“Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”Psalm 85An interfaith group of 35 youth, 12 to 24 years old and facilitator team, met in Arcatao to deepen on issues of forgiveness and reconciliation.
This year GNRC’s Interfaith encounter in El Salvador had 35 young participants: Muslims, Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Lutherans, and Bahá’ís, and a five member interfaith facilitating team.
After settling in at the Sumpul Martyrs Center, participants introduced themselves, and later teams began working on the issue “What are forgiveness and reconciliation to me?”
That afternoon at the Arcatao Musuem, survivor Mrs. Rosa Chavez shared the history of the massacres, and we saw pictures, pieces of the bombs, and we were deeply moved by her first hand account.
Next a workshop on “Forgiveness and Reconciliation” helped us assess our opinions after the experience at the Museum.
Later there was a “Time to Play” to liberate our emotions. and in the evening, we had an intense moment of reflection, before heading off to rest..
At the memorial park we saw the monument to the fallen, and then visited the Bartolome de las Casas Center where work is done to help the survivors overcome the ordeal.
At last we returned to San Salvador, full of enthusiasm and mixed emotions after all we had learned and heard.
Summary of the report by Laura Herrera
Lutheran Youth Member of the GNRC Management Committee
More pictures: ES 2011 Campamento interreligioso “Abriendo las puertas de la reconciliación”
