Hello from Italy!!

This year's HARP Easter WS was divided in two different sessions, Junior and Senior, for the first time. The Junior WS was held at Colle Mattia, near Rome from the 18th to 20th of April.

After the arrival on the evening of the 17th, the actual WS was kicked off by a morning service the next day done by Giuseppe Calì, the Italian national leader, who not only welcomed us to the WS but also explained how every action we take has its consequences.

The lessons were divided into two groups, one group made up of those born in 1989, and a second group of those born in '88 and '87. The younger group received lessons from Donata Ferrario, the older group was taught by Angelo Chirulli and Betty Calì. The lessons were based on the life of Jesus and his partial salvation, and on the providence of restoration from Adam to Abraham. There was also a discussion on the spirit world with readings from Dr. Lee.

These lessons were interesting because they weren't repetitive or superficial in their explanations, and the afternoon discussions were helpful for us to better understand the relationship between God and Man. It was also helpful because we now have a greater comprehension of the position of many historical leaders in the spirit world.

We had varied activities in the afternoons such as a Service For Peace project, where we cleaned up a poor neighbourhood in Rome and cut grass. It was a good experience, but many said that there wasn't enough time to finish the job. The participants also had the possibility to prepare a lesson on the Divine Principle that they then presented in groups of 5 or 6 people.

One evening we also had a beautiful prayer experience, in which many people had very profound experiences with God.

After all this work there was also time for fun like a treasure hunt, sports, and a Rock Out. Since there was a limited amount of time we weren't able to prepare our family evening skits but the last evening after the rock out we had one of the most beautiful moments of the WS: we were all in a group hug and there was an incredible atmosphere, almost everyone cried from the emotion. Through this experience this group of kids could deepen their relationship with each other to then take that back home with them.
Because of the age difference, we find that Juniors and Seniors have a different set of problems to face in their everyday lives, this separation permitted us to have more focus and offer support where it counts.

By Tokuwa Kanno and Andrea Valgoi

Well, to start off, the good news is that Italian HARP has grown a lot this past year so we’ve had a lot of new members. The bad news is that because of this we had to divide the HARPies into a Senior group and a Junior group and in doing this, some of the groups of friends of different ages were separated. This Easter was the first time that Italian HARP has had to hold two different WSs, and in order to fit it in Easter vacation, we had to hold both during the same week simultaneously. This was also the first WS that the new incoming committee has had to organise. The Senior WS was held in a villa that belongs to one of our members in a little city outside of Turin and the Junior WS was held at the church WS centre in Rome.

I was one of the organisers for the Senior WS along with Paolo Patanella. It was decided beforehand that the new committee (with the supervision and the help of Leesa Sarasso) would organise only one WS in order to learn straight from the beginning how to work with one another. Seeing as how the number of participants was larger for the Junior WS, it was only logical that the four new committee members would organise that one and the smaller Senior group was left to Paolo and I. We would not have been able to get it done if it wasn’t for the help of Giovanni Ventura in finding the WS site for us.

At the Senior WS we were all in all about 12 participants and 2 teachers, Christine Bianchini and Ignazio Cabras. The site was beautiful. We had 2 floors of the villa to ourselves while the family that lives there occupied the 3rd floor. We had a nice yard outside complete with a German Shepard to disturb our discussion out on the grass in the sun. Since we were such a small group of friends that have known each other for a considerable amount of time, we decided to make this WS a little different from the others. There weren’t any lessons on the Divine Principle, but interactive discussions and internal guidance lead by Christine and Ignazio. We would talk about our own experiences and problems that we have to face during our everyday life. It gave you a great sense of liberation because we could unload our emotional baggage and feel free for that short space of time returning to our normal lives stronger than before and lighter too. We had a day dedicated to a Service for Peace project in which we went to the "Peace Arsenal" which is like a hostel for homeless people. They can find room and board there and also learn different trades like woodworking or different crafts. Scouts from all over the northern part of Italy were there for their own WSs and to help out a bit. Our group was set to work in sorting donated clothes to send away and ripping up the clothes that aren’t usable into rags to be sold to a rag-making company. At the end of the day I had to suppress my new conditioned reflex to rip anything made of cloth that was put in front of me!

Returning to the WS we had a discussion on the upcoming European WSs and who would be willing to go. Unfortunately, a lot of the HARPies from the Senior group will have to work during the summer, but if they can manage to get some time off, they would all be willing to participate. Another of the topics of discussion was what could be done for the people who have finished HARP. Italy doesn’t really have an existing CARP program because there are only a few who are of age, and others have already started their family life. There’s also the fact that all the members are scattered throughout Italy so it makes it very hard to get together and meet one another. This WS was technically the last WS for a couple of harpies and so we have to seriously consider our "after-HARP" program. Little initiatives have been made to organise some FR during the summer and to possibly send someone to Korea with the money earned. I personally plan to participate in order to start earning my STF-ETF fee.

In conclusion, our Senior WS was different from any past WS, but in my opinion it was necessary, in order to affront problems that most of us have to face during this part of our lives. In this age group, the moment has come to realize what it is that we believe in most and to get to know ourselves more profoundly. More than just listen to more theory of the Divine Principle repeated to us another time, we were able to listen to testimonies and experiences of people and friends that have seen our beliefs applied in life, and to realise from looking and reflecting back into our past, of how we have had so much help in arriving where we are now.

Not all of us were able to make a final decision during those short 3 days of WS, but at least we were given the time to reflect and ask ourselves some important questions.

by Keimi Kanno

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