EUROPE/ITALY - Consolata Missionaries propose Street missionary animation at Ostia, to give back their voice to the Roraima indigenous people, to the people of Sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS and to the Colombian campesinos forced to cultivate cocaine.

Rome (Fides Agency) - “The Street” is an experience of missionary and street animation, tested during the summer of the two previous years in two beach sites. With this initiative, together with the voluntary workers of the Association “Impegnarsi Serve Onlus”, the Consolata missionaries, men and women, wish to give back their voice to the Roraima indigenous people (in Brasil), to the people with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and to the Colombian campesinos in Amazonia, who are forced to cultivate cocaine mono-cultures.
The missionary project, called “Street Number 3” has now reached its third edition. It constitutes in a series of initiatives of animation starting from July 16th and ending on August 22nd. They shall involve a large number of people who attend the Ostia seaside, which is close to Rome, during the summer. About fifty volunteers, from 18 to 30 years old, coming from Italy and other Countries, coordinated by missionary animators and professionals, shall organise moments of meeting, of welcome, games and exhibitions in the streets and squares of Ostia.
During the day groups of “artists” move through the streets, presenting the topics of the initiative and finding original ways to invite people to visit the places where the exhibitions, the theatre shows and the games will take place. These initiatives shall be focused on a few squares, especially in the evening, when young people, elderly people, and whole families may live moments of sharing, meeting and fun different from usual summer forms of entertainment.
The initiative includes a series of activities, such as four exhibitions, two multimedia. They are “We Only Want to Live”, “Citizens of the World”, “Amazonia: Cocaine and Maloca”, “Nos Existimos”. There will special animation for children and young people, called “The Garden of Colours”, with games, tales and songs all focused on the discovery of the world and the many different people who inhabit it, furthering a world-wide education. A large sheet with green-less plants and branches will symbolize the destruction and reconstruction of the Amazonian Forest. A few theatre performances in the evening shall represent the project’s main issues: the international “Nos Existimos” campaign, for the Roraima indigenous people, the “HIV/AIDS dilemma” in Sub-Saharan Africa and “The other Face of Cocaine” on the Colombian campesinos. During the demonstration there will also be an information point for all those who wish to have more details on the initiatives in agenda and their objective. (S.L.) (Fides Agency 21/7/2004; Lines 28, Words 360)