07/26/2016, 15.04
SRI LANKA
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WYD in Krakow 28 young Sri Lankans "for a great spiritual and life experience"

by Melani Manel Perera

The group will also perform a Sinhalese and Tamil dance, and nearly had to leave some members behind over a visa problem. "We started to pray in groups" and finally "we received a miracle".

Colombo (AsiaNews) - 28 young animators (Sinhalese and Tamil) are in Krackow to take part, with the Pope, in the 31st World Youth Day which began yesterday and continues until July 31.

The young people, accompanied by a priest and two nuns, set out with high hopes, and one of the girls called the trip "a great miracle". In Krakow, the group will perform a beautiful dance of both Sinhalese and Tamil tradition at the WYD cultural program.

 

"All our boys and girls set out with new hope and the joy of seeing the Pope and also to have a new universal experience, as there will be more than two million young people gathered under a single theme, a single purpose. It will be a great, great opportunity for us" said Patricia Nishanthi (pictured, the third girl left) speaking by phone to AsiaNews.

 

Patricia is the secretary of the Catholic Youth Federation of the diocese of Ratnapura and is part of the group of young people who are in Krakow for the WYD. "It 'a great, great opportunity to be with our Holy Father and also with a large universal group for a great spiritual and life experience."

 

"We were supposed to leave on July 17 - she says - but suddenly some of our friends were refused a visa, 13 members of our group. So they had to redo the application and even pay a bit of money. Then we waited and waited ..... we were really upset about that part of the news. But what we did is we started to pray as a group through the Viber conference call daily at 22:00. We would stop all activities and pray: we said the Rosary for almost a week and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament ".

 

Finally, continued Patricia, the Blessed Sacrament and Mary helped them win their battle to obtain a visa for their friends. "It was a great miracle, because awe had all thought we ould leave on the 17th, instead through this experience, God wanted to teach us the importance of prayer. We thank Jesus and his mother Mary for this help". The young people believe that WYD will be an opportunity to share their experiences with others in a mutual exchange, even if tehir stay in Krackow will be short.

She added that "some of our young people had prepared a Sri Lankan dance to be presented to the World Youth Day. Since our group includes Sinhalese and Tamil, will present a beautiful mixed dance as Kolataam Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamils. We have only got four minutes for our entire performance.

"The bishop of Ratnapura, Cletus Chandrasiri Perera - concludes Patricia - asked me to pray for our diocese. And friends of our youth federation have asked us to pray for them. We have to be grateful to all those who have financed (such as the Vatican and Germany) to allow us to make this trip to Krakow, apart from our small personal contribution".

The group includes two of the 28 young people from the National Committee and two young people from each diocese (Sinhalese and Tamil). They are accompanied by Fr. Gihan Gunatilake - Director of the National and Colombo Diocese Youth Federation and Sisters Cleopus and Anesthesia.

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