Word: australia
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Mekendu wants his visit to Australia to benefit the young people he works with, too. Many are on the path he says he once took - of idleness, alcohol, drugs and crime. "I was in their shoes and I have come out," he says. "Now I want to help raise them out of bad activities." He's had some successes: three of the youths in Sydney with him are ex-prisoners made good. The World Youth Day experience has made him want to work even harder. "While I'm here, I can't just do sightseeing," he says. "I have...
Between events at World Youth Day in Sydney, presided over by Pope Benedict XVI, many of the Roman Catholic pilgrims shop for souvenirs, call home on their cell phones or sip cappuccinos at outdoor cafes. Others, however, find that money is tight. For Cyprian Mekendu, just getting to Australia took a miracle of sorts. Like many young Papua New Guineans, he has no paid job. He lives by selling vegetables from his food garden outside the capital, Port Moresby. But, says the volunteer youth worker, he never gave up hope: "Jesus said, 'Whatever you ask in my name, I will...
...instantly, though. It took two years, a lot of fund raisers and many pleas for donations before Mekendu and 13 others from his parish finally had their fares. Now they're camping in a Catholic-school hall. It's the first time any of them have been to Australia. "It's really overwhelming," says Mekendu, who's wearing a woolen beanie and a couple of T-shirts under his track suit; it's also his first experience of winter...
...Cologne, Germany in 2005, inspired her to aim for Sydney. She sees the pilgrimage partly as a thank-you to the missionaries who put her through school and college. "I put something aside each month for two years" to save the fare, Nyalusi says. She has no regrets. "Australia is very beautiful." More important, "I have learned how young people of all different cultures follow our faith." When she goes home, she says, "I will be a new person...
...Michael Leone, from Perth, Western Australia, a sense of connection has been one of the best things about coming to World Youth Day. "We've met so many people from everywhere," Leone says. "They just come up and introduce themselves. Being with other people with similar values and interests really helps." Says Jackie Jones, from Blaine, Minnesota: "The hardest part is not coming here. Here we're with thousands of people who share our values. The hardest part will be going back...