LISBON, Portugal – On July 30, our assistant Elen and core member Reem alongside board member Nadin traveled to France and then to Portugal to participate in the World Youth Day.

The program of their trip included various workshops as well as Holy Masses that they attended with the different L’Arche communities from France, India and Mexico. In Portugal, our Ma’an Lil-Hayat community took part in art and musical workshops, sports, dancing and meditation. At a certain moment during the workshops, the three participants from Bethlehem were able to perform a sketch show about the difficult and long journey that took them to get from Palestine to Portugal.

Elen, Reem and Nadin also visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Lisbon. Then they attended the welcoming ceremony and final Holy Mass presided over by Pope Francis with the participation of one million young people who came from all over the world.