different traditions. During his remarks, Pope Francis stated: “I am convinced that – under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – our persevering prayer, our dialogue and the will to build communion day by day in mutual love will allow us to take important further steps towards full unity.”</p>
<p><em>Protests explode after the death of the 25-year-old Afro-American Freddie Gray while he was under arrest. The commitment of the Focolare community, together with other groups to pacify the city.</em></p> <p>“The events that came about have stirred up the support of the citizens. Many leaders, religious groups and civil organisations decided to work together to clean the streets and buildings and to help in various ways, revealing the positive side of the city, though deeply offended,» Lucia, Co-Director of the Focolare Movement wrote from Washington.</p> <p><strong>We all know about the people’s protests triggered in Baltimore last month</strong>, which are still ongoing, after the death of the 25-year-old Afro-American Freddie Gray while he was under arrest. Baltimore, the biggest city of Maryland with more than 600,000 inhabitants is a melting pot of ethnic groups, especially Afro-Americans.</p>
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Every year, from May 1st to 7th, the United World Project support, together with the Focolare Movement and Youth for a United World (Y4UW), the United World Week, a global action where many people promote events and initiatives worldwide to foster dialogue, unity, and peace.
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Here’s the key: knowing that we do not know. No one possesses the absolute Truth, and by engaging in dialogue with everyone we can grasp aspects or fragments of truth that help us reassemble a shattered vase that we can restore only if we are “together”.
Economy & Work
Anna Granata, professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, reminds us that teaching peace is not an abstract utopia. It is something that happens every day in Italian classrooms among children with diverse stories, languages, and backgrounds.
Art & Social Commitment
Celebrated Marvel and DC artist Gabriele Dell’Otto invites us to consider the people who are working to build peace as the real superheroes of our world. A profound discussion on responsibility, citizenship, and the challenge of doing the extraordinary in our everyday lives.
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