When there are only two days left before the official start of the activities (11-16 August 2024), the first of the approximately 300 young people selected from all over the world who will take part in the assembly have begun to arrive in Turin. For them, these first moments are dedicated to official registration, receiving the kit prepared for the participants, as well as acclimatization at the Valdocco facilities and a first acquaintance with the city of Don Bosco.
Between today and tomorrow - Friday 9 and Saturday 10 August - all the others will arrive: a total of 293 young people, representing 83 countries from the 7 Salesian regions. They will be the real protagonists of the SYS. There will also be other participants, mostly Salesians and accompanying Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, but only the young people will have the right to vote in the assembly.
"Already as an adolescent I realized that children occupy an important part of my heart and from my school days I knew I would work with them (...). Don Bosco has helped hundreds, thousands of people to become happy. Following his example I am already taking small steps to fulfil my dream, through my service as animator in the oratory and my work in the kindergarten. I hope that I will be able to change the life of at least one child for the better," said Alina Artsiukevic, 23 years old from Belarus, in the book "Hidden Diamonds" published by the Salesian Youth Pastoral Sector, also on the occasion of the Bicentenary of the dream at the age of nine.
"Among my aspirations is to redefine the political landscape of Sierra Leone (...) In a landscape where youth are being discarded, my dream blossoms into a vision of hope, in an yet unwritten chapter in which the vigour, resilience and innovation of the country's youth are harnessed to lead the nation towards progress. And every morning, these profound desires lift my soul, urging me to embrace joy and hope and encouraging me to move forward,” Patrick Samura, a 23-year-old from Sierra Leone, echoing a similar thought.
We do not know for sure whether Alina and Patrick will actually be among the 293 boys and girls now travelling or already arrived at the Salesian Sites in Piedmont. What is certain is that the Salesian Youth Ministry Sector wants to listen to the dreams of young people like them, encourage their dialogue on the issues most relevant to their lives and contexts, and visualize together the steps to be taken. To continue to do what Don Bosco always indicated as fundamental to Salesians: to remain close to the young.
As Fr Joebeth Vivo, the coordinator of this initiative within the Salesian Youth Pastoral Sector, summarized so well, the Salesian Youth Synod is not a simple youth gathering inspired by Don Bosco; rather, it is "a process that has already been underway for some time in the Provinces, in which young people have been invited to walk together, listening, talking and praying with the aim of discerning together their future and that of the Church. It is a matter of listening to each other, learning from each other and projecting the Gospel onto the situations they are discovering in their lives".
