Empowering
young people
YMCA PORTUGAL
Portuguese YMCA Association
Non-Profit Private Association Founded in November 14, 2011.
Only YMCA subscribers of the "Paris Base" of the YMCA Movement will be accepted to this association.
YMCA PORTUGAL
Message from the President
In the beginning was the hug*
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Perhaps as never before, it has become, in this beginning of 2022, not only urgent but vital this silent but deeply shared cry, as the poet Tolentino Mendonça says, to "reestablish the intimate architecture of life," that the embrace signifies.
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And this cry of deep anxiety also brings with it a challenge. Of learning, hope and incentive to build a different future. A challenge to everyone, to young people in particular, and to organizations like the YMCA, whose purpose is Empowering the Young People. Empowerment that assumes its deepest meaning in the humility of assuming and leading the initiative of embracing. An embrace with all other generations, all social strata, especially the poorest and most excluded, and with everyone from other cultures and religions. An embrace that affirms a strong commitment to our Common Home that we need to care for and preserve. Today and now.
It is therefore a profound change that we long for. And that we have already learned is not only necessary but central to the survival of each and every one of us. Because in the embrace "that which is so precious and, in the end, so rare, occurs: without defenses, one heart listens to another heart.
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And what more beautiful dream could we have for our world of 2022, that a great revolution takes place in the hearts of all human beings, the revolution of embracing. From the big cities to the most remote places. From all cultures and religions. From the North to the South, from the East to the West.
And because we all know that one cannot live without dreaming, the YMCA Portugal dreams of being a space of shelter for all the dreams in the world.
And to humbly say: Present. We are here.... for a hug!
Luís Dias Martins, President of the YMCA Portugal
January 2022
*The title of this message and all quotes in italics are taken from the poem Abraço, by Portuguese poet and essayist Tolentino Mendonça (1965/...). José Tolentino Mendonça was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in October 2019.
YMCA PORTUGAL
Legal Members
YMCA Portuguese recognized as members of the World's Largest Social Movement dedicated to Youth.
YMCA Setúbal
The YMCA Setúbal is a Non Profitable Private Institution founded in 1975 which belongs to the global movement of the YMCA (a member of UNESCO, UNICEF and ECOSOC-UN).
YMCA TERCEIRA, Azores Island
The YMCA Terceira is dedicated to intensifying our efforts to address the issue of people with disabilities.
