LEBANON: New initiatives support schools and youth centers
Bosco Global will offer international volunteer placements
(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries with the Salesian Mary Help of Christians Province, in Seville, Spain, have launched a project to help support Salesian centers in Lebanon*. The centers include the Salesian technical school in Fidar, the youth spirituality house and camps in El Houssoun, and the primary and secondary school in Beirut.
“Our province, with the support of the provincial coordinator of missionary animation and Bosco Global and in constant dialogue with the Provincial Office of Planning and Development of the Middle East, has drawn up a three-year cooperation project (2023-2026) that was approved by the provincial council and was welcomed with joy by the Salesian community in Lebanon,” said Father José Luis Navarro Santotomás in the message launching the project.
This project will launch several initiatives. In June 2023, a course will be held in El Houssoun for youth volunteers. Coordinated by Jordi Garcia, a teacher at Don Bosco School of Youth Animation in Valencia, Spain, an international group of volunteer teachers will design the subjects that will be taught during the course.
Under the motto “Walking with a New Outlook,” Bosco Global will offer international volunteer placements during the summer to support Salesian efforts in Lebanon. Bosco Global will work to address a number of needs at Salesian schools in Lebanon including covering salaries for teachers at the Don Bosco Technical School, scholarships for 100 of the most vulnerable students, activities for winter oratories and youth centers for Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian children, emergency assistance for 100 vulnerable families, and support for the construction of a photovoltaic energy system for the El Houssoun oratory.
Salesian missionaries have been working in Lebanon since 1952 and currently have two main centers. The one located in Fidar has Don Bosco Technique and a youth center. The Salesian community in El Houssoun has an oratory and a reception house that has been housing Catholic refugees since the start of the war in Syria.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
ANS – Spain – Salesians “find what unites” through Lebanon Project
World Bank – Lebanon
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.
