Cambodia - MissionNewswire

ANS – Cambodia – Pilgrims with Indigenous Cambodian young people: “Anchored in Hope beyond the frontiers of the Salesian Mission”

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian missionaries provide humanitarian aid after recent clashes

MissionNewswire — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:41:32 +0000

Conditions in several camps remain challenging

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries are responding with humanitarian aid after recent clashes in Cambodia. Salesians and students have been impacted. Don Bosco School in Poipet closed on Dec. 9 as fighting along the Cambodia–Thailand border escalated. The closure came amid one of the most serious flare ups in recent years, with heavy clashes displacing thousands of civilians on both sides. The school remains closed.

According to Cambodian authorities, border provinces such as Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey have seen large scale evacuations, with families fleeing artillery fire and aerial strikes. According to current estimates, nearly 500,000 people have been displaced across the country. While some families remain close to the border, others have moved deeper inland in search of security and assistance. The strain on host communities and local infrastructure is evident, with rising food prices, limited water supplies and growing health concerns adding to the hardship.

A Salesian team met families of students and staff affected by the violence. Many people have been living for weeks in makeshift shelters, government school buildings, or overcrowded camps after abandoning their homes near the border. Their displacement has disrupted education, livelihoods, and access to basic services.

During the visit, the team distributed food, basic household supplies, hygiene materials and small treats for the children. The gesture aimed to offer immediate relief while also providing reassurance and emotional support to families facing uncertainty and loss.

Conditions in several camps remain challenging. Families reported limited access to safe drinking water, often forcing them to purchase water at a high cost. Safety concerns, including snakes entering shelters at night, have heightened fear, particularly among children and the elderly. Health risks linked to poor sanitation, overcrowding and restricted access to medical care were also observed.

A Salesian said, “Don Bosco Cambodia is appealing to the international community, partner organizations and benefactors to assist families of displaced students — especially those now living in temporary camps or without stable housing. Support is urgently needed for food, shelter, transportation, school materials and psychosocial assistance.”

The Salesian added, “The Salesian community also renews its call for peace, urging all parties to prioritize the protection of civilians, especially children, and to pursue dialogue to end the violence. Don Bosco Cambodia emphasizes that education, safety and human dignity must remain above conflict.”

Salesians in other regions of Cambodia began to mobilize support as well. Salesian houses in Phnom Penh, Kep, Sihanoukville, Battambang, and Poipet have begun raising funds to provide food, shelter, and essential support to displaced students and their relatives. Local Don Bosco institutions are preparing contingency plans to assist learners whose schooling may be disrupted by the crisis, ensuring access to meals, transportation and pastoral care.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Don Bosco Poipet Closed as Border Conflict Displaces Thousands

ANS – Cambodia – Airstrike near Poipet heightens civilian hardship; Salesians mobilize Support

ANS – Cambodia: Don Bosco visits Families Displaced by Border Conflict in Siem Reap and Uddor Meanchey

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Indigenous youth receive scholarships, support for education

MissionNewswire — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:04:11 +0000

Indigenous students from Don Bosco Kep help offer new educational initiatives

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries are working in Indigenous villages in Cambodia to provide education through schools and programs such as the Don Bosco Brother Sun Scholarship program for rural and Indigenous youth. The program focuses on the studies and well-being of 270 youth. In November and December 2024, youth in the program also received academic kits and uniforms for the start of the new year. The kits were provided thanks to the Sawasdee Foundation.

Every year, Father Samnang Albeiro Rodas, visits the northern hill provinces of Cambodia to support Don Bosco projects, including the technical school and scholarship program. This year, a delegation from Don Bosco Kep also participated to assess the impact of the scholarship program and offer new educational initiatives.

Fr. Rodas, together with teacher Ngil Vy and three Indigenous students from Don Bosco Kep, visited the provinces of Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Kampong Thom. They met representatives of the Catholic Church, representatives of other Christian denominations, the Salesian Family and families of youth in Salesian programs. They also visited a high school.

A Salesian noted, “They were able to see firsthand the situation faced by Cambodian rural families who are thriving in the middle of a fragile economy, the problem of internet addiction in many male teenagers, increasing the problem of school abandonment, and the degradation of the environment. At the same time, they were witness to the peoples’ hopes of communities for a better life, especially supporting youth who are dreaming of a better future through education and the care for the ancient traditions and spiritualities of their communities.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to youth who are poor and living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. Educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty in their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, youth with disabilities, youth who are orphans, and youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Student film on climate change wins award

MissionNewswire — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 08:09:42 +0000

Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival brings together youth

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Cambodian youth joined youth from around the globe in participating in the annual Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival. This year’s focus was on climate change and the theme “I Have a Dream – Youth and Climate Change – Making Mother Earth Cleaner and Greener.” Social communication students from several Don Bosco schools in Cambodia were invited to participate in this Salesian event.

The winner in the East Asia-Oceania Region was “Women Guards of Mother Earth,” directed by Tula Hang, a media communication student at Don Bosco Kep in Cambodia. Also in the 10 finalists for the East Asia-Oceania Region were three films from students in Thailand and three from the Philippines, two films from Vietnam, and one from Timor-Leste.

A Salesian explained, “The Cambodian film stresses the need for community-oriented action to protect the environment. It is not enough for a single person or some groups to work for the protection of the environment if others in the community are simultaneously carrying out activities for its reduction and degradation. While a group of village women work to protect their beloved ancestral territory of wonderful giant trees, their husbands secretly cut down trees to sell them on the black market to get money for their family’s livelihood. The women confront them and seek better solutions where nature and community can work together.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to youth who are poor and living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. Educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty in their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, youth with disabilities, orphans, and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Women guards of Mother Earth at DBGYFF 2024

ANS – Cambodia – Kep Province governor opens Don Bosco tree planting program

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Teachers and students plant trees to improve environment

MissionNewswire — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 08:32:32 +0000

Don Bosco Kep launches Five Thousand Trees Planting Program with governor’s visit

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Kep, located in the Kep province of Cambodia, hosted the governor of the province, H.E. Som Piseth, to officially open the “Five Thousand Trees Planting Program” created by the Don Bosco Green Alliance Cambodia branch.

The local government has donated 5,000 saplings so that every student and teacher receives 10 saplings to plant in their villages. The motto of the program is “Bringing the forest beyond to our own daily life” and encourages the Don Bosco community to plant trees in their villages.

Kep is one of the greenest provinces in the coastal region. Although not covering a large geographic distance, Kep features hills, caves, beaches, mangroves, salt fields and a peninsula of 13 islands and islets. Its population of 50,000 is dedicated to agriculture, fishing and tourism.

Thvinh Sarl, a first-year student in the IT department, was chosen by the Don Bosco Green Alliance Cambodia to make a speech to thank the governor. As an Indigenous youth from Ratanakiri, Sarl said that it is important that everyone join together to protect the environment.

Father Albeiro Rodas reminded the Don Bosco Kep community, “We, Cambodians, can help improve our environment. We are descendants of brave Cambodian ancestors who built wonderful temples. We are capable of reviving forests that are also sacred temples of Mother Earth.”

Piseth underlined the importance of the environment as a place where communities come together to protect life. He said, “We are also part of the environment, and we need to look for ways to preserve nature.” During the opening ceremony Piseth planted a tree on the Don Bosco Kep campus, near an older tree planted years ago by former Governor H.E. Khem Satha.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to youth who are poor and living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. The organization’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty in their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – The Australian Salesian Province’s Cagliero Project Immersive programme

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Volunteers visit schools to share with other students

MissionNewswire — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 08:26:13 +0000

Australian student volunteers facilitate activities while learning about their host country

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Students, along with staff from several Salesian schools, traveled to Cambodia this summer to take part in the Salesian Australia-Pacific Province’s international volunteer program. Volunteers provided activities at schools and also took part in cultural activities.

The first destination was the Don Bosco Salesian Technical School in Phnom Penh. Volunteers facilitated dance activities, arts and crafts, sports, games, and English lessons with the aim of sharing special moments with young Cambodians. The volunteers also helped repair the school’s roof, which offered them hands-on training.

When the work was done, volunteers engaged in cultural activities to learn more about the country. They visited the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum where they were able to reflect on the impact that armed conflicts had on a nation.

Next, volunteers visited the border town of Poipet with a short stop to visit the two Salesian schools in Battambang. In Poipet, volunteers facilitated similar activities as they did in Phnom Penh. They also had the opportunity to visit the city of Siem Reap.

A Salesian noted, “At the end of the trip the volunteers shared their feelings and thoughts about the experience. Despite the short time spent in Cambodia and language difficulties, young Cambodian and Australian students have created a lasting friendship.”

According to the World Bank, poverty continues to fall in Cambodia. The country has lifted 50% of the total poor out of poverty in the last seven, according to the latest United Nations Development Programme Country Programme Document 2024-2028. Multidimensional poverty fell from 36.7% to 16.6% and the number of people living in poverty dropped from 5.6 million to 2.8 million.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Indigenous people share voices

MissionNewswire — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 08:01:55 +0000

Indigenous voices often ignored, silenced or attacked

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries facilitated the second edition of the “Voices” program, which amplifies the silent voices of youth, providing them with the platform and support they need. The most recent edition was held at Don Bosco Kep in Kep, Cambodia. The program is promoted by the Social Communication Sector of the Salesian Congregation.

In Cambodia, eight different Indigenous groups were involved over the two-day program at Don Bosco Kep. The groups were mainly from the northern province of Ratanakiri and provinces such as Oddar Meanchey, which is the ancestral land of the Kuy people.

“The goal is to give voice to Indigenous people in Cambodia, especially those whose voices are often ignored, silenced or attacked through discrimination and social injustice,” said Father Albeiro Rodas, director of Don Bosco Kep.

During the event, Indigenous people shared their identity, language, traditions, spirituality, territory and problems. With their traditional customs, one youth and one Cha Thom or elder, discussed these topics while adding stories and proposals for solutions. Day one of the event concluded with a cultural night and ancestral traditional music and dances performed by students. Day two provided a time for Indigenous people to share their concerns about the challenges they face and their hopes and aspirations for the future.

All participants visited the Bokor National Park Mountain, a sacred place for Cambodians. Participants gathered inside a 100-year-old abandoned Catholic Church for a moment of prayer. This was followed by a short ceremony led by Fr. Rodas and Father Harris Pakkam, from the Social Communication Sector in Rome. All involved symbolically expressed commitment to protect and defend Indigenous rights and traditions and share the knowledge to the rest of the world.

The concluding ceremony took place around a camp fire under the full moon, where the Indigenous groups were represented by an elder and youth who shared their impressions and the impact of the program. The elders expressed a great sense of gratitude for the awareness that had been had created. They also suggested that all the discussions be documented and published in a book in the Khmer and English languages.

One elder of the Lun Indigenous group remarked, “I am grateful for this invitation to participate. It is the first time that I met members of other Indigenous groups and I found not only so many similarities in our traditions, but also in our problems and challenges.”

Bonny Seun, a young Indigenous leader from the Jarai group who coordinated the event, concluded, “This is a historic event for Indigenous people, as it is the first time they have come together under this program to participate, speak and discuss. I hope that there will be lot of awareness created about the situation and plight of the Indigenous people who also have a dream and a future.”

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Indigenous People speak up at VOICES, Cambodia

ANS – RMG – “Voices” returns to East Asia-Oceania, to listen to the Indigenous Young People

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students green their campus

MissionNewswire — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 08:19:40 +0000

Don Bosco Hotel School students take part in clean-up efforts

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Many Salesian schools around the globe are working to add environmentally friendly practices and curriculum in response to Pope Francis’ 2020 Laudato Si’, which had as its theme “Good Christians and Upright Citizens.” Pope Francis underlined the importance of education and training that will help youth shape a lifestyle and foster environmental responsibility.

Don Bosco Hotel School in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, is one of the schools striving to keep its campus green. Students are involved in cleaning up the grounds, washing down sidewalks and keeping the school litter free.

“This is one of many examples of students getting involved in cleaning up their surroundings,” said Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “From tree planting and organic gardens to clean up days and courses on environmentally sustainable practices, Salesians around the globe are helping students understand the importance of protecting the environment.”

Don Bosco Hotel School is focused on helping students gain the skills needed for employment in the hospitality industry. The school also runs a hotel that is open to the public. The hotel earns revenue to support Salesian programs and students while allowing students to gain real-work experience.

“Students attending the Don Bosco Hotel School have an opportunity to gain the skills needed for a work in an employment sector that is always hiring,” added Fr. Ploch. “While students gain the skills they need, projects like this also ensure Salesian programs have the funding needed to stay in operation and meet the needs of poor youth in the community who might not otherwise be able to afford an education.”

Don Bosco Hotel School is part of the broader Don Bosco Technical School and is one of six technical schools supported by the Don Bosco Foundation in Cambodia. The foundation provides technical skills training for youth between 16 and 22 who have completed at least the 8th grade. The technical schools are located in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep, Battambang and Poipet, and provide courses in automotive, industrial mechanics, electricity and electronics, social communication, secretarial and office administration, tailoring, hospitality, welding, agriculture, information technology, and language and arts communication.

According to the World Bank, poverty continues to fall in Cambodia. In 2020, the poverty rate was close to 17.8% compared to 47.8% in 2007. About 90% of the poor live in the countryside. While Cambodia achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in 2009, the vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. Around 4.5 million people remain near-poor, vulnerable to falling back into poverty when exposed to economic and other external challenges. Most of those escaping poverty are earning their living in non-farming activities. The national school dropout rate increased in 2019-20, reversing years of declining trends. About 14% of poor children ages 6 to 17 dropped out in early 2022.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Don Bosco Green Alliance

Don Bosco Green Alliance – Green Campus at Don Bosco Hotel School, Cambodia

Don Bosco Technical School

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Youth build skills at working hotel, restaurant

MissionNewswire — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 08:47:35 +0000

Thousands of students have benefited from training programs at Don Bosco Technical School

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, is preparing youth for employment in highly sought after industry sectors. The school provides education for youth from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds who might not otherwise have access to advanced education. Thousands of students have benefited from its various programs in hospitality and tourism, electrical, mechanical, welding, automotive, and secretarial skills.

The school has also developed strong partnerships with many businesses, both locally and internationally, to ensure graduates make an easy transition from the classroom to the working environment. One of the school’s successful programs is the Don Bosco Hotel School, which was established in 2007.

The hotel school provides students education in the hospitality industry in a real working hotel and restaurant. The hotel and restaurant are open to the public, and students are able to apply the skills they are learning. The hotel is self-sustainable, enabling revenue earned to support Salesian programs and students.

“Students attending the Don Bosco Hotel School have an opportunity to gain the skills needed for work in the hospitality industry, which always has employment opportunities and is in need of a strong workforce,” said Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Given the sustainability of the hotel school, Salesians have ensured they have the funding they need while meeting the needs of poor youth in the community.”

Don Bosco Technical School is one of six technical schools supported by the Don Bosco Foundation in Cambodia. The foundation provides technical skills training for youth between 16 and 22 who have completed at least the eighth grade. The technical schools are located in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep, Battambang and Poipet.

According to the World Bank, poverty continues to fall in Cambodia. In 2020, the poverty rate was close to 17.8% compared to 47.8% in 2007. About 90% of the poor live in the countryside. While Cambodia has achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in 2009, the vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. Around 4.5 million people remain near-poor, vulnerable to falling back into poverty when exposed to economic and other external challenges. Most of those escaping poverty are earning their living in non-farming activities. The national school dropout rate increased in 2019-20, reversing years of declining trends. About 14% of poor children aged 6-17 dropped out in early 2022.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Don Bosco Technical School

Don Bosco Technical School

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students receive meals through partnership

MissionNewswire — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:31:10 +0000

Don Bosco Foundation received 1,200 boxes of rice-meals thanks to Feed My Starving Children donation

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Youth attending Salesian educational programs supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia had access to proper nutrition in 2021 thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, and Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization committed to “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.” Don Bosco Foundation received 1,200 boxes of rice-meals that sustained the food program for nearly 400 children and older youth.

Don Bosco schools are providing primary, secondary and technical education for poor youth. Those in technical training are studying subjects including electrical, mechanics, welding, automotive, electronics, computer and information technology, printing, media communication, hospitality, and tourism. After students graduate, they are qualified for jobs that offer a decent salary, allowing them to support themselves and their families and break the cycle of poverty.

Don Bosco Foundation in Cambodia received 1,200 boxes of rice meals thanks to a Feed My Starving Children donation.

“Salesian students in Cambodia are grateful for the nutritional support provided by Feed My Starving Children,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Youth who received healthy nutrition are able to concentrate in school and focus on their studies. The food program helps to ensure that students have a baseline of good nutrition while they are in school.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cambodia was a world leader in economic growth and poverty reduction. It sustained an average growth rate of 7.7 percent between 1995 and 2019, and graduated to a lower middle-income economy in 2015, according to the World Bank. The government has implemented policies to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on businesses and people’s incomes and to support economic recovery. Still, the poverty rate rose to 17 percent as a result of the pandemic.

While Cambodia achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in 2009, the vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. Around 4.5 million people remain near-poor, vulnerable to falling back into poverty when exposed to economic and other external challenges.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Feed My Starving Children

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students at orphanage granted scholarships

MissionNewswire — Tue, 24 May 2022 08:45:11 +0000

Students from the St. Anne Orphanage granted scholarships thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Students from the St. Anne Orphanage were granted scholarships to attend Don Bosco Vithayalai in Battambang, Cambodia, thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The scholarships were provided in February 2022 and May 2021.

Children attending Salesian schools in Cambodia have faced a number of issues including abandonment from their families, abuse, child labor and trafficking, and migration. As a result, they often miss school and fall behind academically. Salesian schools ensure that young students are able to attend school even if they are unable to pay for it.

“Don Bosco schools are important for poor students to gain an education for later skills training,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Not only is education about learning to read and write, it provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood. Salesian educational programs bring new hope for Cambodian students and their families.”

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Vulnerable children receive shelter, support

MissionNewswire — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 08:29:59 +0000

Don Bosco House provides shelter and support for abandoned and abused children

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries operate Don Bosco House, a multifunctional center for children, in the city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The center includes a kindergarten, nursery, daycare center and shelter. The goal of the center is to provide services to vulnerable women and children who are most at risk of exploitation, human trafficking and crime while living on the streets within the city.

The need for such support was so critical that before construction was complete on the center, mothers lined up to enroll their children for services. The kindergarten class started with 15 children with 10 in the nursery and two living at the shelter full-time. According to Brother Roberto Panetto, coordinator of the center, many of the children entering the program suffered from some form of physical and/or emotional neglect.

Today, there are 19 children, ranging from a few months old to age 9, at the home. Pisey, age 6, was born in Phnom Penh and taken to the Don Bosco Center at age 2 because her parents were unable to take care of her and her brother. Today, her mother is in prison and there is no information about her father. Another child, Buth, age 4, is at Don Bosco House because his mother has mental health challenges and has never been able to take care of him.

Bro. Panetto explained, “At the center, these children receive nutritious meals, baths and clean clothes. They see a doctor when needed, receive attention and can play in a safe environment. And—most important—they are prepared for primary school.”

Sihanoukville is a popular tourist destination. Child exploitation is a challenge for the city and is caused by extreme poverty, difficult socio-economic condition, drug trafficking and widespread prostitution. Many children are not registered in the civil registry and are the easiest prey to be used for the workforce, sexual exploitation or human trafficking.

Don Bosco House gives these children a chance at a positive and happy life free from the dangers of the street.

According to the World Bank, poverty continues to fall in Cambodia. In 2017, the poverty rate was close to 14 percent compared to 47.8 percent in 2007. About 90 percent of the poor live in the countryside. While Cambodia has achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in 2009, the vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. Around 4.5 million people remain near-poor, vulnerable to falling back into poverty when exposed to economic and other external challenges.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – “Don Bosco Home” of Sihanoukville: a haven of hope for minors at risk

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School launches self-sustainability project to gain revenue for student scholarships and Salesian projects

MissionNewswire — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 14:46:20 +0000

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, have launched a self-sustainability project through commercial activities in the building in front of the Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School. To date, 31 stores have been built, each about 60 square meters of space. Most have businesses already operating inside. Only three of the spaces have not been rented yet.

Forty percent of the project proceeds will go toward scholarships for students to attend Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School while the remaining 60 percent will support other Salesian activities in Cambodia.

Don Bosco Technical provides education for poor youth in subjects including electrical, mechanical, welding, automotive, electronics, computer and information technology, printing, and media communications. Also known for its social communication and journalism program, Don Bosco Technical is home to the Salesian-run Audiovisual Center, which operates as a teaching institution for media communications while providing audiovisual production services to the local community.

The Audiovisual Center trains youth from rural and disadvantaged communities in media communications to teach them a viable trade that will lead to stable employment after graduation. In addition to courses in media communications, the center offers workshops facilitated by Cambodian journalists.

In addition, the Don Bosco Hotel School is focused on the skills needed to gain employment in the hospitality industry. The school also runs a hotel that is open to the public. Students are able to apply the skills they are learning in a real-work environment. The hotel is also another self-sustainability project enabling revenue earned at the hotel to support Salesian programs and students.

“Students attending the Don Bosco Hotel School have an opportunity to gain the skills needed for a work in the hospitality industry, which is a field that needs a strong workforce,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Self-sustainability projects help ensure that Salesian programs can have the funding needed to stay in operation and meet the needs of poor youth in the community who might not otherwise be able to afford an education.”

Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School in Sihanoukville is one of six technical schools supported by the Don Bosco Foundation in Cambodia. The Foundation provides technical skills training for youth between 16 and 22 who have completed at least the 8th grade. The technical schools are located in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep, Battambang and Poipet, and provide courses in automotive, industrial mechanics, electricity and electronics, social communication, secretarial and office administration, tailoring, hospitality, welding, agriculture, information technology and language and arts communication.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Sihanoukville self-sustainability project

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian missionaries work to get Don Bosco Hotel School fully operational after last year’s Typhoon Lekima

MissionNewswire — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 13:39:49 +0000

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) On Aug. 8, 2019, Typhoon Lekima, which devastated parts of Asia, hit Sihanoukville, a seaside city in southern Cambodia. The flooding impacted the Don Bosco Technical and Hotel School, which educates more than 500 students and employs 90 staff.

The storm’s flooding was caused by an overflow of water from a nearby stream that runs alongside the Salesian school. The stream, which was once 15 meters wide, had its riverbed reduced to 4 meters wide from recent construction. As a result, the rising waters caused massive flooding, breaking down the mission’s surrounding wall and pouring tons of water and mud into the property.

In a few minutes, the water level reached 130 cm, destroying the technical workshops and laboratories, offices and rooms. The destruction impacted the school’s ice cream parlor-pizzeria where students did their internships and local businesses bought ice cream, allowing the school to generate funding for its activities. Founded 12 years ago, the ice cream parlor-pizzeria was so successful that it was making deliveries. Salesian missionaries are working to restart the ice cream parlor-pizzeria.

“Students attending the Don Bosco Hotel School have an opportunity to gain the skills needed for a work in the hospitality industry, which is a field that needs a strong workforce,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Once the ice cream parlor-pizzeria is back to being fully operational, students will once again be able to apply skills they are learning into a real work environment, which goes a long way in helping them secure a job after graduation.”

The Don Bosco schools in Cambodia are providing technical education for poor youth in subjects including electrical, mechanical, welding, automotive, electronics, computer and information technology, printing, media communication, hospitality and tourism. After students graduate, they are qualified for jobs that offer a living wage, allowing them to support themselves and their families and break the cycle of poverty.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Up and running again, after the flood

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: 650 technical skills students receive proper nutrition at 3 Don Bosco schools thanks to Rise Against Hunger rice-meal donation

MissionNewswire — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 14:24:43 +0000

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Students attending technical training programs supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia had access to proper nutrition in the fourth quarter of 2019 thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

The rice-meal donations were distributed to 650 students at Don Bosco Technical and Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh, and Don Bosco Technical School Kep. Beneficiaries included vocational and technical students who are studying to gain the skills needed for long-term employment. The Salesian schools provide technical skills training for young people from poor families and also offer boarding opportunities for those who find it difficult to rent a room on their own.

The Don Bosco schools are providing technical education for poor youth in subjects including electrical, mechanical, welding, automotive, electronics, computer and information technology, printing, media communication, hospitality and tourism. After students graduate, they are qualified for jobs that offer a decent salary, allowing them to support themselves and their families and break the cycle of poverty.

“We are very grateful with the support from Rise Against Hunger in the last year,” said Father Albeiro Rodas, rector of Don Bosco Technical School Kep. “The food program has been very much appreciated because it helped in the reduction of expenses and offers nutrition to children and youth that come from very poor communities with a deep problem of malnutrition.”

One of the students who benefited from the rice-meal donation was Beana Seanghai, who is a second-year student in the secretarial science department at Don Bosco Technical School Kep. She is the third child of six siblings of parents who are farmers. Most of her siblings are working on the farm, but she has one brother who went to Thailand to work as a construction worker.

Before starting her education at Don Bosco Technical School Kep, Seanghai was helping her parents in the field and with housework in order to have extra income to support her studies and family. She is grateful to able to study at Don Bosco Technical School Kep to live her dream of becoming a secretary at a company and supporting her family.

At Don Bosco Technical School Kep, Seanghai is one of the active students who is always willing to assist her friends with their homework. She is able to talk with her friends and enjoy the Rise Against Hunger Rice meals. Sometimes, Seanghai assists with cooking and preparing the meals. The rice-meals play a very important role in her success because she has meals to eat every day so she can focus on her studies rather than working in the field in order to have food.

According to the World Bank, poverty continues to fall in Cambodia. In 2017, the poverty rate was close to 14 percent compared to 47.8 percent in 2007. About 90 percent of the poor live in the countryside. While Cambodia achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty in 2009, the vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. Around 4.5 million people remain near-poor, vulnerable to falling back into poverty when exposed to economic and other external challenges.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: 650 Salesian technical students have better nutrition thanks to Rise Against Hunger donated rice-meals

MissionNewswire — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 15:25:05 +0000

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Students in technical skills training programs supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia had access to proper nutrition in the third quarter of 2019 thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

“Rise Against Hunger meals are very important to our mission. We are able to reduce our expenses by not buying rice from the local market,” explains Father Roel Soto, delegation superior of Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia and rector of Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh. “With this donation, we are able to use that funding for other necessary projects that provide us income in order to sustain our projects and upgrades for our training materials.”

One of the students who benefited from the rice-meal donation was Sreynam Iech, a 20-year-old, second-year student taking courses in the secretarial department of the Don Bosco Technical School Sihanoukville. Iech is a boarder student and lives at the school. She is the youngest of eight siblings and her parents are farmers.

Iech had to ride her bicycle 12 km each way to high school, which was an obstacle for her and many youth in her village. Many did not continue in school because of the distance, but Iech was focused on her studies. After graduation, she met staff from Don Bosco Technical School and wanted to continue her education.

Now Iech lives at the school and is able to have the Rise Against Hunger rice-meals. She shares communal meals with her friends and is able to maintain proper nutrition so she can focus on her secretarial courses. Iech also helps the cook prepare the meals and teaches children every evening and during the weekend. This year is her last year before graduation, and she is looking forward to her future.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students attending 3 Don Bosco technical schools have access to proper nutrition thanks to rice-meals from Rise Against Hunger

MissionNewswire — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 15:03:58 +0000

CAMBODIA

(MissionNewswire) Students in technical skills training programs supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia had access to proper nutrition in the second quarter of 2019 thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

The rice-meal donations were distributed to students at Don Bosco Technical and Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh, and Don Bosco Technical School Kep. Beneficiaries included vocational and technical students who are studying to gain skills needed for long-term employment. The Salesian schools provide technical skills training for young people from poor families and also offer boarding opportunities for those who find it difficult to rent a room on their own.

One of the students who benefited from the rice-meal donation was Thea Sun, a 20-year-old who is a first-year student within the secretarial science department at Don Bosco Technical School Kep. Sun comes from a large family who has lived in conditions of poverty. She is grateful to able to study at Don Bosco Kep in order to pursue her dream of becoming a secretary.

At Don Bosco Kep, Sun has been able to access proper nutrition. She has also been assisting in cooking and preparing the rice. The Rise Against Hunger rice-meals have played an important role in her success because she is able to eat every day, which has provided her the energy to focus on her studies.

Rise Against Hunger partners with Salesian Missions, which works to identify needs and coordinate delivery of 40-foot shipping containers full of meals and supplemented with additional supplies when available. The partnership was developed in 2011 and since that time, shipments have been successfully delivered to countries around the globe. The meals and life-saving aid have helped to nourish poor youth at Salesian schools and programs and care for those in need of emergency aid during times of war, natural disasters and health crises.

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Sources:

Photo courtesy of Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: More than 2,500 meals served to Don Bosco technical students thanks to rice-meals from Rise Against Hunger

MissionNewswire — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 15:02:15 +0000

(MissionNewswire) More than 2,500 meals have been served at programs supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

The rice-meal donations were distributed to students at Don Bosco Technical and Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh and Don Bosco Technical School Kep. Beneficiaries included vocational and technical students who are studying to gain the skills needed for long-term employment. The Salesian schools provide technical skills training for young people from poor families and also offer boarding opportunities for those who find it difficult to rent a room on their own.

“The partnership with Rise Against Hunger allows Salesian Missions to expand its services for youth in need,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Operating feeding programs and providing other life-changing supplies for youth is integral to the success of our students and their ability to gain an education.”

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian buildings flooded in the wake of Typhoon Lekima that affected coastal cities

MissionNewswire — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 20:00:13 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School and the Don Bosco Children Fund Center, located in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, have experienced flooding from the recent Typhoon Lekima that has devastated parts of Asia.

Typhoon Lekima hit Cambodia as a tropical storm and caused coastal flooding in several areas. Before the storm, Cambodia’s Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a statement urging citizens to prepare for this serious natural event.

Salesian Brother Roberto Panetto, economer of Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School, said, “On the night of Aug. 8, I checked the front of our school because of the heavy rain. I then advised some our staff, families and guests on the ground floor of our guesthouse to watch for water that may come in. The level of the water on the main road in front of our school started to rise and in a matter of few minutes, it was overflowing the dam-wall we had just built to prevent flooding.”

Brother Panetto added that a large amount of water destroyed the gate and the ground floor of the buildings. Machinery and equipment used in the workshops for the mechanical, welding, automotive and electrical classes were heavily damaged. Salesian teachers and staff were also affected. Many had their homes destroyed and have nowhere to go. They have asked Salesians for a place to stay.

“It is too early to estimate the damage, but I presume it will be close to 1 million dollars (US),” added Bro. Panetto. “However, we are happy to see that many Salesians, past pupils and friends are ready to help and encourage us in this difficult time. Thanks to all that have helped us with their prayers and sympathy. We are hoping that benefactors will aid us in replacing the damaged items and help us in preventing future floods.”

Brother Panetto also reflected on the environmental conditions in Cambodia noting that deforestation is one of the main causes for similar floods. Many trees have been uprooted to build hotels, skyscrapers and shopping malls and numerous waterways have been reduced to exploit the land on their banks. In addition, garbage is thrown everywhere and obstructs the already strained drainage system.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – A flood affects Don Bosco Sihanoukville

World Bank Cambodia

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students with the Salesian Cagliero Project in Australia have immersion experience at Don Bosco Technical Center in Phnom Penh

MissionNewswire — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 21:38:09 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Every year the Salesian Cagliero Project in Australia brings a group of young students to another country for an immersion experience. This year they traveled to Cambodia and spent their time at the Don Bosco Technical Center in Phnom Penh which provides technical education for poor youth in subjects including electrical, mechanical, welding, automotive, electronics, computer and information technology, printing, media communication, hospitality and tourism.

The Cagliero Project fosters cooperation and support among the different Salesian provinces with volunteers having also worked in East Timor, Thailand, Samoa and Zambia. The project gives volunteers an opportunity to contribute to local Don Bosco missions and serve the poorest and most disadvantaged children in their programs.

The immersion group started with a hands-on project to create cement to help with drainage around the football field. One student noted, “After coming from a very cold Australia, this work left us dirty and tired but with a great feeling of satisfaction. What was best about this project is that we participated with the local students and were able to start building relationships right from the outset of the immersion.”

The group had the opportunity to stay with a local Khmer family. They were also welcomed into the homes of local Don Bosco teachers and were able to experience day-to-day life in Cambodia.

After spending time learning about Cambodia’s brutal history, the group turned their attention to facilitating a three-day youth leadership program. Salesian youth travelled from around Cambodia to Phnom Penh to be part of this special program. The weekend event culminated in an activity day for the school that was run by the program participants.

“It was incredible to see all the young people empowered to take ownership of being a young Salesian leader and to see them put this into action. Although the day was exhausting, everyone was buzzing with excitement at the end of the day for all they had achieved,” said Lauren Hichaaba, director of the Cagliero Project.

The immersion group departed from Phnom Penh to spend their final days visiting the temples in Siem Reap. They also took the opportunity as a group to reflect, debrief and pray about all that they learned and experienced.

Hichaaba added, “We are so grateful for the very special relationship that we have with the Salesians in Cambodia. And now, we have yet another group of young people who have been captured by the Salesian spirit and by the wondrous Kingdom of Cambodia.”

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Cagliero Project Immersion Experience 2019

UNICEF – Cambodia

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: More than 3,700 involved in programming at three Don Bosco technical schools have access to better nutrition thanks to shipment from Rise Against Hunger

MissionNewswire — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:50:10 +0000

(MissionNewswire) More than 3,700 beneficiaries involved in programming supported by the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia have access to better nutrition thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger, an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

The rice-meals donations were shipped in the third and fourth quarters of 2018 and were distributed to programs in Cambodia connected to Don Bosco Technical & Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh and Don Bosco Technical School Kep. Beneficiaries included 1,100 vocational and technical students at the schools who are studying to gain the skills needed for long-term employment. The Salesian schools provide technical skills training for young people from poor families and also offer boarding opportunities for those who find it difficult to rent a room on their own.

One of the rice-meals donation recipients, Sokkhin Chea, is a 20-year old student from Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh and is in her second-year studying computers. She has eight siblings and her father died when she was in the 12th grade. After finishing high school, Chea applied to Don Bosco Tech and requested to stay at its boarding house since she could not afford to live on her own or pay for her own meals. Before she came to Don Bosco Tech, Chea was working hard in the fields with her mother, brothers and sisters in order to have enough money for food and to be able to go to school. The feeding program and rice-meal donation are ensuring that Chea and students like her have the nutrition they need to focus on their studies.

“Rise Against Hunger meals are very important our mission so we are able to reduce our expenses by not buying rice from local market,” explains Father Roel Soto, delegation superior of Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia and rector of Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh. “With this donation, we are able to use that funding other necessary projects that provide us income in order to sustain our projects and upgrades for our training materials.”

Father Soto adds, “We are very proud of Sokkhin Chea because she has been chosen as a role model of being a good boarder student by her friends and her teachers.”

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Sources:

ANS – Cambodia – Samai and Phirun recover their childhood at “Don Bosco Kep”

Salesian Missions

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Kep gives children who have been exploited through child labor a chance to regain their childhood and go to school

MissionNewswire — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 16:17:49 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School (Don Bosco Kep) and Don Bosco Children Fund, both located in the Kep district within the Kep province of Cambodia, are working to provide a second chance for children who have been exploited, abused and caught up in forced child labor. Samai (age 11) and Phirun (age 13) were both exploited in a brick factory where they worked to earn money for their families. Now, they are attending Don Bosco Kep, reclaiming their childhood and gaining an education.

Also attending Don Bosco Kep is Danith, age 16. When Danith was just 11, he lost his sight and his family abandoned him in the streets. Now he is a participant, along with 50 other children, in the Sun Children’s program at Don Bosco Kep. In addition to education, the program includes housing at the school where the children are cared for in a family environment.

“It’s amazing how in a few weeks these children, who lived without a childhood, recover their smiles and their games. They return definitively to what a natural childhood should be,” explains says Father Albeiro Rodas, a Salesian missionary at Don Bosco Kep.

During the 2017-2018 school year, Don Bosco Kep educated 300 students, aged 3 to 22 years old. Father Rodas notes, “Every child, every young person, also represents a family, almost always of peasants and of low income. This includes children of indigenous families, those with physical disabilities, girls and young women at risk of exploitation and youth who may end up in networks of trafficking and illegal emigration.”

Once youth complete their early school years, they can advance to Don Bosco Kep Technical School which provides vocational training in electro-technical skills, media, secretarial work, hotel management and programming. The courses serve close to 200 students.

“We are very happy this year because we have been able to complete some buildings for the development of our programs, such as a new electrical department and a kiosk by the sea, where students can carry out their internship,” adds Fr. Rodas. “We have also launched a project to sell our products so as to increase our sustainability as a center.”

Don Bosco Kep graduates close to 150 students each year. The primary goal is for students to obtain a stable long-term job after they graduate. In 2013, the school began welcoming students with disabilities. School administrators were concerned that the campus was not as accessible as it could be for the new students to be able to access all of their classes. Often disabled students would have to rely on friends for assistance in getting to classrooms on higher floors and into dormitories, making them feel like a burden.

With USAID funding in 2015, Don Bosco Kep made modifications to the school. They included the installation of a solar-powered elevator with a walkway between two buildings in order to reach four floors in the main building and the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings. The funding also allowed for the outfitting of three bathrooms with accessible facilities.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian Missions donors provide funding for wheelchairs and new elevator so students with physical disabilities can attend Don Bosco Tech

MissionNewswire — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:06:19 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Youth with disabilities attending Don Bosco Technical School in Kep City, Cambodia have wheelchairs and a new elevator thanks to Salesian Missions donors. Don Bosco Kep has been in the process of making broad changes to ensure that students with disabilities are able to access an education.

In addition to these donations, in January 2015, Don Bosco Tech was awarded a grant from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to make changes to the school’s buildings and dormitories to ensure they are accessible for students with physical disabilities. The school also received funding to aid the construction from Don Bosco Bonn and the Sawasdee Foundation.

Don Bosco Kep, which has 250 students, 40 of whom live at the school, began welcoming students with disabilities in 2013. School administrators were concerned that the campus was not as accessible as it could be for the new students to access all of their classes. Often students would have to rely on their friends for assistance getting to classrooms on higher floors and into dormitory living, making them feel like a burden.

With the 2015 USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep made modifications to the school, including the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a student and teacher residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding also supported creating accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

“We appreciate the funding from our donors and USAID, which has allowed the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and give greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The new construction modifications open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

Because students with disabilities are so marginalized in Cambodia, it is taking some time for families to learn about the modifications at the school and send their children to the newly accessible campus. The school currently has a few students with physical disabilities. Salesian missionaries plan to continue to promote their accessible campus for other students who wish to access education in an environment that accommodates them.

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Sources:

CAMBODIA: Students with physical disabilities able to access Don Bosco Kep thanks to modifications completed at school

Salesian Missions Projects

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Technical School makes improvements and educates close to 300 last school year

MissionNewswire — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 02:00:00 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School (Don Bosco Kep) and Don Bosco Children Fund, both located in the Kep district within the Kep province of Cambodia, made some improvements in 2018 to benefit their student populations. The Don Bosco Kep campus offers a kindergarten, a Sun Children’s student residence and a technical school. Students attending the school are from local villages and are typically poor and marginalized in society. Some have physical disabilities and others are young women who are targets of exploitation. There are also young boys and girls who are vulnerable to human trafficking.

During the 2017-2018 school year, a construction project on the electrical department and educative multipurpose kiosk at Don Bosco Kep was completed and the school educated 300 students, aged 3 to 22 years old. The current academic year started in November 2018 with 170 new students who are taking classes in the electrical, media communication, secretarial science and information technology departments. In addition, 40 boys and 10 girls between the ages of 10 and 17 are participating in the Sun Children’s program.

The school and programs are run by paid staff with the assistance of volunteers, some of whom are from outside of Cambodia. These foreign volunteers have come to Don Bosco Kep either independently or with organizations like Kindermission, Trust Project and Senior Experten.

“It is very encouraging to see foreign volunteers trying to adapt to the challenges of the Cambodian culture, language barrier, meals barriers and many other unexpected elements,” says Father Albeiro Rodas, rector of Don Bosco Technical School and the Don Bosco Children Fund. “Most of them take it with courage, patience and love for our kids. I appreciate their contribution, commitment and understanding. I also very much appreciate our staff who continue to work for the betterment of our students. While many could take higher paying jobs, they are dedicated to working with poor youth and their families at our programs.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco Kep Christmas Newsletter Dec 2018

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Students at Don Bosco Technical Institute in Battambang return to course work in agro-technical education

MissionNewswire — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:57:56 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Technical Institute Salabalath, located in Battambang, Cambodia has started a new school year. The institute focuses on agro-technical education as a means to teach youth new and modern farming techniques to help them develop the skills for later employment. The institute includes a well-established farm adjacent to the school building that specializes in seeds in addition to rice production and raising animals. Farming students learn new agriculture skills in the classroom and are able to put those skills to use during hands-on practice on the farm. Youth attending the Don Bosco Technical Institute are supported by the Don Bosco Children’s Fund.

Started in 1992, the Don Bosco Children’s Fund provides a variety of services and supports to assist poor youth between the ages of 6 and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Through the fund’s programs, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that participants make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“Don Bosco technical schools are important for poor students in Cambodia and also for developing a skilled workforce for the local economy,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Not only is education about learning to read and write, it provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood. Salesian educational programs bring new hope for Cambodian students and their families.”

Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the country’s population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services. Only 24 percent of Cambodians have access to electricity, 64 percent to clean water and 31 percent to adequate sanitation. Hospitals are also low-quality and the impoverished cannot receive proper care and treatment. Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty and find hope for the future.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Cambodia – Helping youths in need via agro-technical training: history of Don Bosco Technical Institute

Don Bosco Foundation Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: New changes at Don Bosco Kep help ensure that girls with physical disabilities have access to education

MissionNewswire — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 19:15:24 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School Kep/Hatrans, located in southern Cambodia, made changes to its school buildings and dormitories to ensure they are accessible for students with physical disabilities thanks to a grant provided to Salesian Missions from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) at USAID. The technical school also received funding to aid in the construction from Don Bosco Bonn and the Sawasdee Foundation.

Don Bosco Kep, which has 250 students, 40 of whom live at the school, began welcoming students with disabilities in 2013. School administrators knew that the campus was not as accessible as it could be for the new students to access all of their classes. Often disabled students would have to rely on friends for assistance in getting to classrooms on higher floors and into dormitories, making them feel like a burden.

With the USAID funding, in 2015 Don Bosco Kep made modifications to the school, including the installation of a solar-powered elevator with a walkway between two buildings, in order to reach four floors in the main building, and the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings. The funding also allowed for the outfitting of three bathrooms with accessible facilities.

Young women with physical disabilities in rural Cambodia are at high risk of living in poverty. The investment by USAID in Don Bosco Kep provides opportunities to numerous students who are ethnically and economically disadvantaged. The positive impacts are disproportionately felt by young women with physical disabilities who otherwise would be unable to access an education and achieve self-sufficiency as a result.

Valuing diversity, gender equality and education for all is a primary goal of Don Bosco Tech and Salesian education across the globe. In a recent USAID newsletter, Father Albeiro Rodas, rector of Don Bosco Tech, recalls a time when it was believed that only men could pursue certain occupations.

“When I opened the electrical department in October of 2012, male teachers thought it was an odd idea. One assumption was that girls were unable to climb ladders. I showed them photos of female electricians in other countries,” explained Fr. Rodas in the article.

The idea of inviting girls into the program took hold from then forward. The first year, five girls applied. They had to work hard to be taken seriously. Father Rodas adds in the article, “The first female students showed that they were better in mathematics than their male counterparts. They were among the best students.”

Don Bosco Tech graduates close to 150 students a year. The primary goal is for students to obtain a stable long-term job after they graduate. Ensuring women have the same access to employment is still a challenge at times.

In the article, Fr. Rodas recounts a recent exchange with an employer, “The supervisor of a local company came to the school to look for new staff among the students getting ready to graduate and we gave him all of the student files. He went through them and took out all the girls’ files.”

After Fr. Rodas called the manager to assure him that the females were just as capable as the male students, the manager called one of the women in for an interview. She’s now working for that company.

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Sources:

USAID Newsletter June 2018

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian teacher killed and 3 injured at Don Bosco Technical School after gas explosion

MissionNewswire — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 15:55:55 +0000

(MissionNewswire) On June 7, a powerful explosion killed teacher Sarat Seng in the mechanics department of Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville. Seng was the manager of the mechanics workshop. The Sihanoukville Police Department came to the school after the incident and is still conducting its investigation. It is believed that it was a gas explosion.

The explosion broke windows and roof tiles and affected the hearing of the people nearby, some dazed from the loud noise. Witnesses have said that Seng was operating a gas welding device when the explosion took place. One teacher and two students, one losing his right hand, were injured and taken to the hospital. Most of the students in the classroom were standing further back and uninjured.

All of the students in the schools were summoned to the school hall at the time and dismissed until further notice. The school will be closed for a time. Salesians are asking for prayers for Seng and his widow and two small children, as well as those injured.

The Don Bosco Technical Center in Sihanoukville is one of six technical schools supported by the Don Bosco Foundation in Cambodia. The Foundation provides technical skills training for youth between 16 and 22 who have completed at least the 8th grade. The technical schools are located in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep, Battambang and Poipet and provide courses in automotive, industrial mechanics, electricity and electronics, social communication, secretarial and office administration, tailoring, hospitality, welding, agriculture, information technology and language and arts communication.

“The Don Bosco technical schools are important for poor students in Cambodia and also for developing a skilled workforce for the local economy,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Not only is education about learning to read and write, it provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood. Salesian educational programs bring new hope for Cambodian students and for their families.”

Cambodia has a long history of violence and conflict that has driven up poverty rates in the country. Having moved past the troubles of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening and the construction, tourism and agriculture industries have seen much growth. However, according to the World Bank, just more than 20 percent of Cambodians still live in poverty, many residing in the country’s most rural areas. Close to 75 percent of the population continues to face seasonal food shortages and 37 percent of Cambodian children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the country’s population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services. Only 24 percent of Cambodians have access to electricity, 64 percent to clean water and 31 percent to adequate sanitation. Hospitals are also low-quality, and the impoverished cannot receive proper care and treatment. Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty and find hope for the future.

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Sources:

ANS – Cambodia – Tragic Gas Explosion in Mechanics Workshop of Don Bosco Sihanoukville

Don Bosco Foundation Cambodia

World Bank Cambodia

ANS photo

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WORLD WATER DAY: Salesian Missions highlights “Clean Water Initiative” projects that ensure youth have access to clean, safe water

MissionNewswire — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:00:53 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions joins UN-Water, the organization that coordinates the United Nations’ work on water and sanitation, and the international community in celebrating World Water Day. Every year since 1993, the international community has celebrated World Water Day on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of safe, clean water while advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The day also serves as a reminder of the global population who suffers from water-related issues and sets calls to action to prepare for management of water in the future.

Each year, UN-Water sets a theme for World Water Day corresponding to a current or future challenge. This year’s theme “Nature for Water” explores how people can use nature to overcome the water challenges of the 21st century. UN-Water notes that environmental damage, together with climate change, is driving the water-related crises seen around the world today.

UN-Water estimates that worldwide 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services, and by 2050, the world’s population will have grown by an estimated 2 billion people, pushing global water demand up to 30 percent higher than today. UN-Water also indicates that around 1.9 billion people live in potentially severely water-scarce areas. By 2050, this could increase to around 3 billion people.

“Having access to clean water is essential for the health and safety of those we serve around the globe,” says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Improving water and sanitation facilities brings a sense of dignity for the children we serve and ensures that teachers and students are working and learning in an environment that promotes proper hygiene and has safe drinking water. This reduces the number of waterborne illnesses that can affect those in our schools, keeping them away from important study time.”

UN-Water highlights that nature-based solutions have the potential to solve many of the globe’s water challenges. It suggests doing more with “green” infrastructure and harmonize it with ‘grey’ infrastructure wherever possible. Planting new forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands will rebalance the water cycle and improve human health and livelihoods.

In response to this crisis, Salesian Missions has continued its “Clean Water Initiative,” making building wells and supplying fresh, clean water a top priority for every community in every country in which Salesian missionaries work.

CAMBODIA

Salesian-run Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep Province, Cambodia, has completed a water system and sanitation project on the school grounds. The project entailed drilling a new well, and installing a water filter, new irrigation and a water treatment plant, in addition to new sanitation facilities. The water project is providing appropriate sanitation and fresh drinking water for 350 students and teachers on campus, as well as providing clean water for farming, fishing ponds and cooking. The addition of the new water treatment facilities is also preventing ecological contamination.

INDIA

Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative” is bringing water to the Marathwadi village in India. The project was implemented by local Salesian missionaries through Bosco Gramin Vikas Kendra (BGVK). Successive years of hardly any rainfall in the villages of Marathwadi and Kolhewadi, in the districts of Ahmednagar and Beed, had made the life of villagers miserable. Agricultural productivity was going down, cattle were not producing enough milk, the groundwater table was declining, people were migrating and children were suffering.

To improve water security and water management, BGVK focused on facilitating groundwater recharge and retention to improve soil moisture, de-silting the canal-bed, increasing green cover and laying a pipeline to the village. BGVK also completed an excavation of two dams for de-silting and recharging village wells, as well as constructing two drinking water tanks of 10,000-liter capacity each. The local villagers provided the technical support and manual labor, while Salesian Missions provided the financial support.

This project has benefited 1,200 people in two villages and saved at least 1,000 hours each day collectively for people out searching for water. It has also made the life of young girls and women in the villages more comfortable as they traditionally have the primary responsibility of finding water for their families.

RWANDA

Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Oratory in the village of Kabgayi, located south of the city of Gitarama in Muhanga district in the southern province of Rwanda, just completed a water well project in cooperation with Logic Engineering. The project included drilling for a new water well and installing an electric pump. A new water tank was also built to store large amounts of water. The new well provides water for youth who participate in the oratory’s activities, as well as the surrounding community that often faces water shortages.

The project was funded by Salesian Missions and has drastically improved the sanitation and hygiene of youth in the Salesian program. Students and their families are able to have access to clean drinking water and water for washing their hands and taking a shower. The water is also available for cleaning the program’s sports facilities and equipment. New bathroom facilities provide better sanitation as well.

ZAMBIA

The government of Zambia asked Salesian missionaries to start an agricultural school in Lufubu with the goal of establishing an alternative to fishing. The local community was over-fishing the lakes and needed a new source of food security that would combat hunger while preserving the environment. The school includes a working farm where the students gain hands-on experience with animal husbandry and the cultivation of vegetables and maize on a personal plot of land designated for each student. The farm includes 400 hectares of land, five of which are currently cleared. There is a river near to the farm that provides a reliable source of water year-round.

While the Salesian campus, which includes the agricultural school, farm and youth center, does have a bore hole that provides fresh water, it was limited. A stream about 200 meters away brings in fresh, clean water for washing, watering and even drinking, but unfortunately much of the water did not reach the Salesian storage tank because of the many leaks. Salesian Missions provided the funding for Salesian missionaries in Lufubu to replace the 200 meters of PVC piping to deliver the fresh water from the stream to the storage tank positively affecting the school and its students.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions

World Water Day

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CAMBODIA: Students with physical disabilities able to access Don Bosco Kep thanks to modifications completed at school

MissionNewswire — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 18:48:17 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School Kep/Hatrans, located in southern Cambodia, has completed changes to the school’s buildings and dormitories to ensure they are accessible for students with physical disabilities. In January 2015, Don Bosco Tech was awarded a grant from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help facilitate this work. The school has also received funding to aid this construction from Don Bosco Bonn and the Sawasdee Foundation.

Don Bosco Kep, which has 250 students, 40 of whom live at the school, began welcoming students with disabilities in 2013. School administrators knew that the campus was not as accessible as it could be for the new students to access all of their classes. Often students would have to rely on their friends for assistance getting to classrooms on higher floors and into dormitory living, making them feel like a burden.

With the 2015 USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep made modifications to the school, including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a student and teacher residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding also supported creating accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

“We appreciate the funding from USAID that has allowed Salesian missionaries to transform the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and giver greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Fr. Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions. “The new construction modifications open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

Vong Savong was born without legs. He grew in an orphanage in Siem Reap, although he is not an orphan. If he had stayed at home in his faraway village, there is a chance he would be a beggar today on the street. Instead, after conclusion of 12th grade, he joined Don Bosco Kep’s media communication department. He is now working in a TV station as audiovisual editor.

Park Anh suffered from polio when he was a child. He was unable to walk properly or sit down. A Belgian doctor in the area helped him so he could at least sit down and he was given specialized equipment to get around. He joined Don Bosco Kep and took IT classes. Recently, he was in Phnom Penh where he was awarded a scholarship to finish superior education at the university. Thanks to Salesian Missions, he was able to access a special motorbike that allows him a greater mobility.

A third student, Ourk Samean, lost his right arm when he was 12 after falling from a tree. After enduring a challenging time learning to use only his left arm, he finished studies his studies in IT at Don Bosco Kep. Today, he is working at Don Bosco Children Fund as a computer teacher.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Salesian missionaries plan to continue to promote their accessible campus for other students who wish to access education in an environment that accommodates them.

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Sources:

ANS – Cambodia – Schneider Electric and Salesians work together to benefit youngsters

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Donor funding helps launch new Don Bosco Hatrans Kindergarten

MissionNewswire — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 19:35:44 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Thanks to donor funding, through the Don Bosco Children’s Fund office in Kep, Salesian missionaries officially opened the Don Bosco Hatrans Kindergarten on Oct. 28. Donor funding was used to secure the location and for construction of the new building. Currently, 40 children are attending the kindergarten, which means so much to local parents who are now able to have their children in school. The new kindergarten is part of the broader educational facilities and programs offered by Don Bosco Kep.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. The organization’s educational and social development programs give special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses. Programs aim to help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities.

A branch of the Don Bosco Children Fund is operated out of Don Bosco Kep and assists poor youth between the ages of 6 and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Through the Don Bosco Children Fund, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school, and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“Many parents in Cambodia did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. Salesian missionaries at Don Bosco Kep provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

Cambodia has a long history of violence that has resulted in a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty and surviving on less than $1 per day, according to the World Bank. About 80 percent of the country’s population resides in rural areas and has limited access to education, health care and other public services.

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesians in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. In addition, Salesians operate seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

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Sources:

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Schneider Electric Partners with Don Bosco Foundation to Provide Electrical Training and Solar Power

MissionNewswire — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 13:25:11 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Foundation has signed a partnership agreement with Schneider Electric’s Cambodia office to supply electrical energy and the construction of a solar-powered water pump at the Salesian Technical School of Phnom Penh. The agreement is a first step toward further collaboration that aims to also involve the electrical training departments of the Salesian centers of Poipet, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Kep. Schneider Electric, a European multinational corporation that specializes in electricity distribution, automation management and the production of installation components for energy management, has partnered on several initiatives with Salesian programs around the globe.

Salesian Father Roel Soto, provincial delegate for Cambodia, and Dr. Ang Koon San, Schneider Electric’s general manager in Cambodia, signed the agreement on July 7 in a ceremony that took place at the Don Bosco Institute in Phnom Penh. Attending the event were members of the education and pastoral community and representatives of the multinational firm.

Schneider Electric’s contribution to Salesian programs means significant support in technical educational projects including a contribution to the latest educational programs in the electrical sector, improved equipment, and ongoing training for both teachers and students. The project also introduces a source of sustainable energy via the solar-powered water pump to the Salesian community.

Sustainable energy supplies are becoming an important option for a country like Cambodia, which is highly dependent on importing energy from neighboring countries. This is one reason why rural areas are energy-poor and isolated. Training Don Bosco students in the energy field helps contribute a highly-qualified workforce to the country as well as helps Salesian missionaries guarantee a high-quality vocational program for vulnerable and at-risk youth.

“Schneider Electric shares the same objectives as the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia. We both aim to develop individuals and society through education and vocational training so people can improve and support themselves,” said Fr. Soto.

At the agreement signing ceremony, Fr. Soto spoke about a graduate of the Salesian Center’s electrical department. Fr. Soto noted that after this graduate completed his studies, he started his own business. He began with a motorbike that he and his collaborators would use to go from house to house to do small electrical repairs. After five years, his small firm grew to become a company that coordinated electrical installations in large construction sites. The training program offered by the Don Bosco Foundation played a central role, allowing this graduate and those that worked for him to break the cycle of poverty and contribute back to their community.

Salesian missionaries have a long history of teaching job skills to youth in Cambodia. Through the United Nations, missionaries began providing technical and vocational education to Cambodian refugees living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in the late 1980s. In 1993, at the invitation of the government of Cambodia, a technical school in Phnom Penh was established to republish, translate and write books and educational documents that were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime. The technical school contained the only working printing press in the country—and served as a model of hope through education.

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Sources:

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian Technical Students Access Better Nutrition Thanks to Rice-Meal Donation from Rise Against Hunger

MissionNewswire — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 14:46:01 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Students in Salesian programs across Cambodia have access to better nutrition thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), an international relief organization that provides food and life‐saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable. The rice-meal donation, which also included Sawyer water filters, was shared with Don Bosco Technical School and Don Bosco Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Kep Province, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh and Salesian Cooperators Center Takeo Province.

The most recent shipment was the sixth shipment of rice-meals from Rise Against Hunger since the start of 2017. The donated rice-meals are provided to students during the school day to help ensure students are focused on their education. As a result of the donations, students are more alert in the classrooms, more attentive to their studies and better engaged in classroom work.

“Hungry students have trouble focusing on their studies and learning,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Proper nutrition is needed to fully take part in classroom and in-field training. Prepared students are more likely to learn valuable skills that will help them gain employment and break the cycle of poverty in their lives while enabling them to give back to their communities.”

Rise Against Hunger partners with Salesian Missions, which works to identify needs and coordinate delivery of 40-foot shipping containers full of meals and supplemented with additional supplies when available. The partnership was developed in 2011 and since that time shipments have been successfully delivered to 20 countries around the globe. The meals and life-saving aid have helped to nourish poor youth at Salesian schools and programs and care for those in need of emergency aid during times of war, natural disasters and health crises.

“The partnership with Rise Against Hunger allows Salesian Missions to expand its services for youth in need,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Operating feeding programs for youth in Salesian schools whose families cannot afford to feed them is very important and integral to the success of our students and their ability to gain an education.”

Salesian early education and technical training helps to ensure that youth have access to the education and advanced training needed to find and secure long-term employment. For example, at Don Bosco Kep, one of the donation recipients, Salesian missionaries provide basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

In addition, in order to best meet the needs of the youth it serves, Don Bosco Kep is constantly expanding its services. In October 2011, courses in social communication and journalism as well as front office management, housekeeping and tailoring were added to the technical school. In October 2012, an electrical department opened and information technology and language classes began. A year later, the technical school again expanded to include coursework in culinary arts, agriculture, food and beverage, art communication and office administration. The rice-meal donations ensure that students in these programs have the healthy nutrition they need to focus on their studies and take full advantage of the education and programs offered.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Salesian students from Australia take part in immersion project in Cambodia

MissionNewswire — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:41:43 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian Cagliero Immersion Project, which started in 2009, offers students from Australian Salesian houses an opportunity to experience life in another country and to learn about another culture. In July, a group of 12 young participants headed to Cambodia for the immersion at the Don Bosco Technical School in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city.

The group had two days of community work alongside Khmer students from Don Bosco Technical School, during which they cleared canals and constructed new covers for the canals around the soccer field. Australian participants spent three nights in the houses of the teachers as an immersion experience to live in a Khmer family. Moreover, they learned about Cambodian culture, life and history.

Cambodia has a recent history marked by tragedy and genocide from which the country is only slowly emerging. A visit to the”Killing Fields” Genocide Center and the associated Prison Museum offered insight into the experience of most Cambodian families who lost members during the period of the Khmer Rouge’s rule from 1975 to 1978. Finally, the students had the opportunity to visit newer parts of Phnom Penh, which was a demonstration of the resilience, determination and courage of the current people as they rebuild their lives, city and country.

The Cagliero immersion team was also tasked by Father Charles Arun, delegate for Cambodia’s Youth Ministry, to organize a camp, It took place on July 7-9, for approximately 60 young students from the various Salesian Centers in Cambodia, including a group from the Salesian Sisters center. The camp highlighted five qualities necessary for a Salesian youth including joy, gratefulness, hope, love and friendship.

At the end of camp, the Cagliero immersion group, along with the Salesian youth attending the camp, entertained the students of Don Bosco Technical School. The entire day was filled with activities including dancing, arts and crafts, bead and bracelet making, indoor and outdoor games and role playing for all of the 500 students on a rotating basis. The day concluded with an exciting basketball game between the Australian immersion participants and Don Bosco Tech students.

“The Australian youth brought a lot of joy and inspiration to the Cambodian Salesian school, and in turn, they also returned home with a heart full of joyous memories of serving others and getting to know the beautiful cultures of Cambodia and its young people,” said one of the Salesian staff on the trip.

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. Salesian missionaries also operate seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

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Sources:

ANS – Cambodia – Cagliero Immersion 2017

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Technical School Launches New Computer Lab Thanks to Partnership with Shukaku

MissionNewswire — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 18:06:53 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Technical School of the Phnom Penh Thmey Commune has officially opened a modern technology laboratory on its school campus thanks to a partnership with Shukaku Inc., a private development company in Cambodia. Shukaku, headed by Senator Lao Menh Khing, was established in Cambodia in 2011 as a privately-owned innovative real estate developer and a master in urban planning to reshape the Cambodian capital. Its central project is the Phnom Penh City Center.

Shukaku signed a contract with Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia to set up the computer lab for the benefit of the entire Don Bosco Phnom Penh academic community. The partnership also provides 20 scholarships for students. According to the Phnom Penh City Center website, the agreement pays the way for a two-year partnership worth more than $69,000. Partnerships such as this also help to ensure that Salesian students have access to better job opportunities in the future.

Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia initiates projects, including technical schools, kindergartens, literacy centers and sponsorship programs, that benefit the most underprivileged children and youth throughout the country. The projects have been made possible through the support of foreign donors located around the globe. This agreement between the foundation and Shukaku highlights the importance of a local donor’s impact on Salesian students.

“We are grateful to Shukaku Inc. for aiding us in our efforts to fight social exclusion and poverty through practical education and skill building. These scholarships will equip young Cambodians with real-life technical skills and knowledge—crucial learning and development that will enable us to build the Cambodia of tomorrow, today,” said Father Roel Soto, rector of Don Bosco Phnom Penh.

The ceremony to launch the new computer lab was attended by Salesian staff and students as well as representatives of Shukaku led by Michelle Lau, the company’s executive director.

“Signing the MOU is only the beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful and long-term partnership with the Don Bosco Foundation. I continue to be truly inspired by Don Bosco’s core values of inclusiveness, generosity and excellence, and I trust our relationship will strengthen over the years as we find more opportunities to help Cambodians unleash the full potential of Cambodia,” said Lau.

The Don Bosco Technical School of Phnom Penh was the first Salesian educational project in Cambodia, opened in 1991, right after the signing of the peace agreement that inaugurated a time of reconstruction for the country. Being at the center of the main waves of migration from rural areas to the city, the technical school welcomes young people from different Cambodian provinces, most of them looking for the best opportunities to break the cycles of poverty.

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Sources:

Don Bosco Khmer

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Rise Against Hunger Partnership Delivers 11,574 Boxes of Rice-Meals to Students in Salesian Technical Schools

MissionNewswire — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 13:59:44 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Thousands of students in Salesian programs across Cambodia have access to better nutrition thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), an international relief organization that provides food and life‐saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable. The rice-meal donation, which also included other gifts in kind, was shared with Don Bosco Technical School and Don Bosco Hotel School Sihanoukville, Don Bosco Technical School Kep Province, Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh, and Salesian Cooperators Center Takeo Province.

The most recent shipment was the ninth shipment of rice-meals from Rise Against Hunger since the start of 2016. In total, 11,574 boxes of dehydrated rice-soy meals, each box containing 216 meals, have been donated to Salesian students to increase their access to healthy nutrition. Within the shipments, Rise Against Hunger also provided canned tomatoes, children’s clothing, solar lamps and bars of soap.

Salesian technical training helps to ensure that youth have access to the education and advanced training needed to find and secure long-term employment. For example, both Don Bosco Technical School and Don Bosco Hotel School Sihanoukville provide two-year skills training programs to poor and orphaned youth between the ages of 17 and 22 years with limited opportunities for education. The Don Bosco Hotel School focuses on hospitality programs to prepare students for work in restaurants, at catering companies and hotels and in other areas of the tourism field. The Don Bosco Technical Center, the largest technical school in the area, offers courses in electricity, electronics, automotive repair, printing, web design, audiovisual editing and production, journalism, social communication, secretarial skills, sewing, culinary arts, hotel management and welding.

The donated rice-meals are provided to students during the school day to help ensure students are focused on their education. As a result of the donations, students are more alert in the classrooms, more attentive to their studies and better engaged in classroom work.

“Technical students need the proper nutrition to focus on their studies and fully take part in classroom and in-field training,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Prepared students are more likely to learn valuable skills that will help them gain employment and break the cycle of poverty in their lives while enabling them to give back to their communities.”

Rise Against Hunger partners with Salesian Missions, which works to identify needs and coordinate delivery of 40-foot shipping containers full of meals and supplemented with additional supplies when available. The partnership was developed in 2011 and since that time shipments have been successfully delivered to 20 countries around the globe. The meals and life-saving aid have helped to nourish poor youth at Salesian schools and programs and care for those in need of emergency aid during times of war, natural disasters and health crises.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

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WORLD WATER DAY: Salesian Missionaries Complete Water Projects Ensuring Youth Have Access to Clean, Safe Water

MissionNewswire — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 14:00:16 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions joins UN-Water, the organization that coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation, and the international community in celebrating World Water Day. Every year since 1993, the international community has celebrated World Water Day on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of safe, clean water while advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The day also serves as a reminder of the global population who suffers from water-related issues and sets calls to action to prepare for management of water in the future.

Each year, UN-Water sets a theme for World Water Day corresponding to a current or future challenge. This year’s theme “Wastewater” focuses on the fact that the majority of wastewater from homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials. UN-Water encourages the reduction of wastewater and its reuse of it. In cities, wastewater can be treated and reused for green spaces, and in industry and agriculture, wastewater can be treated and recycled for things like cooling systems and irrigation. Through this reduction and reuse, the natural water cycle will work better for every living thing.

UN-Water estimates that worldwide there are more than 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to their home and must spend countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources to look for water and cope with the health impacts of using contaminated water. For those who have no access to clean water, water-related disease is common with more than 840,000 people dying each year from water-related diseases.

In response to this crisis, Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, has made building wells and supplying fresh, clean water a top priority for every community in every country in which Salesian missionaries work.

“Having access to clean water and proper sanitation brings a sense of dignity to the children and families we serve in our programs,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions. “Improving water and sanitation facilities also ensures that teachers and students are working and learning in an environment that promotes proper hygiene and has safe drinking water, reducing the number of waterborne illnesses that can affect those in our schools and keep them away from important study time.”

In honor and celebration of World Water Day 2017, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight Salesian programs around the globe that provide clean, safe water to those most in need.

CAMBODIA

Salesian-run Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep Province, Cambodia, has just completed a water system and sanitation project on its school grounds. The project entailed drilling a new well, installing a water filter, new irrigation and a water treatment plant, in addition to new sanitation facilities. The water project is providing appropriate sanitation and fresh drinking water for 350 students and teachers on campus as well as providing clean water for farming, the fishing ponds and for cooking. The addition of the new water treatment facilities is also preventing ecological contamination.

THE CONGO

Salesian missionaries at the Salesian Center of St. Charles Lwanga, located in Makelekele, a suburb of Brazzaville, the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo*, operate a parish, youth center and primary school. The center recently raised funds through the help of the Salesian Missions office in Madrid, Spain and donors to develop a hydraulic system and water tower to collect and distribute water from the existing well for the more than 900 people who pass through the center daily. This is needed because interruptions to the water service are frequent in Makelekele and the surrounding areas.

The local Salesian parish in Makelekele has close to 5,000 people attending mass and other services. The Salesian youth center, open to local youth groups, offers a well-equipped library and a computer room. Nearly 250 youth access the center every day either to study or to have fun in a healthy educational way during their free time. The Salesian primary school is also open every day and 600 students attend morning or afternoon classes. The new water system will help to provide fresh, clean water to the students and families who take part in Salesian programs and for the surrounding communities.

RWANDA

Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Oratory in the village of Kabgayi, located south of the city of Gitarama in the Muhanga District in the southern province of Rwanda, just completed a water well project in cooperation with Logic Engineering. The project included drilling for a new water well and installing an electric pump. A new water tank was also built to store large amounts of water. The new well provides water for youth who participate in the oratory’s activities as well as the surrounding community that often faces water shortages.

SAMOA

Don Bosco College and Vocational Center in Salelologa, a village district at the east end of Savai’i Island in Samoa, has a new water tank system thanks to funding provided by Salesian Missions. The funding helped to provide water tanks and pumps for water storage necessary for the school, especially during Samoa’s dry season.

The college is located downhill from seven new water tanks so that the school water will be gravity-fed without the expense of additional water pumps. The college located three new water tanks at the new Don Bosco Hall, which is currently under construction. This will provide a separate water supply to a location situated away from the existing water pipes and avoid additional expense to the college. The new water tanks and associated pumps and pipes will be maintained by college maintenance staff as a part of their normal duties.

ZAMBIA

The government of Zambia asked Salesian missionaries to start an agricultural school in Lufubu with the goal of establishing an alternative to fishing. The local community was over-fishing the lakes and needed a new source of food security that would combat hunger while preserving the environment. The school includes a working farm where the students gain hands-on experience with animal husbandry and the cultivation of vegetables and maize on a personal plot of land designated for each student. The farm includes 400 hectares of land, five of which are currently cleared. There is a river near the farm that provides a reliable source of water year-round.

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Sources:

World Water Day 2017

UN-Water

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

Salesian Missions – Zambia

Salesian Missions – Rwanda

*Any goods, services, or funds provided by Salesian Missions to programs located in this country were administered in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.

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CAMBODIA: Salesian Missionaries Hold Official Opening Program at Don Bosco Kep to Highlight School Improvements Funded by USAID

MissionNewswire — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 17:35:52 +0000

(MissionNewswire) On Jan. 31, 2017, Salesian missionaries held an opening program to officially launch new structural improvements which increase the accessibility for students with physical disabilities attending Don Bosco Technical School Kep (Don Bosco Kep) in Kep City, Cambodia. The improvements to the school were made possible by a January 2015 grant from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help facilitate this work.

The opening program, held at the Themy Village, Prey Thom Commune in Kep, opened with a Catholic mass followed by other activities including speeches, a ribbon cutting, testimonials and lunch. The event concluded with guided tours of the Don Bosco Kep campus.

Speakers at the program included: Sean Callahan, Deputy Mission Director, USAID Cambodia; Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco; Father Roel Soto, Salesian priest with the Salesians of Cambodia; and H.E. Khem Satha, a local government representative. Father Albeiro Rodas, rector of the Salesian Foundation in Cambodia, moderated the opening program and provided the guided tours of the school.

Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities in 2013, but school administrators knew that the campus was not as accessible as it could be for the new students to access all of their classes. Often students would have to rely on their friends for assistance getting to classrooms on higher floors and into dormitory living, making them feel like a burden. With the 2015 USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep made modifications to the school, including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a student and teacher residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding also supported creating accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

“Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers,” says Fr. Hyde. “Youth with disabilities have the same ability to achieve as their peers, if given the opportunity. Don Bosco Kep has made the improvements necessary to make sure that all students have access to the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities. We extend our gratitude to USAID for the funding that has allowed this to be possible.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

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Sources:

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Kep Student Receives New Orthopedic Feet to Help Him Walk and Continue in School

MissionNewswire — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 15:19:44 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Thanks to donors and the support of the nonprofit organization Together for Cambodia, Savon, a student from Don Bosco Technical School Kep/Hatrans (Don Bosco Kep) who was born without feet, was able to go to Thailand and receive the special orthopedic feet he needs. The new feet allow him to walk and continue in school. The Sawasdee Foundation is also helping Savon during his time studying at Don Bosco Kep.

Don Bosco Kep has been working to make changes to the school’s buildings and dormitories to ensure they are accessible for students with physical disabilities like Savon, thanks to a grant awarded in January 2015, from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), The school has also received funding to aid this construction from Don Bosco Bonn and the Sawasdee Foundation.

Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities in 2013, and the new construction is allowing more of the school campus to be accessible for students with disabilities, so that they don’t have to rely on friends for assistance. It creates a more inclusive experience for students with disabilities. With the USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep has been making modifications including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding is also supporting creating fully accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

The UNICEF report also notes that studies across countries show a strong link between poverty and disability, which in turn is linked to gender, health and employment issues. The report further suggests that inclusion in mainstream schools and educational settings is usually most appropriate for children with disabilities and when teachers and personnel are trained to consider disability-related issues, they look upon inclusion of children with disabilities more positively.

“Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth with disabilities have the same ability to achieve as their peers, if given the opportunity. Don Bosco Kep is working to make sure that all students like Savon have access to the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

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Sources:

2015 UNAID World AIDS Day Report

Facebook Video

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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GLOBAL: World AIDS Day: Salesian Missions Highlights Programs Providing HIV/AIDS Education and Health Services

MissionNewswire — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 19:34:49 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions joins UNAIDS, the United Nations’ AIDS organization, and many other organizations around the globe in highlighting World AIDS Day 2015 celebrated each year on December 1. The day is held to honor AIDS victims and focus on prevention and treatment issues surrounding HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

This year’s theme is a continuation of “Getting to Zero” which has been an ongoing theme and focus of UNAIDS since 2011. In the last week of November, UNAIDS released a new report showing that countries are getting on the “Fast-Track to end AIDS by 2030” as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. The report notes that by adapting to a changing global environment and maximizing innovations, countries are seeing greater efficiencies and better results in treatment and prevention of the disease.

The report highlights that at the end of 2014, 36.9 million people were living with HIV and as of June 2015, 15.8 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral therapy, up from 13.6 million in June 2014. This is a significant increase compared to 7.5 million people in 2010 and 2.2 million people in 2005. At the end of 2014, UNAIDS estimated that new HIV infections had fallen by 35 percent since the peak in 2000 and AIDS-related deaths had fallen by 42 percent since the 2004 peak.

“Every five years we have more than doubled the number of people on life-saving treatment,” said Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS in a recent press release about the new report. “We need to do it just one more time to break the AIDS epidemic and keep it from rebounding.”

In the report, UNAIDS urged countries to ‘break the AIDS epidemic’ by doubling the number of people receiving HIV treatment within the next five years. The organization highlighted the life-changing benefits of antiretroviral therapy that helps people with HIV live longer, healthier lives and has contributed to an increase in the global number of people living with HIV.

Salesian Missions, the U.S development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, has a long-standing commitment to prevention education, testing and access to treatment for those living with HIV/AIDS.

In South Africa, youth living on the streets are often faced with severe poverty, lack of education, abandonment, abuse and exploitation. Many have also been affected by HIV/AIDS as the country has been the hardest hit by the epidemic. To address these issues, the Salesian-run Life Choices organization has been providing health education, leadership classes, life skills training and HIV/AIDS services that have impacted more than 138,000 youth since its inception in 2005. Originally started with the support of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) grant funding, Life Choices has been able to expand over the years with the support of donors and corporate sponsors.

Life Choices programs are offered in schools and students in grades 4 through 12 participate in educational workshops and activities designed specifically for each age group. The programs benefit youth by employing a multipronged approach to HIV/AIDS prevention. This approach not only offers health education on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, but also offers life skills training, parent/teacher/community support, recreational activities, sports, youth camps, counseling and job placement services.

Life Choices’ Health4Life program provides one-on-one services to youth in schools and communities. It offers group talks around reproductive health, one-on-one psychosocial support and HIV counseling and testing sessions. The program also helps to connect youth who test positive to the medical services for ongoing support and antiretroviral therapy they need. The services aim to promote physical, mental and social well-being among youth with a special focus on HIV prevention and intervention.

“Access to healthcare and education as well as supportive services help youth improve their quality of life,” says Sofia Neves, managing director of the Life Choices program. It is important for young people to have access to the information and support that enables them to make healthy life choices in a supportive atmosphere with trusting adults they can turn to for information about prevention, testing and treatment options for those affected by HIV/AIDS.”

In Cambodia, the Don Bosco Children Fund provides services and support for AIDS orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city of Cambodia and surrounding areas. More than 840 youth are receiving education and health services as a part of the fund’s Project HIV/AIDS. Through Project HIV/AIDS, the Don Bosco Children Fund aims to provide holistic and proactive programs on primary healthcare and education, improve children’s health and welfare with antiretroviral therapy and encourage public awareness and community involvement.

Salesian missionaries educate more than 1 million youth in more than 5,300 primary and secondary schools and nearly 1,000 vocational, technical and agricultural schools. To date, more than 3 million youth have participated in Salesian programs operated by more than 30,000 Salesian missionaries in more than 130 countries around the globe. Salesian programs provide poor youth and their families access to education, workforce development, humanitarian relief, youth clubs, health services, feeding programs and more.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions

UNAIDS – World AIDS Day 2015

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Children’s Fund Starts New Center for At-Risk Children

MissionNewswire — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:17:09 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Children Fund, a branch of the Don Bosco Foundation Cambodia, recently launched a new multifunctional center for children in the city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The center includes a kindergarten, nursery, daycare center, and shelter. The goal of the new center is to provide services to vulnerable women and children who are most at risk of exploitation, human trafficking and crime while living on the streets within the city.

The need for such support was so critical that before construction was even complete on the new center and its services made public, mothers lined up to enroll their children. Already, the kindergarten class has 15 children with 10 more in the nursery and two living at the shelter full-time. According to Brother Roberto Panetto, coordinator of the center, many of the children entering the program all suffered some form of physical and/or emotional neglect.

Some children accessing services had never been vaccinated and were sick upon arriving. Others had been living on the streets with single mothers addicted to drugs or alcohol. One 10-year-old girl could not read, write, or count. Without meaningful intervention, all of these children would have been at high risk for exploitation.

“At the center, these children receive nutrition meals, baths, and clean clothes,” says Bro. Roberto. “They see a doctor when needed, receive attention, and can play in a safe environment. And – most important – they are prepared for primary school.”

Once they finish kindergarten at the center, Don Bosco Children’s Fund will continue to assist them in furthering their education. Started in 1992, the Don Bosco Children’s Fund provides a variety of services and supports to assist poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty.

Through the fund’s programs, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“Before this new Salesian center, women and children living in poverty in Sihanoukville had little recourse and slim chances to escape the threats they faced while living on the streets,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “This program has given them a second chance. Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. The Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Children’s Fund provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. In addition, Salesian missionaries operate seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – A Future Free of Exploitation for Cambodia’s Children

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: New Water Project Ensures Safe Drinking Water and Proper Sanitation for Students and Teachers at Don Bosco Kep

MissionNewswire — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 18:48:25 +0000

(MissionNewsire) Salesian-run Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep Province, Cambodia, has just completed a water system and sanitation project on the school grounds. The project entailed drilling a new well, installing a water filter, new irrigation, and a water treatment plant in addition to new sanitation facilities. The water project is providing appropriate sanitation and fresh drinking water for 350 students and teachers on campus as well as providing clean water for farming, the fishing ponds and for cooking. The addition of the new water treatment facilities is also preventing ecological contamination.

Changing the water filters.

UN-Water estimates that worldwide 768 million people lack access to improved water sources and 2.5 billion people have no improved sanitation. For those who have no access to clean water, water-related disease is common with more than 840,000 people dying each year from water-related diseases. Women and children often bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the majority of households and globally, spend 140 million hours a day collecting water. Children in these communities are forced to walk for hours to collect drinking water—water that often proves contaminated and seriously sickens those who consume it. Many others are unable to attend school regularly because they must spend time searching for distant wells.

“Having access to clean water brings a sense of dignity to the children and families we serve in our programs,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Improving water and sanitation facilities also ensures that teachers and students are working and learning in an environment that promotes proper hygiene and allows for safe drinking water, reducing the number of waterborne illnesses that can affect those in our schools keeping them away from important study time.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The organization’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty in their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

Students clean the water treatment system.

The organization includes the Don Bosco Technical School Kep, a new kindergarten program and the Don Bosco Children Fund which assists poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Currently the agricultural program at the Don Bosco Technical School Kep is planning the development of a small farm on a newly acquired plot of land to provide hands-on training for its students while producing much needed food.

“Youth living in poverty are among the least likely to have access to educational programs that provide the skills necessary to lead stable, productive lives,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Salesian missionaries in Cambodia are working to ensure that every child, no matter their situation, has access to education.”

With Cambodia’s long history of violence, almost a quarter of Cambodians still live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Many reside in the country’s most rural areas. Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services.

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. Seasonal food shortages leave close to 75 percent of the population without the proper nutrition they need. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty.

Learn more about the Salesian Missions Clean Water Initiative.

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Sources:

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Technical School is Providing Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities

MissionNewswire — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 22:27:44 +0000

(MissionNewsire) Don Bosco Technical School Kep/Hatrans, located in southern Cambodia, has been working to make changes to the school’s buildings and dormitories to ensure they are accessible for students with physical disabilities. In January 2015, Don Bosco Tech was awarded a grant from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help facilitate this work. The school has also received funding to aid this construction from Don Bosco Bonn and the Sawasdee Foundation.

In 2013, Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities. One such student, Ang, who is enrolled in the art communications program, was afflicted by polio at a young age and lost his ability to walk. While he does have access to a motorized wheelchair and a motorbike with three wheels that allows him to get to and from the campus buildings and up the ramp to his classrooms, he still requires assistance. The art school is located on the second floor of the youth center building and the male residence is on the third. It is only with assistance from his classmates that he is able to access those areas of the building, which often leaves Ang feeling like a burden to those around him.

With the USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep has been making modifications including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently. The funding is also supporting creating handicap accessible bathrooms and the purchase of equipment to aid the learning environment for youth with disabilities.

For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

“Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth with disabilities have the same ability to achieve as their peers, if given the opportunity. Don Bosco Kep is working to make sure that all students have access to the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

Jaime Correa-Montalvo, program director at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, visited the campus of Don Bosco Kep to oversee the implementation of the new grant.

“We appreciate the funding from USAID that will allow Salesian missionaries to transform the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and giver greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Correa-Montalvo. “The new construction modifications open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco Kep Video USAID Project

Salesian Missions – Work in Cambodia

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: More than 700 Technical School Students Have Access to Better Nutrition Thanks to Rice-Meal Donation

MissionNewswire — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 15:07:23 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Technical Center and the Don Bosco Hotel School in Sihanoukville, a city in southwestern Cambodia located on the Gulf of Thailand, recently received a shipment of rice-meals that benefitted more than 700 students at the two institutions. The donation was made possible through an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Stop Hunger Now, an international relief organization that provides food and life‐saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

Both the Don Bosco Technical Center and the Don Bosco Hotel School provide two-year skill training programs to poor and orphaned youth between the ages of 17 and 22 years with limited opportunities for education. The Don Bosco Hotel School focuses on hospitality programs to prepare students for work in restaurants, at catering companies and hotels and in other areas of the tourism field. The Don Bosco Technical Center, the largest technical school in the area, offers courses in electricity, electronics, automotive repair, printing, web design, audiovisual editing and production, journalism, social communication, secretarial skills, sewing, culinary arts, hotel management and welding.

Primarily known for its social communication and journalism program, the Don Bosco Technical Center is home to the Salesian-run Audiovisual Center which operates as a teaching institution for media communications while providing audiovisual production services to the local community. Started in 2007 by Father Albeiro Rodas Samnang, rector of the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia, the Audiovisual Center trains youth from rural and disadvantaged communities in media communications with the goal of teaching them a viable trade that will lead to stable employment after graduation. In addition to courses in media communications, the center offers workshops facilitated by Cambodian journalists.

The donated rice-meals are provided to students during the school day, and for 161 students who are boarders at the schools, meals are provided three times a day.

Stop Hunger Now partners with Salesian Missions (in New Rochelle, N.Y.) which works to identify needs and coordinate delivery of 40-foot shipping containers full of meals supplemented with additional supplies when available. The partnership was developed in 2011 and since that time, more than 60 shipping containers, including more than 16 million rice-meals, have been successfully delivered to 19 countries around the globe. The meals and life-saving aid has helped to nourish poor youth at Salesian schools and programs and care for those in need of emergency aid during times of war, natural disasters and health crises.

“The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows Salesian Missions to expand its services for youth in need,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Operating feeding programs for youth in Salesian schools whose families cannot afford to feed them is very important and integral to the success of our students and their ability to gain an education.”

Salesian missionaries have a long history of teaching job skills to youth in Cambodia. Through the United Nations, missionaries began providing technical and vocational education to Cambodian refugees living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in the late 1980s. In 1993, at the invitation of the government of Cambodia, a technical School in Phnom Penh was established to republish, translate and write books and educational documents that were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime. The technical school contained the only working printing press in the country – and served as a model of hope through education.

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Sources:

Don Bosco Technical Center

Don Bosco Hotel School

Stop Hunter Now

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CAMBODIA: Salesian High School Student Pays it Forward Sending 39 Bicycles to Students Supported by Don Bosco Children Fund

MissionNewswire — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 22:56:14 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Joseph Sinnott, a Salesian High School student and Eagle Scout, completed a project to collect and repair bicycles for Salesian students in Cambodia. At the end of 2015, 39 bicycles were distributed to students supported by the Don Bosco Children Fund, a Salesian-run organization that assists poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty.

Students from four Salesian schools in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot and Takeo were selected to receive the bicycles after Salesian volunteers had visited the schools to determine which children were most in need of transportation. Many children live in remote areas of the country and must travel great distances to gain an education. The donated bicycles will provide the transportation necessary to help students reach their schools faster and more efficiently.

“In a country where less than half of children finish primary school, more than 50,000 children have received the encouragement and support needed to complete an elementary education through the Don Bosco Children Fund since its inception in 1992,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “This donation is a great example of a Salesian student from the United States who has benefitted from an education, paying it forward by helping students on the other side of the world access education.”

The donation also included spare bicycle parts and tire pumps as well as eight bags of gently used blankets for the students. Through the Don Bosco Children Fund’s programs, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“Many parents in Cambodia did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. Salesian missionaries provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. Salesian missionaries also operate seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

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Sources:

Don Bosco Children Fund

World Bank – Cambodia

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WORLD FOOD DAY: Salesian Missions Highlights School Feeding Programs and Agricultural Education in Fight against Hunger

MissionNewswire — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 01:07:21 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions joins the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other organizations around the globe in honoring World Food Day.

Celebrated each year on October 16, the day was established to bring attention to the plight of the world’s hungry and undernourished while providing an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the complex solutions for ending hunger. This year’s theme “Social protection and Agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty” aims to underline the role social protection plays in reducing chronic food insecurity and poverty by ensuring direct access to food or the means to buy food.

More than 793 million people around the world go hungry every day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Over 70 percent of food insecure people live in rural areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Near East. And according to the World Food Program and the United Nations, 2 billion people lack the vitamins and minerals needed to live healthy lives.

Of those who go hungry daily, 98 percent reside in developing countries where there is not only a shortage of food but major challenges for aid to reach its destination. Salesian Missions’ programs are dedicated to developing sustainable food systems and providing agricultural education in more than 130 countries around the globe. Operating primary schools, technical training centers, agricultural schools, youth centers, orphanages and programs for street children, Salesian missionaries are on the front lines of the battle against hunger.

Working and living in the communities they serve, Salesian missionaries are perfectly positioned to ensure that the distribution of food aid reaches those who need it most while offering programs that teach agricultural techniques to increase local food production. Through ongoing partnerships with organizations like Stop Hunger Now and Feed My Starving Children, Salesian missionaries are able to deliver life-saving food aid and other supplies to those in need in their communities.

“Salesian missionaries are an integral part of the existing infrastructure in many countries and Salesian Missions plays an important role in making sure aid from the United States reaches its destination country and gets into the hands of those who need it most,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Salesian food programs provide meals to students during the school day and serve as an incentive for families to send their children to school. As a result of the feeding programs, students are thriving. Many have gained weight, suffered fewer illnesses and become more focused on their studies. Teachers are seeing better student performance in class, a decrease in absenteeism and an increase in program enrollment rates.

“Feeding programs are a necessity to meet the needs of the massive number of children around the globe who are hungry today,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Meals children receive at Salesian schools may be their only meals. This food not only encourages them to attend school, it allows them to focus on getting the education they need without worrying about where their next meal will come from. Children cannot learn on an empty stomach.”

Many Salesian programs are also dedicated to developing sustainable food systems and providing agricultural education. This World Food Day, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight Salesian agricultural programs which include those offered at more than 90 agricultural schools around the globe.

CAMBODIA

Salesian-run Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep Province, Cambodia, has developed a small farm to better serve the needs of poor and disadvantaged youth in the region. The new farm will help to support the work of the agricultural department which serves to train Cambodian youth in mechanical agriculture while producing food for the technical school to aid its sustainability. Since 2011, the agricultural department has worked with limited resources on a small piece of land inside the school’s campus. Over the past several years, the department has been growing with the addition of more teachers and students and has been making a broader social impact in the regions of Kep, Kampot and Takeo.

DR CONGO

Salesian-led International Voluntary Service for Development (VIS) volunteers hosted a special workshop for farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo*. The goal of the workshop was to empower farmers to envision a viable and stable agricultural framework and boost their confidence to bring it to fruition. The farmers’ ideas will provide the foundation for a new agricultural service center in the country. The new center will provide resources and expertise to help improve crop yields, profitability and the overall quality of life for farmers and their families. The input of local farmers will help direct the center’s resources and training curriculum.

INDIA

The Don Bosco Agro-Educational Complex, located in the town of Sulcorna in the state of Goa in western India, has developed the area’s first agriculture college. The new college will utilize 110 acres of fertile land for hands-on farm training and emphasize organic cultivation in its four-year degree program. The mission of the college is to train undergraduates and postgraduates in the latest agricultural practices and modern technologies while moving towards efficiency in farming within Goa by exploring and testing new techniques in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and animal husbandry. Salesian missionaries in the area are working towards marketing agricultural products and services to local farmers by utilizing the college and its staff as a resource for everything related to farming and off-farm activities. They are also working with local women’s groups helping them to plant specific crops that have greater viability in the marketplace. Salesian missionaries hope the agriculture degree program will entice more local youth to choose agriculture as their long-term livelihood.

MOZAMBIQUE

The Austrian Salesian Youth of the World program has planned its second agricultural project in the town of Moatize, located in the Tete province in northern Mozambique. The project, which will be carried out in seven different rural communities, aims to educate farmers in the latest innovations in agriculture and livestock techniques in order to improve food security and increase income potential. Educators will help farmers introduce or intensify the production of vegetables, experiment with new methods of production and processing of products and assist with raising livestock. Farmers will learn new skills in agriculture and animal husbandry, horticulture and fruit growing and breeding cattle and sheep. They will also be provided with irrigation pumps which will help to support local schools and healthcare centers. In addition, Salesian staff will work with local residents to establish community associations for product sharing and sales. The project will train close to 1,000 families, or about 5,000 people. With increased food production in the small rural communities participating in the program, about 8,000 residents will be positively impacted.

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Sources:

World Food Day 2015

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CAMBODIA: Salesian Missionaries Developing Small Farm at Don Bosco Kep to Aid Agriculture Education, Food Production

MissionNewswire — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 19:12:41 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Salesian-run Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep Province, Cambodia, is expanding once again to better serve the needs of poor and disadvantaged youth in the region. The organization includes the Don Bosco Technical School Kep, a new kindergarten program and the Don Bosco Children Fund which assists poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Currently the agricultural program at the Don Bosco Technical School Kep is planning the development of a small farm on a newly acquired plot of land to provide hands-on training for its students while producing much needed food.

“Youth living in poverty are among the least likely to have access to educational programs that provide the skills necessary to lead stable, productive lives,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian missionaries in Cambodia are working to ensure that every child, no matter their situation, has access to education.”

In order to best meet the needs of the youth it serves, Don Bosco Kep is constantly expanding its services. In October 2011, courses in social communication and journalism as well as front office management, housekeeping and tailoring were added to the technical school. In October 2012, an electrical department opened and information technology and language classes began. A year later, the technical school again expanded to include coursework in culinary arts, agriculture, food and beverage, art communication and office administration.

The addition of a farm will help to support the work of the agricultural department which serves to train Cambodian youth in mechanical agriculture while producing food for the technical school to aid its sustainability. Since 2011, the agricultural department has worked with limited resources on a small piece of land inside the school’s campus. Over the past several years, the department has been growing with the addition of more teachers and students and has been making a broader social impact in the regions of Kep, Kampot and Takeo.

In order to sustain this growth, Salesian missionaries have obtained a plot of land near the school for the development of the small farm. Thanks to the support of donors from Germany, Salesian missionaries are planning for new facilities on the land including a classroom, a store for equipment and a farm house. In order to make the land operational, missionaries are working to secure funding for the required fence around the property and for the installation of 10 solar panels that will allow the project to supply its own energy and ensure its sustainability. The project will also require a newly drilled well as Kep Province lacks a public water service. Once completed, the small farm will provide an opportunity for additional hands-on training for the agricultural students and serve to provide a sustainable food source for the technical school.

Cambodia’s long history of violence and conflict has led to almost a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty, according to UNICEF. Since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening with particular growth in construction, tourism and agriculture. However, Cambodians are still struggling, particularly those living in rural areas where close to 75 percent of the population face seasonal food shortages.

With almost a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 illiterate with very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools and seven vocational training centers in poor, rural villages through a partnership with Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education.

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Sources:

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Kep Develops New Kindergarten Program

MissionNewswire — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:07:19 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Kep, located in Kep province in Cambodia, opened a new kindergarten program in October 2014 that is currently providing early childhood education to 30 students between 3 and 6 years of age who come from local and expatriate families living in and around Kep City. The program was started as a way to expand the primary and secondary educational programs available on the campus of the Don Bosco Technical School in Kep.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. The organization’s educational and social development programs give special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses and aim to help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities.

A branch of the Don Bosco Children Fund is operated out of Don Bosco Kep and assists poor youth between the ages of 6 and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Called the Don Bosco Kep Children Fund, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also to receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

In a country where less than half of children finish primary school, more than 50,000 children have received the encouragement and support needed to complete an elementary education through the Don Bosco Children Fund since its inception in 1992. The new kindergarten is an extension of the Don Bosco Kep Children Fund and works to educate children who might not otherwise have access to schooling.

The new Don Bosco Kep kindergarten is located in a child friendly environment on the technical school campus and is surrounded by a colorful playground and many trees. The stimulating learning environment helps prepare children to go on to primary school. With a school day from 8 a.m to 4 p.m., the program consists of English language, basic numbers and counting lessons and includes games, arts and crafts. The kindergarten strives to be a safe, comfortable environment where the children can develop their social, academic and physical skills.

The Don Bosco Kep Kindergarten is still in its early phases of development. Many activities take place in the outdoor kindergarten area while the indoor classroom is used solely for academic lessons. The children nap in a community building not originally designed to be a classroom. Plans are underway to create new classrooms to allow for smaller class sizes that encourage better concentration, provide fewer distractions and enable teachers to provide more personal attention.

Once new classrooms are built, the larger space will protect children from the heat and create additional exhibition space for educational posters and student artwork while allowing for storage of teaching materials. In addition, the program is planning to build a new bathroom with showers the children can use if necessary. The goal of the new construction is to establish an efficient and comfortable kindergarten environment for children to learn, grow, thrive and reach their full potential.

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Sources:

Don Bosco Children’s Fund

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Children’s Fund Supports More than 840 Youth Affected by HIV/AIDS

MissionNewswire — Wed, 06 May 2015 16:30:25 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Children’s Fund provides services and support for AIDS orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city of Cambodia, and surrounding areas. More than 840 youth are receiving education and health services as a part of the fund’s Project HIV/AIDS.

According to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, there were more than 75,000 people living with HIV in Cambodia in 2013. Children under the age of 14 made up 5,200 of the HIV cases in the country. Through Project HIV/AIDS, the Don Bosco Children’s Fund aims to provide holistic and proactive programs on primary healthcare and education, improve children’s health and welfare with anti-retroviral therapy and encourage public awareness and community involvement.

“Access to healthcare and education as well as supportive services to help youth affected by HIV/AIDS is critical to improve quality of life,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “It is important for young people to acquire the coping skills that enable them to continue on with their lives, attend school and integrate with their peers.”

Youth attending the program have access to a Salesian-run health clinic as well as counseling services. In addition, those who have no family support live in an orphanage run by Salesian missionaries which provides for all their basic needs as well as grants access to education, recreational activities and life skills training to help prepare them for the future.

Started in 1992, the Don Bosco Children’s Fund provides a variety of services and supports to assist poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Through the fund’s programs, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

The Fund also operates both a primary and secondary school in Battambang with a focus on making sure young girls have access to education. With even a basic education, girls are better equipped to face the often daily dangers of human trafficking, child prostitution and substance abuse. Today, more than 2,000 girls who live in poverty have access to basic education and continued vocational and technical training through the Don Bosco Children’s Fund bringing the possibilities of jobs and independence within reach. In addition, hundreds of students at four specialized schools for young women are opening new doors for themselves by developing secretarial, printing, electronics and sewing skills.

“Many parents in Cambodia did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. The Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Children’s Fund provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. In addition, Salesian missionaries operate seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

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Sources:

UNAIDS – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Audiovisual Center Educates Students in Media Communications

MissionNewswire — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 17:42:52 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Technical Center in Sihanoukville, a city in southwestern Cambodia located on the Gulf of Thailand, provides technical training and workforce development services to poor youth with limited opportunities for education. Known for its social communication and journalism program, the Don Bosco Technical Center is home to the Salesian-run Audiovisual Center which operates as a teaching institution for media communications while providing audiovisual production services to the local community.

Started in 2007 by Father Albeiro Rodas Samnang, rector of the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia, the Audiovisual Center trains youth from rural and disadvantaged communities in media communications with the goal of teaching them a viable trade that will lead to stable employment after graduation. In addition to courses in media communications, the center offers workshops facilitated by Cambodian journalists.

Students studying at the Audiovisual Center are able to apply the skills learned in the classroom by providing media production services to the public. These services include voice and music recording, audio and video editing and production and audio and video presentation in Khmer and English.

“The Audiovisual Center provides Cambodians the ability to use media and make a contribution to the country’s development, reducing poverty and empowering a culture of participation and democracy,” says Fr. Samnang. “Many of the graduates of the center have gained employment in Cambodian media through several television, radio, newspaper and digital media companies. In addition, the center has been supported by professional volunteers and Cambodian journalists sharing their experience with the students.”

“The Don Bosco technical schools are important for poor students in Cambodia and also for developing a skilled workforce for the local economy,” adds. Fr. Samnang. “Not only is education about learning to read and write, it provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood. Salesian educational programs bring new hope for Cambodian students and for their families.”

Cambodia has a long history of violence and conflict that has driven up poverty rates in the country. Having moved past the troubles of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening and the construction, tourism and agriculture industries have seen much growth. However, according to the World Bank, almost a quarter of Cambodians still live in poverty, many residing in the country’s most rural areas, and close to 75 percent of the population continues to face seasonal food shortages.

Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the country’s population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services. Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty and find hope for the future.

Sources

Don Bosco Tech Audio Visual Center

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Foundation Donates Books Ensuring More Students Have Access to Education

MissionNewswire — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 21:05:20 +0000

(MissionNewswire) The Don Bosco Foundation, located in Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city of Cambodia, recently donated books to a new school library and a literary center for indigenous children in the Ratanakiri Province of northern Cambodia. The literacy center, founded by a Salesian graduate, offers lessons in mathematics, the English language and Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, to more than 50 students.

“A new book in the hands of a student opens him or her up to the opportunities that are available through education,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “While this is true whether it takes place down the street or across the globe, it is especially powerful in places like Cambodia.”

Salesian missionaries from the Don Bosco Foundation are eager to support the literacy center since schools in the Ratanakiri province are experiencing many challenges including limited access to qualified teachers, books and necessary school supplies. Often qualified teachers abandon their classrooms once they find a more stable job with a better salary.

The Don Bosco Foundation is currently seeking additional donations for the literacy center including chairs, tables and boards that will help meet their goal of a new computer room for students. Started in 1991, the Don Bosco Foundation provides educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth and orphans. Educational opportunities include basic and secondary schooling and advanced learning through technical skills training.

Currently, the Foundation supports six technical schools for youth between 16 and 22 who have completed at least the 8th grade. The technical schools are located in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kep, Battambang and Poipet and provide courses in automotive, industrial mechanics, electricity and electronics, social communication, secretarial and office administration, tailoring, hospitality, welding, agriculture, information technology and language and arts communication.

The Foundation supports the Don Bosco Children’s fund, which gives younger students the ability to continue their studies by assisting with costs for school and school supplies. Support services including tutoring for students and workshops for parents, to help them understand the importance of educating their children, are also provided.

“Many parents in Cambodia did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. Salesian missionaries at Don Bosco Children’s Fund provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesian missionaries in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership between Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education in addition to seven vocational training centers that impart much needed job skills.

Sources

Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Kep Awarded USAID Grant to Provide Greater Access for Students with Physical Disabilities

MissionNewswire — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 15:12:06 +0000

(MissionNewswire) In January 2015, the Don Bosco Technical School Kep located in southern Cambodia, was awarded a grant from the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Don Bosco Kep plans to use the funds to transform the school buildings into a fully accessible facility granting greater access and ease of movement to students with physical disabilities.

Don Bosco Kep was one of 34 programs funded by USAID grants that support construction projects and the purchase of equipment for overseas institutions. For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to poor youth living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri. The school’s educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

“Youth living in poverty are among the least likely to have access to educational programs that provide the skills necessary to lead stable productive lives,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers. Salesian missionaries in Cambodia are working to ensure that every child, no matter their situation, has access to education.”

In order to best meet the needs of the youth it serves, Don Bosco Kep is constantly expanding its services. In October 2011, technical education began at the school in social communication and journalism as well as front office management, housekeeping and tailoring. In October 2012, the electrical department opened and the information technology and language classes began. A year later, the school expanded again to include coursework in culinary arts, agriculture, food and beverage, art communication and office administration.

With the newly acquired USAID funding, Don Bosco Kep plans to make specific modifications including the installation of elevators in the main buildings, the construction of ramps to access areas for community gatherings and the creation of a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently.

Jaime Correa-Montalvo, program director at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, recently visited the campus of Don Bosco Kep to oversee the implementation of the new grant.

“We appreciate the funding from USAID that will allow Salesian missionaries to transform the Don Bosco Kep campus to welcome and giver greater access to students with physical disabilities,” says Correa-Montalvo. “The new construction modifications will open up the campus allowing students to have better access from building to building and have a greater degree of self-sufficiency.”

With almost a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 illiterate with very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesians in the country operate 45 schools and seven vocational training centers in poor, rural villages through a partnership with Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education.

Sources

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

USAID – USAID Announces Awards to Support Schools and Hospitals Abroad

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CAMBODIA: Life-changing Don Bosco Children’s Fund Helps Poor Students Thrive in School

MissionNewswire — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 17:09:35 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Cambodia has a long history of violence that has resulted in a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty and surviving on less than $1 per day, according to the World Bank. About 80 percent of the country’s population resides in rural areas and has limited access to education, healthcare and other public services.

The Don Bosco Children’s Fund assists poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Through the fund’s program, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“My family is very poor and we live in very poor conditions. An opportunity came when Don Bosco staff visited our village. I applied and was accepted to study and provided with every means including food, uniforms and school materials,” says Un Panhavon, a 9th grade male student at a Don Bosco School in Battambang. “When I started to study in Don Bosco, I noticed that they aim for quality education and life. The school director and principal always motivate us to be good and honest citizens and to be always cheerful. All the teachers also encourage us to build a better and peaceful Cambodia.”

During the 2013-2014 school year, the Don Bosco Children’s Fund is supporting 4,426 students in Cambodia’s government-run schools and another 637 students in schools managed by Don Bosco Schools Battambang.

The Don Bosco Children’s Fund also operates both a primary and secondary school in Battambang with a focus on making sure young girls have access to education. In Cambodia, education for girls opens doors to opportunities. With even a basic education, girls are better equipped to face the daily dangers of human trafficking, child prostitution and substance abuse. Today, more than 2,000 girls who live in poverty have access to basic education and continued vocational and technical training bringing the possibilities of jobs and independence within reach. Hundreds of students at four specialized schools for young women are opening new doors for themselves by developing secretarial skills and skills in printing, electronics and sewing.

“When I started to study in government schools, I was scared because I came from a poor family with no food to eat, no uniforms to wear and no books like other students. No one welcomed me and I stopped my studies to work for a small income to help my family, but when I transferred to a Don Bosco school I was given equal opportunities to learn like other students,” explains Morn Mary, a 9th grade female student at a Don Bosco School in Battambang.

“Don Bosco provided me food, a uniform and schooling materials. Above all, I found love and care among teachers and students. Now I have many good and honest friends and teachers really take good care of us students. Don Bosco prepares me for a better future,” she adds.

Students supported by Don Bosco Children’s fund have the opportunity to continue their studies and become leaders in Cambodia and later work to make sure that education can be available and accessible to all. Not only is education about learning to read and write, Don Bosco Children’s Fund provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood.

“Many parents in Cambodia did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. The Salesians at Don Bosco Children’s Fund provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

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Sources:

World Bank – Cambodia

Don Bosco Children Fund

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CAMBODIA: Making Access to Education Possible for Youth with Disabilities

MissionNewswire — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:12:48 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Cambodia’s long history of violence and conflict has led to almost a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty, according to UNICEF. Since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening with particular growth in construction, tourism and agriculture. However, Cambodians are still struggling and particularly those living in rural areas where close to 75 percent of the population face seasonal food shortages.

With almost a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 illiterate with very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesians in the country operate 45 schools and seven vocational training centers in poor, rural villages through a partnership with Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education.

For children with disabilities living in Cambodia, access to education is limited and the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty is almost nonexistent. UNICEF notes in its State of the Worlds Children 2013: Children with Disabilities report that globally, close to 61 percent of boys finish school but for boys with disabilities that number drops to 51 percent. For girls, 53 percent finish school but among those living with a disability, only 42 percent finish their education.

UNICEF notes that studies across countries show a strong link between poverty and disability, which in turn is linked to gender, health and employment issues. UNICEF’s report further suggests that inclusion in mainstream schools and educational settings is usually most appropriate for children with disabilities, and when teachers and personnel are trained to consider disability-related issues, they look upon inclusion of children with disabilities more positively.

Don Bosco Technical School Kep, located in southern Cambodia, is in the process of seeking funding to make the necessary modifications to their campus to allow for better inclusion of students with physical disabilities.

“Youth living in poverty are among the least likely to have access to educational programs that provide the skills necessary to lead stable productive lives,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Children living in poverty with a disability are even less likely to attend school when compared to their peers. Salesians in Cambodia are working to ensure that access to education is something afforded to every child no matter their situation.”

Don Bosco Kep specializes in technical education for disadvantaged youth from poor communities in the provinces of Kep, Kompot and Takaew (a region particularly disadvantaged when it comes to access to professional education). In order to best meet the needs of the youth it serves, Don Bosco Kep is constantly expanding its services. In October 2011, technical education began at the school in social communication and journalism as well as front office management, housekeeping and tailoring. In October 2012, the electrical department opened and the information technology and language classes began. A year later, the school expanded again to include coursework in culinary arts, agriculture, food and beverage, art communication and office administration.

In 2013, Don Bosco Kep began welcoming students with disabilities like Ang, a young student enrolled in the art communications program. Ang was affected by polio at a young age and lost his ability to walk. While he does have access to a motorized wheelchair and a motorbike with three wheels that allows him to get to and from the campus buildings and up the ramp to his classrooms, he still requires assistance. The art school is located on the second floor of the youth center building and the male residence is on the third. It is only with assistance from his classmates that he is able to access those areas of the building, which often leaves Ang feeling like a burden to those around him.

Once funding has been secured, Don Bosco Kep plans to make specific modifications like installing elevators in the main buildings, constructing ramps to access areas for community gatherings and creating a students’ and teachers’ residence with all of the modifications that will allow those with physical disabilities to live and attend school independently.

“Youth with disabilities have the same ability to achieve as their peers, if given the opportunity,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Don Bosco Kep is working to make sure that all students have access to the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities.”

To help support the Salesians efforts to make Don Bosco Kep accessible, please go to SalesianMissions.org and donate.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – Work in Cambodia

UNICEF – State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities

UNICEF – Cambodia

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CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Helping More Than 4,100 Youth Stay in School This Year

MissionNewswire — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 19:40:21 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Cambodia’s long history of violence has resulted in a quarter of Cambodians living in poverty and surviving on less than $1 per day, according to the World Bank. About 80 percent of the country’s population resides in rural areas and has the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services.

Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty. To provide youth with greater opportunity, Salesians in the country operate 45 schools in poor, rural villages through a partnership with Salesian Missions and the Ministry of Education. In addition, Salesians operate seven vocational training centers that provide much needed job skills.

In a country where less than half of children finish primary school, more than 50,000 children have received the encouragement and support needed to complete elementary education through the Don Bosco Children Fund since its inception in 1992. This year, more than 4,100 students will receive support from the Fund during the 2013-2014 school year.

The Don Bosco Children Fund assists poor youth between the ages of six and 15 who are either unable to go to school or have had to drop out due to poverty. Through the fund’s program, youth not only receive support to continue their education, they also receive a monthly assistance package consisting of goods and cash. Social workers ensure that youth make progress and remain in school and those with special aptitude are further supported and encouraged to pursue college coursework.

“Many parents did not have the same opportunities for education as their children do today so they do not see staying in school as a priority, particularly when many children have been forced to work to bring in extra money for the family,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Youth need the extra support to stay in school and get an education. The Salesians at Don Bosco Children Fund provide that much needed support and stability to help youth achieve.”

The Don Bosco Children Fund also operates both a primary and secondary school in Battambang with a focus on making sure young girls have access to education. In Cambodia, education for girls opens doors to opportunities. With even a basic education, girls are better equipped to face the daily dangers of human trafficking, child prostitution and substance abuse. Today, more than 2,000 girls who live in poverty have access to basic education and continued vocational and technical training and the possibilities of jobs and independence are within reach. Hundreds of students at four specialized schools for young women are opening new doors for themselves with skills in printing, electronics, secretarial skills and sewing.

“Every student has the incredible potential to continue their studies and become leaders in Cambodia and later work to make sure that education can be available and accessible to all. Not only is education about learning to read and write; it provides a foundation for a career and a secure livelihood. Through Don Bosco Children Fund, there is hope for these students and for their families,” adds Fr. Hyde.

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Sources:

World Bank – Cambodia

ANS – Cambodia – The official opening of the Don Rua Youth Hostel and the Mary Help of Youth Water Tower

Don Bosco Children Fund

The post CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Helping More Than 4,100 Youth Stay in School This Year first appeared on MissionNewswire.

CAMBODIA: Expanded Youth Hostel and New Water Tower Bring Sustainability and Hope to Youth in Need

MissionNewswire — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:59:37 +0000

(MissionNewswire) With Cambodia’s long history of violence, almost a quarter of Cambodians still live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Many reside in the country’s most rural areas. Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services.

Salesians have a long history of working with poor youth in Cambodia. Continuing this work, the Don Bosco Technical School in Kep Province celebrated the official opening of an expanded youth hostel and a brand new water tower.

Currently there are 192 students at Don Bosco Technical School taking courses in audiovisual production, web development, IT & English, office administration, art communication, agriculture, electrical work and hotel skills. In the evening, informal courses are offered to youth from nearby villages in English language skills, computers and the internet. Gender equality is important at the school where every educational section is required to include both male and female students.

The Don Rua Youth Hostel on the campus of the technical school, has been in operation for some time now and was originally sponsored by the Sioch Group and the Government of the Netherlands. It was created to welcome groups of youth from other provinces coming to enjoy the hillside landscape and sea views of Kep while attending special meetings or vacationing. The hostel’s original mission has been preserved while expanding to include a school restaurant and stage on the ground floor and an art communication facility and hostel on the first floor. The school restaurant was possible thanks to the support of the European Patent Office and can hold more than 500 people.

The new Mary Help of Youth Water Tower is part of the Water System Project for the technical school and was made possible by donors through Don Bosco Mondo in Bonn, Germany. Its construction will guarantee water for this large educational community for years to come. Most people in the region utilize well water and this tower, constructed by a group of volunteers, will go significantly deeper than the average well and has two reserve tanks to hold additional water. Using green technologies, the water pump is generated by installed solar panels.

“Salesians are always looking to expand their services to meet the needs of local youth,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “It is more than just construction of new buildings, it is also program expansion to provide better and more diverse educational opportunities so youth can learn skills and trades to find employment and have hope for the future.”

The Salesians continue to make a difference in the lives of poor and marginalized youth throughout Cambodia. In partnership with the United Nations, they began providing technical vocational education to Cambodian refugees living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in the late 1980s. Later, Salesians partnered with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Education to open seven vocational training centers. Currently, approximately 1,300 youth are enrolled in one and two year vocational training programs in Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Toul Kork, Teuk Thla, Battambang, Kep, and Poipet.

Sources

World Bank – Cambodia

The post CAMBODIA: Expanded Youth Hostel and New Water Tower Bring Sustainability and Hope to Youth in Need first appeared on MissionNewswire.

CAMBODIA: First Graduates of Salesian Vocational School in Battambang Have Brighter Futures

MissionNewswire — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 14:11:54 +0000

(MissionNewswire) Cambodia has a long history of violence and conflict that has driven up poverty rates in the country. Having moved past the troubles of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s economy has been strengthening with particular growth in construction, tourism and agriculture. However, according to the World Bank, almost a quarter of Cambodians still live in poverty, many residing in the country’s most rural areas. And almost 75 percent of the population still faces seasonal food shortages.

Rural Cambodians make up about 80 percent of the population and have the most limited access to education, healthcare and other public services. Today, close to a quarter of Cambodians over the age of 15 are illiterate. With very little access to education, poor youth find it especially challenging to break the cycle of poverty and look toward a brighter future.

The Salesians have a long history of working to make a difference in the lives of poor and marginalized youth in Cambodia. In partnership with the United Nations, they began providing technical vocational education to Cambodian refugees living in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in the late 1980s. Later, Salesians partnered with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Education to open seven vocational training centers. Currently, approximately 1,300 youth are enrolled in one and two year vocational training programs in Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Toul Kork, Teuk Thla, Battambang, Kep, and Poipet. Students are trained in skills such as mechanics, welding, computers, printing and communications.

In August, the Salesian-run Vithayalai Don Bosco in Battambang celebrated its first official graduating class. The school, which first opened to students in 2000, was recognized this year as a formal educational institution. It has more than 565 students enrolled with 73 of those graduating from Grade 6 in the school’s first official graduation ceremony.

“Parents and other relatives were there to see their children graduate,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Many of these families did not have the same opportunities for education their children have today. Some are not able to read and write, so it is quite an accomplishment for their children to be successfully graduating.”

“Each of these students has the incredible potential to continue their studies and become leaders in Cambodia and later work to make sure that education can be available and accessible to all,” adds Fr. Hyde.

Speeches, student led musical performances and an awards ceremony marked the graduation exercises. The students were honored both for their academic achievements and for their talents in sports, singing, dance and the arts. Most of the students will carry what they have learned into further academic studies or successful employment.

“Not only is education about learning to read and write, it’s a the foundation for a career and a secure livelihood,” says Fr. Hyde. “There is new hope for these students and for their families.”

The Salesians are widely considered the world’s largest private provider of vocational training.

Cambodia is one of more than 130 countries around the globe where Salesians work to give hope and provide opportunity to vulnerable youth through education and skills training. Salesian Missions is the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, working to raise funds and develop programs to aid youth and families in some of the poorest places on earth.

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Sources:

World Bank – Cambodia