Youth Involve had its origin in the question, “Should young dreams be allowed to die?” that emerged from a conversation that Fr. Jerry Thomas, the Director of Bosco Institute, had with a young alumna of Bosco Institute, who was trying to come to terms with a traumatic experience in her life. This question resulted in initiating Youth Involve, which supports and helps young people realize their dreams. Bosco Institute has supported and mentored several young people and their dreams in the last ten years. They have diverse focuses like youth development, youth spaces, youth café, mental health, dropouts, women empowerment, and the like.

Significantly, the 10th anniversary of YI coincides with the 200 years of the dream of Don Bosco. Hence, the theme of the celebrations was “Live Your Dream”. One of the highlights of the celebrations was the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Don Bosco, Sohra, to connect with the dream of Don Bosco. Fr. Saji Lukose, the Rector of Don Bosco Technical School Shillong, animated the youth from diverse faiths on the dream of Don Bosco and what it meant to live that dream. Some youths shared how Don Bosco very visibly and mysteriously acted throughout their life. For some, he was the ever-present, invisible, and unknown guide. The reflection continued on the journey back and the next day.

As a visible sign of youth empowerment, a new lead team of YI seniors volunteered to steer the YI space in the coming years – a safe space characterized by trust, acceptance, forgiveness, healing, integrity, empathy, and love.

The three-day celebrations came to an end at the ‘Pool of Siloam,’ where Fr. Jerry Thomas, the initiator of YI, guided the group to let go off into the pool what hurts and cripples them and take what would energize and nourish them in their continued journey. He reflected with the youth how the cracks in their brokenness transformed into windows that help look into and through similar ‘windows’ that others have and feel connected and supported. The celebrations ended with renewed energy to “Live Your Dream.”

The group expressed their immense gratitude to DKA Austria for being with them on this 10-year journey by creating a collage of traditional weaves stitched into the map of the northeast.