The 25 participants come mainly from countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia, often marked by armed conflict, political instability or severe social vulnerability. Among the countries represented are, for example, South Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, Lebanon, Tanzania, Zambia, Ukraine and other regions where the experience of trauma is not theoretical, but a daily reality.

The group consists largely of educators already holding positions of responsibility: there are directors of educational institutions, youth programme coordinators, formators of teachers, pastoral leaders and workers engaged in the field of psychosocial support. Some are Salesian religious or members of the Salesian Family, others are laypeople deeply involved in their communities.

One common trait emerges clearly: many participants work directly with young people marked by experiences of war, forced migration, loss or violence. This makes the training programme deeply practical: every piece of content is immediately compared with lived reality.

At the same time, a vocation to multiplication is evident within the group. The participants are not merely called to receive tools, but to become formators themselves within their own contexts. In several cases, they already support educational teams, youth leaders, catechists or teachers, and see this programme as an opportunity to strengthen and better structure their service.

The group’s intercultural richness is also striking: different languages, histories and sensibilities come together in an atmosphere of mutual listening. In this sense, the formation itself becomes an experience of communion, where each person is not merely a bearer of need, but also of resources and hope for others.

Underlying this is a reality very dear to the Salesian tradition and to the contemporary ecclesial vision: a Church that grows through relationships, exchange and shared responsibility. These participants, coming from contexts that are often wounded, thus become a concrete sign of a humanity which, though marked by trauma, continues to seek and build paths to new life.

Source: Unisal