Italy. On the occasion of the 4 x 4 encounter, which gathers four times a year representatives of the 4 Claretian communities of the Delegation, the space where their activities will be developed was inaugurated in a Cloister, in the historical centre of Altamura.
The proposal “l’altra faccia dell’Africa” (the other face of Africa) was born in 2003, on the initiative of Claretians who have been living in Gabon. This was a proposal intended for young persons who want to know the African reality beyond the information received from the communications media, giving priority to a direct contact with the people of the place. In 2004 the first group departed for Gabon and in 2006 the second group did. Since 2009 the proposal changes into a group of missionary sensitivity, with weekly formation encounters, with a view to a missionary trip, and also with initiatives to collect funds for the Gabon projects. In a festive climate, intensely lived in fraternity, some young Claretians, young people from the place, a representation of the Baptist Church, the Giandonato Papa “open cloister” was officially inaugurated. Inspired by the phrase: “When a man dreams, it is only a dream; but when many dream, it is the beginning of a reality,” the young people begin a new stage going deeper into the missionary dimension, in a concrete service in the city of Altamura, in the hope and with the desire eventually to concretize the dream and touch with their own hands and see with their own eyes the reality and the hidden face of Africa.