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NEPAL: Nepal Don Bosco Society provides education and essential services to poor youth and their families

(MissionNewswire) Nepal Don Bosco Society has a focus on transforming poor communities through social development programs, education and vocational training. The organization was also instrumental in the immediate aftermath and long-term recovery after two earthquakes in 2015 caused massive destruction in the country. A devastating 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, followed by a second earthquake that struck on May 12. More than 8,000 died and close to 20,000 were injured as a result of the earthquakes and its aftermath.

Nepal Don Bosco Society began in 1992 with the center of Dharan. Salesian missionaries then branched out to other cities including Sirsia in 1996 and in the capital city of Kathmandu with two centers—Lubhu in 1996 and Thecho in 2001. Later, centers in Baroul and Chakkarghatty opened in 2014 in eastern Nepal and finally Biratnagar in 2017. A total of seven houses are now operated by Salesian missionaries. Missionaries offer quality education and social development services to help poor youth and their families.

“Salesian institutions are welcoming centers where everyone feels at home and the programs provided and the diplomas awarded help many in finding work in Nepal or abroad,” says Ram Kaji Rai, a former teacher of the institute, now responsible for a company that imports IT components.

Many Salesian graduates have had rapid integration into the labor market, as employees or entrepreneurs. Most youth at Salesian institutions come from poor communities such as in Sirsia, where the Salesian school was the only opportunity to receive an education. For nine years, Salesian missionaries in Sirsia, thanks to the help of an Austrian non-governmental organization, implemented an integral development program that included the entire population, from children to the elderly.

After the earthquake, Nepal Don Bosco Society and their collaborators also gathered relief supplies and distributed food, tools and medical assistance to 3,451 families in 12 districts. They also provided materials to aid 450 families in shelters in five districts as well as uniforms and stationery materials in more than 50 schools in Lalitpur and surroundings.

“If it was not for the Nepal Don Bosco Society, my family and I would not have eaten for a week,” said one of the elders in Lalitpur.

Nepal Don Bosco Society also came to the aid of 87 schools in 12 districts. Salesian missionaries built 21 temporary learning centers in the months following the earthquake. Once the learning centers were completed, government officers and other non-government organizations acknowledged that the temporary learning centers built by the Salesian missionaries and students were of such high quality they could possibly serve as permanent school buildings. Nepal Don Bosco Society also has 10 new permanent school buildings in four districts are near completion and set to open.

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Sources:

ANS – Nepal – Emergency education and support: Salesian commitment in Nepal