From Don Bosco Day on, a multimedia online dossier can be found at www.donbosco.de/hoffnungsstark, illustrating how hope takes concrete shape in the lives of young people.
Central to the dossier is a video series where young people from different Don Bosco institutions in Germany speak about their own experiences. They speak openly about what sustains them during difficult periods in their lives and how relationships, educational support, and community open new perspectives. The guiding questions are: “What gives you hope? What sustains you in your everyday life?” The result is a series of powerful portraits that show the many faces of hope and its capacity to transform lives.
The project is complemented by interviews, background articles, and service-oriented content. Futurologist Susanne Eckes places the social importance of hope in a broader context, emphasizing that resilience develops above all “when young people experience that their actions make a difference.”
Giving Hope a Face
Among the protagonists of the video series are Hannes and Melanie. Fourteen-year-old Hannes attends the Bartolomeo Garelli School in Bamberg, a special education school that allows him to learn at his own pace. After difficult experiences at mainstream schools, he found renewed confidence there. Particularly important to him is the school’s creative circus program. He puts his sense of hope into words like this: “I have hope because in a year and a half I will be leaving this school and starting my apprenticeship.”
Seventeen-year-old Melanie is training as an industrial electrician at the Don Bosco Vocational Training and Youth Centre in Aschau am Inn. At this vocational rehabilitation facility, she receives intensive, individualized support. For her, hope grows from looking at what she has already achieved: “I have hope because I can see what I’ve already accomplished – and what I will still accomplish.” Her dream is to work with robots one day.
The video portraits can also be found on the Don Bosco Germany YouTube channel, as well as in shorter versions on Instagram and Facebook.
With “hoffnungsstark,” Don Bosco emphasizes that especially in times of crisis, young people need more than quick answers. What truly matters are reliable relationships, spaces of trust, and tangible prospects for the future. Education and vocational training, community, personal guidance, and the Christian faith form the core pillars of this work.
Don Bosco has been working on behalf of children and young people worldwide for over 150 years – especially those who are disadvantaged or living on the margins of society. In schools, youth centres, training facilities or child and youth welfare institutions, they receive support, encouragement, and the opportunity to actively shape their own lives. The new dossier brings these experiences together and shows how hope becomes a source of strength for the future.
Further information: www.donbosco.de/hoffnungsstark
YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9WNE6SGqxcXkrXKLCh3DQkxGWMazB_y6
