Rome: ‘Run4Unity’ - Teens Running for a Noble Cause
News and Pics By Jessie Rodrigues
For Daijiworld Media Network—Rome (CN)

Rome, Jul 24: Two thousand teenagers congregated at Navona Square in Rome, recently, to participate in ‘Run4Unity’, to aim for a united worls. In the second such run, organized by the Focolcare Movement, over 100,000 girls and boys all over the globe participated in similar events. 

A continuous link-up via internet allowed everyone to follow this unique relay, to cover the world with a rainbow of fraternity, step-by-step. The youth from Oceania were the first to start, who then symbolically passed on the baton to their peers in the next time zones: from Asia to Africa, to Europe, and then the Americas.

In the ‘race’ around the globe, they even used a cable car on the highest point of the Run4Unity, at 4,100 meters above sea level in the Andes of Ecuador. And on the other side of the Earth, they ran in Kathmandu, on the slopes of Mount Everest. At the start or finish line of the different races, they bore witness with artistic presentations, games and experiences of life, stating that the encounter between cultures and faiths is not only possible, but already a reality in many parts of the world. In a span of 24 hours, the relay reached every latitudinal point, to conclude, one time zone after another, at the other end of the world: in Vancouver, Canada, or in Lima, Peru. 

At 4.00 pm, local time, as the moment came to receive the baton in Rome, the teens shared through songs and dances, experiences that told of their way of life irrespective of religion. A very beautiful rainbow around the sun, in the clear blue sky of Rome, framed this moment of celebration and recalled the promise that Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolare Movement, had made before departing from earth. 

‘I will be in Piazza Navona, in whichever way I can’, she had told the teens. They wished to honor her with this event, to say a worldwide ‘thank you,’ by showing their commitment towards working for the fulfillment of her dream.

 Run4Unity was not only a very highly symbolic event, but it was also concretely expressed through 1,000 initiatives. ‘Let’s color our city,’ is the program launched by Chiara, which aims at bringing joy, comfort, and love to the gray zones of different cities—in hospitals, orphanages, marginalized neighborhoods.

The event was an eye-opening one which showed that there are many boys and girls who believe in a better world and work to reach that goal, coloring with love the places where they live. They used mathematical signs to share the points of the program. For example, the plus sign to say more love, and division sign to remember the importance of sharing. And finally the  equal sign, recalling the notion of equality.