VAFEJE weeks were held under the banner of the value of Peace and the motto of the Rector Major's Strenna for 2022: "Do all through love, nothing through constraint." In total, more than 400 children and adolescents took part, accompanied by various educational and recreational proposals by more than 130 animators.
VAFEJE's initiative, already significant in itself for the lives of so many children and youth, takes on even more value when considering the context in which it is carried out. A border city located on the U.S. border, Tijuana is currently hit by a gruesome wave of violence - figures show there have already been over 2,000 deaths in the first half of the year - and many innocent people are paying dearly for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even more, of having wanted to help, to offer the last sacraments, as was the case of the two Jesuits killed last June 20 in Cerocahui, for wanting to help a person who had fled from his captors in another northern state of the country, that of Chihuahua.
That is why the Salesians, in the face of the bishops' invitation to pray for peace, renewed their commitment to build and live peace: "We must be builders of peace with concrete actions, with convincing examples of life, but above all by telling the truth, by bearing witness to truth and justice in all our environments, especially in the youth environments of each of our works in Tijuana," say the Sons of Don Bosco present in the city.
"Every Salesian playground we have played in these weeks has been a time of encounter, of healthy sharing, a place where problems are solved without using physical and verbal violence," they continue.
That is why they are committed to reaching out to young people, adolescents, boys and girls, and offering them a safe space, a space where they can build peace together, going to replace a frown with a smile, going to offer a word that encourages, that uplifts, instead of one that wounds and hurts.
For this reason, the Salesians in Tijuana work a lot in the training of animators, so that they are educators who accompany and guide the students through example and different activities; and, without a doubt, they try to live the "Salesian sacrament of presence" firsthand, so that they themselves can be a reference point for the youth.
Significantly, at the close of the summer activities, the Salesians of Tijuana brought together all the communities of the different works active in the city and organized a March for Peace, with the phrase "peace begins with a smile." Amidst songs, shouts of joy, placards, and the typical Salesian family atmosphere, children, youth, Salesians, and their lay collaborators marched through the streets of Tijuana conveying their feelings and values to the community. Then, they gathered around the Eucharist to continue asking for peace, in the neighborhoods, in the city, between countries, and in the world; and they completed the final day of VAFEJE with the presentation of different artistic and cultural events, a moment of agape and fraternal play among all participants.
"As 'Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana A.C.,' part of the Mexican Catholic Church, we cannot remain indifferent to the pain caused by delinquency and organized crime, which is why we want to imbue our spaces with the values that can promote peace and social justice," concluded the Tijuana Salesians.
