Papua Nuova Guinea – ADMA Youth Camp 2023

With the theme of the Strenna 2023 of the Rector Major, “AS LIEVITO IN TODAY'S HUMAN FAMILY, the lay dimension of Don Bosco's family”, the youth camp of the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), took place from 26th to 28th May 2023. Originally called ‘300 young people for Mary’, the group was founded in 2008 by the late Fr. Valeriano Barbero, a Salesian missionary pioneer in Papua New Guinea, today the group has evolved into the current ‘ADMA youth’. The event was attended by the Catholic schools of Port Moresby with 268 people including students and animators. The first session was led by Fr. Gregorio Bicomong, Superior of the Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Vice Province (PGS), who urged the young people to act as a leaven in their families and communities, applying the Church's social teachings and becoming agents of social change.

The second session was led by Salesian Cooperator Sheryll Extra-Isoaimo, who explored the Rector Major's Strenna 2023 from the perspective of a laywoman. After the group sharing, each school was asked to develop its own project to animate the school Marian group and raise awareness in the neighbouring community. In order to promote devotion to Mary Help of Christians, the participants then had the opportunity to visit the Marian exhibition set up in the Shrine, organised by the PGS Vice Province.