BIS # 1017 YOUTH WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY JYOTI

Bento D’Souza sdb

JYOTI, JULY 15, 2008: The newly established ‘Jyoti Youth Outreach Training Institute’ (JYOTI) organized a training programme for 45 youth from the Gonzalo Garcia Parish on July 13. This programme, which was held from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm, was conducted in Marathi and had as its theme ‘Personality and Leadership’. The chief animator for the morning was Ms. Malaika D’Mello. The event began with a prayer led by Ms. Judy Pereira, a facilitator from the Jyoti Parish. Ms. Olina Burboz then read a passage from the Book of Wisdom, entitled ‘Advice to Young People’. This was followed by the first session wherein the participants were helped to discover their personality through a variety of activities and exercises. In the second session the theme of leadership was developed, again through several interesting activities. The climax of this session was the building of a ‘leadership house’ – the foundation, walls and roof being innovatively designed by the participants. The programme concluded with an evaluation during which the youth were asked for their feedback on the entire workshop. JYOTI is using the principle of ‘peer to peer influence’ in its youth ministry, rather than the traditional ‘elders to youth model’.