World Youth Parliament (WYP) originated from a founding charter drafted in 1981 by Fernando Rielo, founder of the Idente Missionaries and the Idente Youth. It is a multilateral project involving young people from different countries and from different social and cultural backgrounds who have the desire to restore humanity, beginning with themselves, by living the highest values of peace, unity, friendship, generosity and love. It is open to all young people in their late-teens and twenties, including representatives of organizations, youth movements, and people from varied social and cultural backgrounds, who are free from prejudices and live in mutual respect.
The first General Assembly of WYP was held in Rome in 2009, and the second in New York in 2010. During this time, thousands of youths worldwide produced a pioneering document, the Magna Carta of Values for a New Civilization, which a representative group of 21 nations presented at the United Nations. The Magna Carta proposed that the historical personage of Christ Himself be the model of unity and love for the youth because of His impact, significance, and extraordinary personality that, for two millennia, has exemplified the highest form and expression of human values.
Youths from 21 countries, who constituted the World Youth Parliament, worked on this document to make public their personal commitment to live out the Magna Carta that places a premium on the dignity of human beings as well as the youth’s potential for creating and restoring social reality. The document “expresses some theoretical principles that we share concerning the topics addressed, and voices various commitments we have assumed in order to put into practice the solutions we have found.” Also, the Magna Carta expresses its openness to all types of suggestions that may enrich the document.
A PUSH FOR EDUCATION
In August 2014, a third Plenary General Assembly of WYP was held in Berlin, Germany, to discuss the Magna Carta, specifically developing the Manifesto in Education, with 128 participants representing youths from various countries, including three representatives from the Philippines. During the week-long gathering, the delegates held workshops and conferences on the Manifesto, produced an agreement and signed a formal declaration in Humboldt University, Berlin. The delegates agreed to spread the news about the values on Education for the New Civilization with the utmost desire to change society for the better, starting with the delegates themselves.
The impact of the Manifesto, which was also presented at the United Nations, was not lost on the Filipino delegates. No one can explain this better than Joey Villarama, though not a delegate but a journalist in the Philippines, who has read the Manifesto and said: “The Manifesto is a stark reading of the poignant reality that we live in today, especially in terms of how our youth learn nowadays, how the structures that are supposed to educate them seem to be falling apart, and how important it is to strengthen and preserve these institutions in the hope that our youth will be molded again as they should be, as the future leaders of society.”
But still, there is much room for hope. As Villarama said: “There is no need for a new set of values to be established, only a realignment of time-honored and cherished values and applying them to the present need and circumstances. The Manifesto has outlined a road map of what these values and virtues are and how they can be applied to present realities to establish this new civilization.”
Back in the Philippines, the Filipino participants in the General Assembly in Berlin took the mission of the WYP to heart. They did spread this hope and conducted, with much vigor and enthusiasm, their outreach programs that have more members participating, this time at the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) and the Juvenile Prison Molave Youth Home. Aside from attending their own meetings, the members took time out to experience the hardships of others such as the poor, the sick, or the imprisoned, and were vocal about the impact of these experiences on their lives.
NATIONAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
The NCH is a medical facility for the health care of infants, children, and youth aged 0-18. Several patients of the hospital became the subjects of the WYP’s visit in January 2015.
The members of the WYP organized a pageant called “The Three Kings.” They delivered handmade Christmas cards with poems and messages which brought joy, peace, and Christ’s love to the patients. They dialogued with patients and their family members to help them internalize the true meaning of “The Three Kings” and to interact with them regarding their lives inside the hospital.
“I didn’t know what to expect at that time.” said Jasper Francisco, a WYP member, as he recalled his experience during the visit. “It was my first time to visit a hospital. The thing is that I get really shy and nervous around people I don’t know, even with children. I feared that I might offend them with my words or actions. However, this fear vanished when Sister Angela, M.Id, who was the officer-in-charge for the event, reminded us that this visit would mean a lot for children who cannot spend Christmas with their families at home. It would show that they are not alone in their journey as they encounter different troubles in their lives.”
“I only talked to one patient during the visit,” he added. “His name is Jack and he has leukemia. His dad was around. We only exchanged a few words. However, these words have inspired me.”
“I asked him about his ambition in life and he said: ‘Gusto ko pong maging piloto’ (‘I want to become a pilot’). I was awestruck by how he held his dreams so close to him, despite the fact that his body was frail and he couldn’t move around easily. This also shows how much faith he puts in the Lord so that, one day, he would be cured of his illness and that he would be free of the tubes that held him back, free to fly in the open sky as a pilot.”
Jasper concluded: “Pope Francis’ words echo through my head as I recall this experience: ‘If you lose the capacity to dream, you lose the capacity to love.’ He reminds us to dream of others being their best. Jack is just a child that I have never met until that day and yet he taught me an important lesson: he taught me how to dream.”
In relation to the core values and principles of the WYP, Giu Comia commented on the whole event. “I truly believed that our activities at the World Youth Parliament have molded my belief in helping myself and other people around me. We are created by God to socialize and interact with others. Interaction with other people is a key factor in becoming a catalyst for change. By participating and embodying what I have learned from these activities, I get to understand the beliefs and ideas of other people and, at the same time, make a difference in our world today.”
MOLAVE YOUTH HOME
Having had the experience of presenting a pageant play of the “Nativity,” WYP members decided to present a play based on the same story at a juvenile detention center called Molave Youth Home located at the Quezon City Hall.
The activity was memorable. JV Aycardo shared: “We interacted with the kids at the youth home. We shared with them and listened to their stories: how they spent Christmas without their families; how they hardly get to see or talk to their loved ones. Some may have done wrong, but others were innocent and were framed up. We need to meet these people in order to become aware of our world today.”
For most members, acting in the pageant entails a lot of effort to go out of their comfort zones and expose themselves to an activity that they are not familiar with. Christian Padilla narrated: “I felt fear because I was going to perform in front of them. I’m not used to stand in front of big crowds, so I was kind of nervous when I was performing, together with my friends.”
However, the reward of going beyond one’s self is exceptional. Christian said further: “I found new friends from that place. They also made a good performance, even better, before us. It made me realize that I can find peace with other people, and not by just being alone.”
Although WYP members initially went out to give, they received a surprise gift from the kids living there.
Members witnessed the kids’ sincerity and zealousness in their presentation. As Valerie Agte related: “My experience with them taught me how to listen more. The way they gave their attention to us was heartwarming, and I had an insight that youths are still interested in the deepest things; that is why we need to offer them an authentic experience.”
The Molave teens also shared their own dances and original songs. Melynn Parcon reflected on this: “They have a capacity for profound reflection. There is also humility in the way they accepted the truth that they had committed grave mistakes. However, their songs were also hopeful and positive. The experience helped me to appreciate the fact that, even if they are youths in prison and they had committed mistakes, they can still give a lot to us. I think that most WYP members were deeply impressed by their sincerity and humanity as well as their openness to accept the consequences of their actions with the goal to change for the better. Their hope for a bright future, in spite of their past, touched us in an unexpected and meaningful way.”
Truly, we can give something beautiful to others even if we are short of material things, and this kind of gifts is the one that truly leave a lasting impression. Without a doubt, material gifts are good to give others, but what is more noble, more authentic, is to give our effort and time to those in need: to give our hearts.
Members of the WYP in the Philippines are surely, but slowly, treading the path of the Manifesto and the Magna Carta and, in this way, they are allowing themselves to impact society in a significant way. In their own style, each one, by name, is one among the many who is building a new civilization, beginning with one-on-one, creating a “domino-effect from the heart,” with Christ in the center of their universe.
THE WORK AHEAD
Currently, the WYP in the Philippines looks forward to the next General Assembly that will be held in China in 2016, under the theme “Interpersonal Relationships.” The objective is to bring more members to attend the assembly and to develop progressively their capacity to establish transparent and sincere relationships with each and everyone they meet, work with, see, and reach out to, as a concrete way of promoting values and making other’s lives better. Activities, study sessions and workshops are being held every two weeks to prepare the participants to contribute and enhance interpersonal relations which, under the Magna Carta, is the focus of the next assembly in China.
But more than anything else, before one lives in communion with others in the spirit of respect and service, the WYP members are aware that change must begin from within.
