Austria – UWW 2011 - Encounter with the city

On Saturday, 7th May, the Austrian Youth for a United World (Y4UW) came together for an event called “Encounter with the city”. We started with a presentation of Chiara Luce, whose example should be our model for the day’s programme.

Then, we split into groups for the different social activities we had planned: Some of us prepared and served a meal of 3 courses for 80 homeless people, who had been invited especially for that occasion. Another group walked around in the city to bring food to other homeless people and to keep them company according to our motto. Moreover, some of us offered a “sweet challenge”: little pieces of chocolate were distributed on a major shopping street, saying, “Change the image of your city. Do something good – here and now.”

At 7:30 pm sharp, a “flashmob” at St.Stephen’s Square took place, which was the highlight and the conclusion of the day. First, everybody was supposed to act normal. At the sound of a whistle, we all sat or knelt on the ground, each of us holding a sign in our hands, saying “For you always have the poor with you;“ (Mt 26,11) or saying some other sentence taken from a different world-view or religion. Simultaneously, a huge banner was let down from the roof of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which we were very excited about! It was a statement to declare that we are all brothers and sisters, meaning that each of us is responsible for those who are at the margins of society.

It was a fantastic day, which united us with the whole world.