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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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:

Don Bosco Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia

The post CAMBODIA: Don Bosco Kep Develops New Kindergarten Program first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Each World Water Day focuses on a particular theme. This year’s theme is ‘Water and Sustainable Development’ and focuses on the connection between water resources and sustainable development for the future. Water is at the core of sustainable development and relates directly to the viability of poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability.

According to UN-Water, the United Nations inter-agency coordination mechanism on all freshwater related issues, 1.3 billion people cannot access electricity, 768 million people lack access to improved water sources and 2.5 billion people have no improved sanitation, worldwide. 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 addition, women and children 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.

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.

“Water is essential for life,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions. “From helping to ensure our communities have access to clean water for drinking and agriculture to helping build a hydro-electric power station, Salesian missionaries working in 132 countries around the globe are always looking to expand their services to meet the needs of the poor youth and families they serve.”

In honor and celebration of World Water Day 2015, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight Salesian programs around the globe that provide clean, safe water to those most in need.

CAMBODIA

Salesian missionaries have a long history of working with poor youth in Cambodia. Continuing this work, the Don Bosco Technical School in Kep Province built a new water tower as part of a Water System Project at the school that was made possible by donors from Don Bosco Mondo in Bonn, Germany. Christened the Mary Help of Youth Water Tower and constructed by a group of volunteers, the tower provides more water than traditional wells, which are relied upon by most people in the region, as it goes deeper into the ground and has two reserve tanks to hold additional water. It also utilizes green technologies by featuring a water pump that is generated by installed solar panels. The Mary Help of Youth Water Tower will guarantee water for this large educational community for years to come.

INDIA

With more than 1.2 billion people, India’s growing population is putting a severe strain on the country’s natural resources. Salesian missionaries across India are dedicated to ensuring that access to safe water is a priority in Salesian-run programs and schools and in the communities in which they operate. In Mumbai, alumni from the class of 1969 at Don Bosco High School in Matuga recently enacted the Aqua Pure Water Project. This alumni-led volunteer project is ensuring clean water access at the school for nearly 3,500 children. A.V. Suresh, alumnus of Don Bosco High School, Matuga and CEO of Eureka Forbes, a water purification company, installed the water purification system at the school. As part of the project, he promised that the Eureka Forbes company would commit itself to providing clean drinking water to the school for the next 10 years. In addition, the company is initiating a collaborative project with Don Bosco High School for water harvesting and water recycling at the school which, when it is completed, will be the first of its kind in the country.

KENYA

Residents in Kenya face regular water and sanitation shortages. To address the need for clean, safe water, a water borehole restoration project is underway at the Salesian-run Bosco Boys community in Nairobi, Kenya. Made possible thanks to the generosity of donors, the project entails removing all the pipes and the electric pump in an existing 250 meter borehole, cleaning the pipes, replacing rotten ones and removing a massive amount of mud. The restoration of the borehole will ensure proper function of a well on the property while providing clean, safe water for students and faculty at the Bosco Boys community.

SIERRA LEONE

Don Bosco Fambul, a leading Salesian educational organization serving disadvantaged youth in Sierra Leone, in collaboration with Brunnenbau Conrad Ltd, a German drilling company, has installed a new water well at Pademba Road Prison in Freetown. The prison faces overcrowding and inadequate food and due to compromised infrastructure, has experienced a serious water crisis with a lack of clean drinking water and water for healthy sanitation and hygiene. The new well will provide 60,000 liters of water each day and new storage facilities to house the water supply will allow for 40 liters of water per prisoner each day.

TANZANIA

Like many poor nations around the world, Tanzania struggles to provide clean, safe water to its citizens. Salesian missionaries living and working in Tanzania focus their programs on the educational and social development needs of youth and their families while working to provide safe, clean water for their students. Well digging and restoration projects are underway at Salesian Missions facilities in Tanzania with new wells being created and older wells that have rotten pipes, often filled with mud, being cleaned and replaced in order to bring water to students and faculty involved in Salesian programs.

Sources

UN World Water Day 2015

The post WORLD WATER DAY: Salesian Missions Programs Provide Access to Safe Water in Poor Communities around the Globe first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Offering one-year intensive training programs in auto mechanics, general mechanics, welding, electricity, building, carpentry and plumbing, the technical school trains its students in the skills necessary to become qualified professionals. Career counseling and job placement services help students make the transition from the classroom into the workforce with more than 75 percent of graduates finding employment in their chosen field.

In response to a need for more advanced professional training in 2004, the technical school expanded its offerings to include more extensive three-year degree programs. Since then, more than 300 students have successfully completed three-year degree programs with 80 percent of those graduating finding stable employment in their field of study.

Many students who attend the technical school are escaping the violence of a civil war that has torn apart South Sudan and disrupted its education system. Joseph, a 15 year old boy, was forced to abandon his home and flee to a refugee camp where he found few opportunities to gain an education. Since being accepted into the Don Bosco Technical Center, he is being educated and learning a trade, giving him the opportunity for future employment and a productive, stable life. He is one of 400 boys who attend the school from around the country.

“Access to education provides opportunities to youth they may never have imagined possible,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian programs are able to meet the diverse needs of students, allowing them to focus on their studies while gaining life skills that help them make better decisions and find future employment.”

With more than 46 percent of its population living in poverty, the Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world, according to UNICEF. Low incomes and food deficiencies are commonplace and ongoing violence and civil unrest exacerbate already harsh conditions. Despite these challenges, more youth are in school today than ever before with school attendance up to 73 percent compared to 68 percent in 2008. There remain, however, some 3.2 million children between the ages of six and 16 out of school with the highest rates among nomadic populations, those living in rural areas and in the poorest households.

School enrollment and retention is affected by weak curriculums in Sudanese schools and inadequate educational materials and teacher training (according to UNICEF, more than 40 percent of teachers are untrained). Ongoing conflict and the high cost of education, particularly in rural areas where parents have to pay school fees, also affect enrollment rates.

“All youth deserve a chance at a better life,” adds Fr. Hyde. “At Don Bosco Technical School, Salesian missionaries help youth overcome barriers to success while teaching them how to take responsibility for their own lives. By providing youth an education and the necessary skills to find and retain employment, they are able to support themselves and help their communities.”

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Sources

Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre – El Obeid

UNICEF – Poverty in Sudan 

The post SUDAN: More than 1,200 Youth Receive Education, Employment Opportunities at Salesian Technical School first appeared on MissionNewswire.

India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44 percent of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10 percent of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, too many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.

According to the International Labour Organization’s Global Employment Trends 2014 report, the unemployment rate in India has been gradually increasing since 2011 when the rate was at 3.5 percent. The rate rose to 3.6 percent in 2012 and again climbed in 2013 to 3.7 percent. The unemployment rate is expected to continue to grow in 2014, according the report.

To address the need for skills training and workforce development for India’s poor youth, Salesian missionaries at the Don Bosco Technical School in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, have formed a partnership with Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd. The result of the newly formed partnership is the development of the first Yamaha Training Center at the Don Bosco Technical School.

The new Yamaha Training Center will follow Yamaha’s Technical Academy training program which was developed in India in 2002 from Japan’s formal Yamaha technician training curriculum. The academy coursework provides comprehensive technical education and expertise from the Yamaha factory with hands-on diagnostic and troubleshooting skills training.

Yamaha has a progressive certification training program with students graduating at beginner levels and working their way up through silver certification. Students who successfully complete the course at Don Bosco Technical School will graduate with a silver level certificate from India’s Yamaha Technical Academy.

“Technical skills training is critical to further developing India’s workforce,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Students need access to skills training that provides real world experience within industries that are hiring. The goal is to provide the technical skills necessary and assist students in the transition from the classroom into stable long-term employment.”

Don Bosco Technical School will help students to find and retain employment after graduation. Resume writing assistance, interview skill training and other social development services will be provided to the students as they work their way through the program.

The partnership is a win-win for both the Salesians and Yamaha. India’s poor unskilled youth are often pushed towards unemployment forcing them to remain in a cycle of poverty and hindering India’s overall economic development.

“Yamaha’s partnership with Don Bosco is meant to address this very concern by providing a platform to the economically weaker and unemployed youth to obtain job-oriented technical training in two-wheeler repair and servicing that meets industry standards,” said Mr. Masaki Asano, managing director of Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd.

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Sources

Don Bosco India – Don Bosco and Yamaha Motor India join hands to help under privileged youth

International Labour Organization – Global Employment Trends 2014 Report

UNICEF – India

Yamaha Technical Academy India

The post INDIA: First Yamaha Technical Skills Training Program Developed at Don Bosco Technical School first appeared on MissionNewswire.

An estimated 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related causes. Close to 99 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries with children being most at risk—a child dies from a water-related illness every 21 seconds. Each day worldwide, an estimated 4,100 children under the age of five die from diarrhea and 2,350 more die from malnutrition due to dirty water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene.

Women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the majority of households. For women, particularly those that are head of households, this is time spent away from income-generating jobs and caring for family members. 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 of these children are unable to attend school regularly because they must spend time searching for distant wells.

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 programs help vulnerable youth and others living in poverty. The charity is appealing for donations to support this important initiative.

“The poorest children have the least access to safe water and adequate sanitation and they pay the highest price,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions. “From helping to ensure our communities have access to clean water for drinking and agriculture to helping build a hydro-electric power station, Salesian missionaries working in 132 countries around the globe are committed to focusing on clean water and sanitation projects to ensure clean water access for those we serve.”

Salesian Missions has a long history of developing special infrastructure projects that help communities in need. In addition to building hospitals, schools and youth centers, Salesians have already helped communities which lack clean water, sanitation and electricity. From new water wells in countries throughout Africa to a hydro-electrical station in Bolivia, Salesian Missions and its partners are bringing hope to many communities.

“This is not new work for Salesian programs around the globe,” adds Fr. Hyde. “We have carried out clean water projects in many countries but this is a renewed commitment to these initiatives because access to clean water is essential for the health of those we serve. It is also important for youth to be in school gaining an education and laying the foundation for a productive life instead of being forced to search for water.”

To give to the Salesian Missions Clean Water Initiative, to to SalesianMissions.org.

Some examples of Salesian Missions clean water projects:

BRAZIL
To address serious water issues resulting from pesticide pollution in a remote area of western Brazil, Salesian Missions worked with members of the Xavante and Bororo Indian communities to obtain clean water from previously inaccessible areas. To do so, they first created wells and designed a mobile drilling truck. To create power, they invented and patented a seesaw pump that would draw water from the depths of the well as children were playing. Now, solar panels are used. The result is reduced risk of disease, access to potable water, improved infrastructure and expanded farming. The endeavor began as an immediate response to a community crisis but has become a well-organized project that ensures the growth of two indigenous groups.

CAMBODIA
Salesians have a long history of working with poor youth in Cambodia. Continuing this work, the Don Bosco Technical School in Kep Province built a new Mary Help of Youth Water Tower as part of a Water System Project at the school that 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.

ETHIOPIA
A project started in 2011 by Salesians and International Voluntary Service for Development volunteers was responsible for digging five wells in the Gambella area of Ethiopia. The wells are operated by a hand pump and are between 50 and 60 meters deep, guaranteeing water to local villages that will benefit close to 1,200 people. To ensure that the wells last as long as possible, a village committee has been set up to oversee their management and maintenance.

INDIA
Safe drinking water is essential for child survival. In India, progress has been made with 84.5 percent of rural and 95 percent of urban populations having sustainable access to safe drinking water, according to the World Bank. At the Don Bosco Center for Learning in Kurla, a new training facility focuses on job training in developing technologies concerning water, ranging from plumbing and sanitation to developing efficient methods for utilization and analyzing existing systems for efficient transportation of water. The courses are designed to help youth, who had previously left school, enter the workforce.

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PHOTO: UNICEF

Sources:

Salesian Missions

Water.org

The post GLOBAL: Salesian Missions Focuses Efforts on Clean Water Initiatives first appeared on MissionNewswire.

School enrollment and retention is affected by weak curriculums in Sudanese schools and inadequate educational materials and teacher training (according to UNICEF, more than 40 percent of teachers are untrained). Ongoing conflict and the high cost of education, particularly in rural areas where parents have to pay school fees, also affect enrollment rates.

To meet the needs of the millions of out-of-school youth, Salesians in the Sudan are working to educate poor youth and provide them a path out of poverty. The Salesian-run Don Bosco Technical School in El Obeid, the capital of the state of North Kordofan in southern Sudan, has been providing services and educational opportunities for poor youth since 2001. Since its inception, more than 1000 youth have received education, training and workforce development services.

Don Bosco Technical School offers a variety of programs to best meet the needs of the youth it serves. Soon after the school opened, one-year intensive training programs began in auto mechanics, general mechanics, welding, electricity, building, carpentry and plumbing. These programs trained students to become qualified professionals, ready to join the workforce. And with career counseling and job placement services provided once students complete their studies, close to 70 percent of the more than 600 graduates of these programs have found stable employment in their chosen fields.

In 2004, the technical school expanded to offer more extensive, three-year degree programs. Sine then, more than 300 students have successfully completed the three-year degree programs with 80 percent of those graduating finding stable employment in their field of study.

“Gaining an education can provide new opportunities young people never imagined were possible,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Salesian programs are able to meet the diverse needs of their students, allowing them to focus on their studies while gaining life skills to help them make better decisions and find future employment.”

Salesian programs in the Sudan also offer students a chance to access health services and nutritional assistance. One program for street youth provides 24 hour care to 35 young boys and gives them access to free housing, nutrition, school fees, medication and clothing. An evening program provides educational opportunities to an additional 120 young boys and girls who receive a free education, textbooks, school stationery and an evening meal.

“All youth deserve a chance at a better life,” adds Fr. Hyde. “At Don Bosco Technical School, Salesians help youth overcome barriers to success while teaching them how to take responsibility for their own lives. By providing youth an education and the necessary skills to find and retain employment, they are able to support themselves and help their communities.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre – El Obeid

UNCEF – Poverty in Sudan 

The post SUDAN: Degree Training Programs Help Youth Find Stable Employment first appeared on MissionNewswire.

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.

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

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

World Bank – Cambodia

Don Bosco Cambodia

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

The new school—along with the restoration of the damaged areas of Don Bosco Polytechnic—is part of a collaboration with the Caracol Industrial Park. This industrial park is expected to be one of the largest in the Caribbean, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) which is financing the industrial park project along with private investors and other organizations.

The school will develop training modules ranging from three months to two years that will give youth the skills needed to meet job requirements for the new industries located in the industrial park. Sae-A Co. Ltd., a Korean apparel manufacturer, is investing $78 million to develop operations in the park and has committed to hiring at least 20,000 Haitians to work there. This is the largest single investment in modern Haitian history, according to the IDB.

“This is a simple ceremony, but it is very important for its symbolism and the meaning it carries, given that the government of Haiti is involved, with the determination of the President of the Republic, in the concentration of investments and the creation of Industrial Estates, which of course needs a trained labor force,” said Minister Paul at the opening of the school.

“The Caracol Industrial Park shows the positive impact foreign investment can have in building Haiti back better,” said former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the official ceremony to set the foundational stone for the construction of the industrial park in November, 2011. “It will bring tens of thousands of jobs to Haitians, and I am proud to be here for the groundbreaking of this important project.”

Investments also include $55 million for the initial construction phase from the IDB. The U.S. government has committed more than $124 million in funding to build at least 25 megawatts of electrical power generation, improve regional health facilities, construct up to 5,000 housing units near the towns of Ouanaminthe, Fort Liberté, Terriere Rouge, Trou Du Nord, Caracol, and Quartier Morin in Northern Haiti in partnership with the IDB and Food for the Poor, and modernize regional port facilities, according to the IDB website.

“This is a unique opportunity to provide youth with skills that they can immediately put into action to rebuild their individual lives, as well as their country. Our goal is to support Haiti’s youth as they become the country’s leaders in the public and private sectors,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Don Bosco Technical School will prepare youth for jobs through traditional and professional training courses in the areas identified as most in need, including hydraulics, masonry, cabinet making, tailoring and administrative work.

“We are constantly developing new training programs to meet the needs of the specific areas of Haiti where we work,” explains Fr. Hyde, adding that Salesian Missions is currently undertaking an in-depth study of the employment situation in Haiti to better understand the needs of the marketplace and determine what opportunities are available to students.

Father Sonel Romain, director of the Salesian Center in Fort Liberté, notes that since 1935, Salesians have worked to educate Haiti’s most vulnerable youth and have been working in Fort-Liberté for 10 years offering both formal and informal education programs.

Like the Don Bosco Technical School, the center in Fort Liberté offers a wide range of educational programs and includes an elementary school, a technical school, a vocational training center, teacher-training courses and a school of nursing. In March, a new section of the school of nursing opened in conjunction with the presentation of certificates to nursing students. New buildings include four classrooms, a library, a work room, a staff room and others for administration.

Salesians also work to develop programs that aid community development and contribute to the advancing of opportunities for the poor and underserved. Recently, Salesians proposed a project which included enhancing food security by improving agricultural production and productivity in agriculture schools in Fort Liberté, as well as Cap Haitien and Gressier.

ABOUT SALESIAN MISSIONS IN HAITI:

Salesian Missions, headquartered in New Rochelle, NY, is the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The Salesian Missions Office for International Programs was assigned the task of coordinating international Salesian relief efforts in Haiti immediately after the January 2010 earthquake. The Salesians have served Haiti for 75 years, operating schools, feeding programs, orphanages, and youth programs and building educational infrastructure. For more information, go to www.SalesianMissions.org.

For more information about Salesian Missions’ work and progress in Haiti, visit ProgressInHaiti.org.

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SOURCES:

ANS (Salesian Info Agency)

ProgressInHaiti.org

The post HAITI: Opening of Salesian Technical School to Provide Skills, Jobs to 2,000 Students first appeared on MissionNewswire.