Unique Event

After uniting the three zones of Eastern and Southern Africa and Madagascar in 2019, into one mega-zone, we the young people, felt it was an excellent opportunity to expand our horizon. Unfortunately, after only a few months, the pandemic struck and abruptly limited us from having activities together. We were forced into isolation and couldn’t meet. However, this didn’t stop us to seek every possible way to connect! Overnight many Zoom meetings, WhatsApp messages, FaceBook pages were created and used to keep our spirit of being Gen alive. After one year of living like this, at the end of the on-line United World Week in 2021, we were compelled to organize a zonal Gen 2 Congress where we could meet in person! No more hiding behind the screen of our mobiles or laptops! No more virtual meetings, but a congress where we could finally hug and touch each other and revive the spirit of our Gen-life together to bring the fire we hide behind our masks to the world!

The Venue

The Congress will take place in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania from 23^rd – 27^th December 2022

Dar Es Salaam is one of the most beautiful cities in East Africa. According to the name it’s a welcoming, attractive and peaceful place for such event.

Tanzania then, seemed the best country to host us considering the means of travel, the mild Covid-19 restrictions and the cost of living. There is a young Focolare community present in Dar-Es-Salaam, already busy with the first preparations.

Most of the Gen in our zone are students with many different school calendars in their respective countries. The only most favorable time of the year that most of us are on holiday, is Christmas time. Normally it would be a time spent with your families, but this time, it would be a good moment to be together and celebrate the “new birth” of our life as Gen.

The beautiful city of Dar Es Salaam

The Slogan, Behind the mask

The mask expresses one of the great symbols of our society since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic started. Wearing of a mask has become an obligation and it is a sign of protection, a sign of caring for the other. However, it’s also a sign of limitation and of restrictions. It can be seen as a way to hide yourself or not to show to the other who you really are and not fully express your potentials. We know that behind every mask, there is a person, a unique living being with a unique identity. For us young people of the Focolare Movement, our identity is that of a Gen, a New GENeration and we are called to reveal who we really are behind our Mask and impact the world with our presence and life!

The Preparation

As Gen 2 of this great zone, that goes from Uganda all the way to South Africa and Angola, including Madagascar, we are thrilled to hold the first Gen 2 congress every since. The preparations are already in full show and we have put our talents, time, and availability together to make it happen! There is a preparatory committee formed of around 40 people, including Gen, Volunteers and Focolarini, divided into smaller sub-groups according to some aspects of our life: economy and fundraising, accommodation and design, communication and publicity and creating and developing the programme. These committees have been meeting regularly since last year September, to align our goals towards the realization of our great desire: a zonal Gen 2 Congress!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity and start to prepare yourself to come to Dar-Es-Salaam at the end of this year from 23 – 27 December 2022. You can also follow us on Facebook where we will keep you updated about the latest preparations.