English 
Suddenly seeing the kids, the young people you have been working with in the Youth Pastoral Commission in Mymensingh in Bangladesh for three years now between various programs and seminars. Looking at each other and chatting they give you a new name: ‘Sister, if we had to give you a name in Mandi, in our language, we would call you ‘Janggi’… Which means Life!’.
At those words, I felt joy, shyness, embarrassment at the same time. That word ‘Life’ that entered in me and reminded me of other words like strength, enthusiasm, courage, hope, brought me to the Word of God: ‘A shepherd gives his life for the sheep’. I felt that word ‘Life’ take root in me like a call, like a higher vocation, like a destination that I did not expect.
In these years of experience with young people in Bangladesh, I have become aware of their many challenges: first, living in a changing world and society, which looks to the West but remains deeply rooted in Islamic and Hindu culture, and in which Christians represent only 0.3%. Among young people, the difficulty of pursuing a good education and training dominates, because it has exorbitant costs and the economic possibilities are not within everyone’s reach, but also because of family and social needs that leave no room for study and require working when one is quite young. For those who manage to finish their studies, however, it is very often impossible to find a place or a job in accordance with what they have studied, due to the few opportunities offered by society, and then there is the risk of demotivation, depression, anxiety. Many young people dream of leaving their village or even go abroad and try everything to succeed, often getting into debt or putting their families in crisis.
In this mission entrusted to me with the young people in Bangladesh, I discovered in them many precious qualities, such as a formidable resistance and resilience, forged by the difficulties experienced since childhood. I saw natural artistic and musical talents, I contemplated the deep love of each one for the history and beauty of their country, and their deep love for the Church, with a desire to serve and help others.
It was during these years of apostolate with them that I realized again, how important it is to be close, to be hope when many doors close for them. To help them to look beyond, to see the positive, to resist, like those few words in the Gospel of Luke that actually hide an entire day: ‘While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself came up and walked with them.’ (Lk 24:15). ‘Walking with them’ now for me means contemplating them as protagonists, who sing, pray, dance, work, toil, learn… In addition, sometimes it means not being able to do much, it means experiencing impotence and poverty. As in the case of Dibosh, a boy who was brilliant in his studies and a leader in company, who had been participating in several of our youth programs for about a year. Intelligent, an orator and with little practical sensitivity, he good-naturedly accepted some irony about him from his friends. At the end of that year, he marries Lucy, almost suddenly, as happens to those who marry very young in Bangladesh, often with marriages arranged by the families. From then on, we do not see him very often, between work and taking care of the family… One day we get terrible news: Lucy committed suicide, five months pregnant. He was the one who found her in their bedroom, hanging from a rope. Nothing to be done, neither for her nor for the baby. A flurry of phone calls between all of us in the Youth Ministry: ‘Did you know something? Did you hear? Did you talk to them?’. In addition, that ‘being with them’, ‘walking with them’ that buzzes in your head… What could we have done? Could we have guessed something? Did we do everything we could?
‘Being with them’, ‘Walking with them’, because the beauty and fragility of young people are two realities that are present and real, especially in today’s society that puts so much pressure and expectation on them. For my part, always seeking the opportunity to know and make known better the example of Jesus in the Gospel, who gives trust, loves without measure, forgives… and find the opportunity to lighten their fatigue, to help them honour their commitments, to give good advice. In short, giving life. Life, Janggi.
Sr. Lorenza R. Radini, MSI in Bangladesh
