Pope Francis' first field experience of the Fratelli Tutti School concluded with a meeting at Villa 31

After spending a few days in the interior of the country - Salta and Chaco - to soak up the local problems, the two teams of a total of 8 young people who are part of the first layer of the Fratelli Tutti Political School met at the headquarters of Scholas Occurrentes (the network of schools promoted by the Vatican worldwide) at Villa 31 in Buenos Aires to take stock of the experience and share their experiences.

In Salta, the problem they came into contact with is the high rate of youth suicide in San Antonio de los Cobres. And in Cuatro Bocas (Miraflores), a town on the border of the Impenetrable Chaco are addictions, also widespread among girls and boys from the Wichí community.

In both places, the members of the Fratelli tutti Political School lived and experienced what other young people who have these problems feel in their daily lives. They also met with authorities and participated in workshops and visits to complete their vision of these realities.

They worked from the logic of meeting and listening, trying to live the problem from the other's point of view and with the aim of putting possible solutions on the table.

The two teams made their first field experiences in Argentina, while other Fratelli tutti participants - in total there are 50 young people, 27 women and 23 men - went to other countries. They were organized in such a way that nationals from one place would go to another to ensure the widest possible exchange.

The training that these young people follow, explained José María del Corral, president of the pontifical foundation Scholas Occurrentes and also coordinator of the Fratelli Tutti Political School, has three stages: listening, creating, celebrating.

Listening involves learning a methodology. “You listen with your whole body”, to get to perceive the problems on which they later go to work.

And after completing a planning stage, the field experience comes, because listening must start at the bottom. “The Fratelli Tutti Political School intensifies its work from the logic of the encounter, trying to live the problem from the point of view of the other and with the aim of putting on the table possible processes aimed at improving these situations that affect other countries in the same way,” says a statement by Fratelli tutti.

The two Fratelli Tutti teams who came to Argentina shared experiences with local communities, collecting data and collecting experiences.

On Friday, that phase of their work ended and they returned to Buenos Aires where this Saturday they met to exchange views on what they had experienced. The students talked about their learning during these days spent in Salta and Chaco, immersed in realities perhaps very different from their own and certainly very mobilizing.

The meeting was held at Villa 31, where Scholas Occurrentes has a headquarters.

The group that was in Miraflores, in the Impenetrable Chaco, lived in the community house El Cruce, a Scholas center in the area that houses a community of young people in rehabilitation to overcome addiction problems, with whom they shared the routine. They also participated with them in a writing workshop, cooking, mural or spaces for reflection, among other activities.

They visited the Wichí community in Miraflores and the Qom community, in the city of Castelli. There, they were welcomed by Mayor Pio Sander, visited a local school and met with young people working on addictions.

On Friday the 18th they were received by the governor of the province of Chaco, Jorge Capitanich, accompanied by the provincial Minister of Education, Aldo Lineras; and the Minister of Government and Labour, Juan Manuel Chapo.

The team that traveled to Salta, to study the problem of youth suicide, contacted different social actors, in order to invite everyone to create a project together. They held meetings with the mayor of San Antonio de los Cobres, Alberto Carral, with representatives from the area of mental health and visited the Deliberative Council of that town in Salta.

They also toured primary schools and talked with teachers about the problem.

The young people commented that they were not going to bring solutions but to listen to the community and talk with all the social actors.

Therefore, they had an open table with all of them: young people, teachers, parents, the mayor, the village chief, the community of mothers who have lost their children, the nuns in charge of the local church, police officers, among others. There the pain of the whole community was put at the center.

“We have a very rich culture, from which we have a lot to learn, a culture with indigenous roots, that really welcomed us very well and who were willing to talk to us at all times. On the other hand, it was also a very sad reality, in which young people, who are the majority of the community (it is a very young community), felt quite detached from their family, in which they did not feel comfortable to talk about their feelings, in which they had no people to trust and this led to the fact that suicide rates are so high in that community, and that is the problem that we have been working on there. It was really nice and sad at the same time. We look forward to continuing to work with this community, with so many contrasts, and we are very happy to have lived this experience,” said Alicia, who came from Spain.

Now, each of them will return to their respective country from where they will continue to exchange experiences with the other members of this first layer of the Fratelli Tutti School, in what constitutes part of the creation phase, of elaboration of original proposals. In a third stage, they should share these results with communities, celebrate with them. To that end, young people will return to Argentina in the coming months to implement what was created from the process started on this trip.

In this way, Del Corral says, we always follow the Pope's proposal, to go from the bottom up, to see concrete reality first, to listen.

And he clarifies: “This is not an individual training school, but it seeks to form a political community of young people.”

KEEP READING: