From July 6 to 8, 2018, 6,000 youth delegates from around the world will converge and meet at the World Trade Center in Pasay City for the 11th Edition of the Genfest. The Genfest is being organized by the Youth for a United World, the youth members of the Focolare Movement. Since its inception in Italy in 1973, the Genfest has become an avenue for young people to show that a united world is possible. Genfest 2018 will be the first to be held in Asia and outside Europe.
With the theme Beyond All Borders, Genfest 2018 aims to allow young people to experience crossing cultures and traditions, find best practices, tools, and projects that would help them achieve sustainable change and realize that everyone is a member of one human family. The Genfest will begin with an Opening Program on July 6 and will be followed by a Cultural Night in the evening.
The Workshops and Forums at Genfest 2018: A Youth-Led Innovation
An innovation being introduced in the 11th edition of the Genfest is the WORKSHOPS AND FORUMS SEGMENT. On Day 2 of the Genfest on July 7, more than a hundred simultaneous workshops and forums on a wide variety of topics including politics, the media, economics, culture, sports, ecology and others will be held in De La Salle University and other venues. The topics for each workshop and forum were handpicked by the youth from the Philippines and other countries in a series of consultations on topics of interest they wished to learn and discuss. Subject Matter Experts were invited to lead the workshops and forums, which will have between 16 to 500 participants and will run from 9:00 am to 11:30 am on July 7. The main objective of the workshops and forums is to empower young people to think beyond themselves, to overcome borders, and to do acts of kindness and love when they go back to their communities.
Key insights and resolutions from the workshops and forums will be synthesized and presented to all the participants of the Genfest on Day 3 (July 8).
Hands for Humanity to Color the City of Manila
In the afternoon of July 7, Genfest delegates, through a partnership with Bukas Palad Foundation and other organizations, will participate in Hands for Humanity, a series of activities that aim to provide the participants with experiential activities to enrich the knowledge and experiences gained from the preceding Genfest workshops and forums. During the activities, the participants will carry out random acts of kindness in the different parts of the city.
Some of the activities for Hands for Humanity include: The Big Clean and Green Drive, Teatrong Lansangan (Street Theater), See What I Feel (immersion with the blind), I Hear What I See (immersion with tthe deaf), Feeding 2000 (child feeding program), Mangrove Coastal Cleanup (Manila Bay), Cheers for the Elderly, Feeding Program for Muslim Children (feeding program in a Muslim community), Mabuhay Buddhist Temple Outreach, and Trash to Treasure. Some of the delegates will also be tasked to document the various Hands for Humanity activities. Time Out for Peace, a solemn moment for a deeper experience of communion among people of different backgrounds will immediately follow the afternoon’s activities.
Day 2 of Genfest 2018 will be capped off with an international night entitled A United World, which will be celebrated through testimonies, songs, and artistic presentations.
On July 8, the Genfest will conclude with a closing Mass to be presided by the Archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, and a message from the President of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce.
ExpLo: A Journey of Life
Throughout the duration of the Genfest, a portion of the World Trade Center will be transformed into an immersive and interactive exposition called ExpLo, which will combine elements from different artforms. Guests at the ExpLo will go through a twenty-minute interactive journey of life through self-discovery. It will begin with an exploration of the self or THE PERSON and will continue on to the five fundamental dimensions of the person as represented by the WORD, BODY, EARTH, SKY, and the FUTURE.
The ExpLo is expected to be both engaging and educational so that young people may be better informed on how they can be a co-author in the story of a united humanity. The ExpLo will be open from 8:00AM to 10:00PM on July 6 and 7, and from 8:00AM to 6:00PM for July 8.
Other partners of the Genfest 2018 include the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
For more information, inquiries and coordination, please contact Ms. Fralynn Manalo at 09175420818 / 09338144863. To know more about Genfest 2018, please visit http://y4uw.org.
