Three Karen youth groups from Baptist churches near Bendigo held a combined event in August to celebrate their culture and to spur each other on in the Christian faith.

The uplifting event involved young people from Kangaroo Flat Karen Baptist Church, Htoo Moo Plaw Baptist Church and Calvary Karen Baptist Christian Church and was a fantastic opportunity for the youth to get to know other Karen young people in the area and for the churches to support one another. It is the second event of this type that the churches have organised together.

Young people led the music and singing, providing opportunities to worship in both Karen and English languages.

Several workshops took place on the day, starting with some relationship-building icebreaker activities. Another workshop was run by refugee project worker Nido from Bendigo Community Health Services, who focused on aspects of Karen culture from the historical context of the Karen people to information about cultural dress, customs and values. A third workshop talked about bible engagement.

The BUV Support Hub’s Multicultural Second Generation Coordinator, Charlene Delos Santos, gave a presentation on healthy youth for Christ, outlining what makes resilient disciples. She used the illustration of building a house on rock rather than sand to show how the ways of Jesus give us assurance of resilience when we are facing the storms of life.