Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Apostolate 30 (KAYA 30)
KOTA PADAWAN – The 30th KAYA program has recently concluded bringing more than a hundred Catholic youth closer to God. With the theme “Who do you say that I am,” taken from the Gospel of Mark 8:29, this program, organized by the Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Commission year after year, ran from April 14th to May 13th. This batch of KAYA youth is composed of the following: 83 participants; 19 serving full time with 4 of them as coordinators, 10 of them as facilitators and 5 as helpers; and 40 serving as part-time helpers.
The participants of KAYA 30 included not only youth from the Kuching Archdiocese but also 5 from other dioceses such as Penang, Sibu, and Malacca-Johor. And among the servants, there were 2 full-time helpers that came from the Philippines. All participants stayed for four weeks at the St. Lukas Centre, Kota Padawan, for this camp.
The four key aspects that are the main focus of KAYA are (1) spiritual formation, (2) human formation, (3) pastoral formation, (4) and lastly, community life formation. Throughout the month-long program, participants engaged in activities such as daily Holy Mass, group prayers, lectures, sessions and workshops, group activities and assignments such as taking care of cleanliness, of kitchen needs, and various other tasks. Participants were also sent to villages, housing areas, parishes and kampungs, all within the territory of the Archdiocese of Kuching, where they experience evangelization, do charitable works, and learn from different people through different experiences within the context of Catholic living. They also spent a weekend on the “Vocation Exposure and Appreciation” program which aims at making the youth get to know and find the value of the different “calling” in loving and serving God – as single, married, religious or clergy. Every Thursday evening too, they all spent time in prayer with the Holy Rosary and the Holy Hour with exposition, adoration and benediction while having time for confessions and care-giving. From Thursday after dinner to Friday before breakfast, these more than a hundred young people had spent overnights of sweet sacred silence – no talking, no use of phones, just heart to heart moments with the Lord. Lovely!
Making KAYA 30 even more formative and memorable, the participants with the organisers and helpers also took trips to certain special places. They stayed for 3 days and 2 nights at the Catholic Memorial Pilgrimage Center in Mt. Singai. Some of them even hiked to reach the peak of that significant mountain. They also took a day trip to Gethsemane Pilgrimage Centre in Bunan Gega. Lastly, they spent an afternoon till evening moments in a beach resort, the Redbee Camp in Sampadi. In all these, all experienced joys and leanings, appreciating even more God and His gift of nature. Everywhere they went, they always spent time cleaning and beautifying the said places, contributing to the care of creation.
The KAYA 30 program concluded with a Closing Mass celebrated by Archbishop Simon Poh with Fr. Galvin Ngumbang, Fr. Davie Entalai, and Fr. Ramon Borja, SDB as concelebrants. True to the theme of the concluding Solidarity Night and final day Holy Mass, as coined and chosen by the youth themselves, which runs as “Disatukan oleh cinta; dipisakan oleh cinta”, that last day, everyone felt so one with one another all rooted in oneness with God. Yes, there was sadness to end the program that has touched their lives and to part ways with their companions with whom they have grown closer. But there was also the eagerness to go and share God to others, to re-enter their world before KAYA but with an after KAYA mind, soul and heart. Miskin (poor) no more but KAYA (rich) in God’s grace!
Written by,
Joan Lau
