Eleven plus one

We were 12 in all - ten boys, coach Dominic Darmanin and myself: Eight boys from St Patrick's Salesian School and two from the Salesian Oratory, Sliema. We left for Zagreb, Croatia, on April 26 to participate in the six-day 14th International Salesian Youth Games.

Malta had already organised the first and fifth edition of the Games, in 1990 and 1994 in Gozo and Malta, respectively. The Maltese contingent took part in football and tennis.

The Salesian Games are a monument of gratitude to all those who recognised, promoted and helped to spread goodness.

The Maltese Salesians believe in the value of such an important event which is not only sports and culture, but for certain boys also therapeutic, a way to face personal problems. In fact the Games did not offer only sports to about 3,000 participants from 17 countries, including Syria and Lebanon, but also moments of culture, fraternity, prayer and relaxation.

The culminating moments of our Croatian experience were certainly the opening Mass at the new Salesian church dedicated to Our Lady of Liberty, presided over by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Mgr Josip Bozanic, and attended by various Croatian civil authorities, the opening ceremony in the same grounds and the presentation of trophies at the closing ceremony in the Dranzin Petrovic sports centre in Cibona.

Another unforgettable and moving moment was when we knelt down in Zagreb Cathedral in front of the urn containing the remains of the Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, a victim of Communist rule.

Our young guides, who spoke fluent English, gave their services on a voluntary basis and with extraordinary altruism. They are committed young people, belonging to the Salesian Youth Movement, staunch Catholics, striving for a better future for Croatia, which recently applied to join the European Union.

We all returned to Malta enriched and full of enthusiasm, for having lived an experience with a difference. We met so many people including important civil authorities, simple, very human and always ready to go down to the level of young people. It was amazing how they were able to listen to us. We felt so proud to belong to the big Salesian Youth Sports Association: the PGS, whose motto is: "To educate while playing, and to play while educating".

Finally we confronted our personal faith, which sometimes we live very superficially, with that of people who suffered so much to keep alive this gift of God, in a country where citizens were not all the same, where the dignity of man was outraged and finally where wealth and power was in the heads of a chosen few.

Leaving Zagreb, and flying over the skies of Split and Dubrovnik, it was difficult to explain, how happy we felt!