World Youth Day 2011 began its training for the youth volunteers for the event. According to WYD Madrid 2011 organizers: “We need more than 20,000 volunteers to help out with a party for 2 million people”. These were the words used in the massive campaign to encourage as many young people as possible to sign up as volunteers for the World Youth Day (WYD) event. Since then, over 6,000 people have asked to be a volunteer. Volunteers are the back bone of the entire WYD event and for that reason it is so important to train them well beforehand. The “Communication and Leadership” workshop became the first training exercise for the volunteers. These volunteers are primarily from Spain and with different majors but who want to put the necessary effort to make this event the best one possible. Many of them have studied communication, Audio Visual arts or journalism…but many others come from majors in chemical engineering, medicine, law and economics.

“All types of business, foundations and institutions are working together to ensure that these volunteers receive general and specific training depending on the area in which each will work, such as Communications”, said Pedro Besari, Director of WYD Volunteers.

“At the end, volunteers are the faces and the voices of all those attending WYD”, assured Maria Gil-Casares, Director of Communications Volunteers. “It is for this reason that training is done from different points of view: personal, institutional and spiritual and certainly from a Communications point of view.”

A participative and interactive methodology is used to train these volunteers to be leaders and the first step to take in doing this is to have them get to know each other, so they can see which traits or assets they have which are the most valuable for this type of work. During this time, many different ideas and possibilities have come forth. Antonio Jose is a designer of video games and he has said that he would love to be able to design a game that would encourage young people and kids to live their Christian faith better and to come to the WYD event.

Laura, a social worker, is another volunteer who would love to be able to help handicap people attend the event. “ I have learned sign language and would love to be with deaf people and thereby help them have a great time also during WYD.”

This is the first Communications workshop and it has been accomplished thanks to the generous help from the Carmen de Noriega Foundation, which specializes in spreading basic values necessary for a healthy society. More Communications workshops will be organized as the academic year goes by.

Youth inviting other youth
One of the most important ideas about the WYD is that it is not an event for youth but an event by youth. For this reason it is actually the young people that invite other young people to participate in the WYD event.

“How would you encourage other young people to attend the WYD event?” Anthony answers this question by saying that “I believe the WYD is important to attend not only to see others participate joyfully in their faith but to see how absolutely impressive the whole event is from a purely human perspective. So many young people there for the same purpose.”

Fernando traveled more than 500 kilometers, all the way from Malaga, just to do this volunteer training program and he comments that it was truly worthwhile. “ I have met so many great people, who, like myself, are trying to live their Faith like regular people, and without fear of being laughed at. I think this is the best way to influence others: that others see that we are happy as clams living like we do, as regular Christians in the world.”

“But the most fantastic part of the whole thing”, says Maria with pride,” is that the Pope is coming to our house, Spain, to see us.”