Don Bosco Institute Thecho hosts Salesian Youth Movement meeting with 90 youth

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco centers in Nepal recently hosted a meeting of the Salesian Youth Movement. The event, held at Don Bosco Institute Thecho in Kathmandu, brought together 90 youth and Salesian staff from five centers. Youth gathered to meet and connect with their peers and adults while speaking about challenges they face in life today. They also discussed solutions and ways to make their centers more enriching. Youth took part in songs, games and a campfire during the evening part of the event.

“The Salesian Youth Movement provides an opportunity for youth to connect with their peers, share in their faith and talk about challenges they face today,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Through educational and social programs, Salesians across Nepal are helping youth became self-sufficient to support themselves and their families.”

Salesian missionaries arrived in Nepal in the 1890s and started a secondary school in Siddhipur, a village in the Lalitpur district. Today there are 20 secondary schools and nine Salesian centers in the central-eastern and far western regions of the country. Salesians provide education and social development programs to aid poor youth and their families.

Nepal is among the least developed countries in the world, with about one-quarter of its population living below the poverty line. Salesian missionaries are still hard at work with long-term reconstruction efforts after a devastating 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, with a second striking on May 12, 2015.

More than 8,000 people died and close to 20,000 were injured as a result of the earthquakes and their aftermath. Forty of Nepal’s 75 districts were affected, 16 of them severely, with homes, schools, buildings, cattle, fields ready for harvest and other property destroyed. More than 500,000 people were displaced and in need of shelter and other assistance. The United Nations reported that more than 1,300 schools were destroyed during the earthquakes.

The construction of schools that can withstand earthquakes and provide access to education for the youngest and most vulnerable children is the daily commitment of Salesian missionaries in the country. The goal is to help equip youth to have the education and skills necessary to change their lives and become agents of development.

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Sources:

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ANS – Nepal – The Salesian Youth Movement unites the youth of the centres together

Salesian Missions – Nepal