‘Life’ is a group of young people which began in 1975 in Sicily, who want to live human and Christian values with commitment and express them through artistic language. Shows, music, songs, dances to propose a message to the public, to say something that helps people reflect and pray. They want to bring the Christian proposal to theatres and squares in a new way of evangelising.

I had seen them at work on the stage of one of the biggest theatres in Catania, in front of more than 1,800 young people from the city’s schools. They were presenting a musical that helped to reflect on the value of life in youthful language. Singing, dancing, lights, special effects kept the youngsters nailed to their seats all morning. On my way out, I wanted to mingle with the spectators to catch a few comments: “Really cool! I loved the ballets!”… “Did you see that there was also a live orchestra? I’d like to ask if I could join”… “They’re about my age, but what voices!…”.
I, too, was impressed by that group of young actors, not only because of the quality of their performance, but also because even before the audience arrived I had seen that they were working hard to get everything in order: there were some positioning the floodlights, some testing out the microphones, some setting out the costumes, some at the last rehearsal of a ballet and some doing vocals to get their voices ready. Everyone knew what they had to do and carried out their task responsibly. When the theatre was full, before kicking off, they all disappeared behind the closed curtain. I wanted to peek in and saw that they were all there in a circle for a short prayer before the performance began. I was struck by this fact. I knew that it was a Salesian group belonging to the CGS Association (Cinecircoli Giovanili Socioculturali); so, I decided to go and see them at their headquarters to find out more and get to know them better.
I found a very simple setting: a small room for rehearsals and meetings, a small room for recordings, a mezzanine with wardrobes for costumes, a storage room for scenes and lighting and sound equipment, but above all I found a lot of creativity and Salesian spirit. Welcoming me was Armando B., founder and head of the group, as well as composer of all the music, and five other young men. I asked them to tell me a little about their story.

“Our group,” Armando said, “is called LIFE, Vita! Yes, because we are together to discover the meaning of life and to announce the joy of life to the world. We began in 1975 out of the desire some of us had (we were 15 years old then) to be together, bound by our love for music. We have come a long way since then! Over the years, the need has gradually matured to deepen our faith, to live human and Christian values in a committed way, and to express them through artistic language. Thus, our musicals were born, shows entirely conceived and produced by us: from the music to the lyrics, the costumes to the sets, from the lighting to the sound… and we have also recorded many cassettes and CDs.” “See here on the walls the posters and photos of our shows over all these years,” Paolo added.

‘Life’ was the first original show that tackled the problem of drugs and dialogue within the family; then there was ‘Welcome Poverty’, which helps us reflect on consumerism and the true freedom that comes from detachment from riches; there juvenile delinquency and Don Bosco’s educational proposals in ‘My name too is John’; the choice in the last in the musical ‘The Girl from Poitiers’, the culture of life versus the culture of death in ‘Open up to Life’; the wisdom of the Gospel overlapping the wisdom of the world in ‘What if it wasn’t a Dream?’; ‘Stories for Living’, small stories of today and yesterday in the light of Salesian spirituality; ‘3P’ – Padre Pino Puglisi, the story of the priest victim of the Mafia; ‘On the Wings of Love’, presenting the experience of the Servant of God Nino Baglieri; and ‘What Remains is Love’ on the message of St Paul.
“Recently we staged ‘Baraccopoli,’” Giuseppe said, “a musical that touches on the theme of the marginalised and solidarity. The latest, however, is a play about Pope Francis and his message to the people of our time. It is entitled ‘From the End of the World’.”
Sara interrupted him and, showing me some DVDs, added:
“You see, we have also tried our hand at film production and, in addition to the film versions of ‘Stories for Living’ and ‘Open to Life’, we have made three other films – ‘God’s Athlete, Placido and Nicolò’ -, which have received special prizes and awards.
I was truly amazed at the material documenting so many years of activity, and ventured a question:
“What drives you to do all this?”
Alessandra smiled and answered:
“Ours seeks to be a new way of doing evangelisation, of bringing the Christian proposal to the theatres and squares. The experience of our tours is always exciting: we have travelled from one end of Italy to the other and we have also been abroad. Each time it is a new boost for us because at the same time as we ‘announce’ something, the awareness and conviction of what we are proposing to others grows.”
Armando added:
“In order to be able to say something to others, it is essential to have lived it in real time first! This is why our CGS. invests a lot in formation: every Saturday we meet to pray together and every Sunday we have our formation meeting. In the summer we set aside ten days or so for ‘expression camp’, days in which we reflect on God’s word and express our reflections creatively (music, dance, mime…). At times during the liturgical year, we meet for a day of retreat. It is a proposal, ours, that we offer to many young people in our area and beyond, of different age groups. The older ones accompany the younger ones. Many come to us attracted by the music and the desire to find friends and form a group, and gradually become involved in a journey of faith.
“Yes,” Simone said, “I can testify with my own story: at the beginning I came to the group only because I liked acting and also wanted to learn to play an instrument. Here I found both, but above all I met people who knew how to listen to me and who showed me a way of life different from the one I had experienced until then. Here I also began to get to know the Gospel.”

I felt good with them and stayed to chat until the evening. I learned about the many experiences of these young people, such as going to pubs to play music and engaging young customers in conversations on certain topics that would encourage them to reflect on their lives, or going to bring help to the homeless on particularly cold evenings, or running an oratory in the neighbourhood in the Don Bosco manner, or animating youth gatherings at diocesan or regional gatherings.
I went back again one Saturday to see them. It was all a construction site: Joseph was animating the meeting of the pre-adolescents who were crammed into the small room usually used for recordings, three other young people were painting the scenes of the show being planned, a small group was rehearsing the various voices of a song, while two were intent on writing on sheets of paper. “Let’s prepare tomorrow night’s meeting for the families,” they said. “There will be couples who belong to the group, but also the parents of our boys. We also want to involve them in a formative journey.”
So much life in this group, I said to myself; they really have chosen the right name: LIFE!

Photo gallery “Life”

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The Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) was founded on 18 April 1869 by Don Bosco, as the second group of his work after the Salesians, with the aim of “promoting the glories of the divine Mother of the Saviour, in order to merit Her protection in life and particularly at the point of death.”

            The Pious Association of Mary Help of Christians was founded after the opening of the Basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which took place on 9 June 1868 in Turin. With the building of the Basilica, Don Bosco saw with his own eyes the realisation of the famous dream of 1844, in which the Virgin Mary, in the likeness of a shepherdess, made him see “a wondrously big Church” in whose interior there was “a white banner on which was written in huge letters: HIC DOMUS MEA, INDE GLORIA MEA.” Many individuals, especially from among ordinary folk, had contributed offerings to the building of the Shrine as a sign of gratitude for graces received from Mary Help of Christians. The faithful had made “repeated requests that a pious Association of devotees be started, who, united in the same spirit of prayer and piety, would pay homage to the great Mother of the Saviour, invoked under the title of Help of Christians.” This popular request – made even though an ancient (12th century) and strong devotion to Our Lady existed in Turin under the title of the Consolata – indicates that the initiative came from above.

Thus one can also understand the reason for the request for approval of the Association made by Don Bosco himself: “The undersigned humbly asks Your Grace that for the sole desire of promoting the glory of God and the good of souls he agree that in the church of Mary Help of Christians consecrated a year ago by Your Grace to Divine Worship, a pious union of the faithful be started under the name of Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians. The main aim would be to promote adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Maria Auxilium Christianorum: a title which seems to be of great pleasure to the august Queen of Heaven.” His request was not only accepted, but in less than a year from its foundation (February 1870) the Pious Association of Mary Help of Christians became an Archconfraternity.

            The name “ADMA” that Don Bosco gave to this association, meant the Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians, where the word “devotees” reflected what St Francis de Sales taught: “Devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly.” This devotion is further specified: “Don Bosco, aware of our difficulties and frailty, took a further, even more beautiful step: we are not general devotees, but devotees of Mary Help of Christians. In his experience, the gift of love which unites the Father and the Son (grace) and which drives us to action (charity), passes explicitly, almost sensitively, through Mary’s maternal mediation”, as Don Bosco’s successor, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, points out.
            Don Bosco founded ADMA to share grace and spread and defend the faith of the people, spreading adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist and devotion to the Virgin Help of Christians, two pillars of our faith, throughout the world. This seed sown by the saint has now spread to 50 countries around the world, with around 800 groups attached to the Turin Primary ADMA.
            Today in ADMA, at the school of Don Bosco, paths of prayer, apostolate and service are followed in a family spirit. Devotion to the Eucharist and to Mary Help of Christians is lived and spread, valuing participation in liturgical life and reconciliation. Christian formation is aimed at imitating Mary in living the “spirituality of daily life”, seeking to cultivate a Christian environment of welcome and solidarity in the family and wherever people live.
            On the occasion of the 150th year of the foundation of ADMA, the successor of Don Bosco, in his letter “Entrust, confide, smile!” he left the Association some instructions. The invitation is to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit for a renewed evangelising impulse, anchored to the two pillars, the Eucharist and devotion to Mary Help of Christians with certain emphases:
            – living holiness in the family, giving witness mainly through perseverance in love between spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters, young and old;
            – bringing Our Lady into the home, imitating Mary in all that one can;
            – offering a way to holiness and apostolate that is simple and accessible to all;
            – participating in the Eucharist, without which there is no path to holiness;
            – entrusting ourselves to Mary, convinced that she will take us “by the hand” to lead us to the encounter with her Son Jesus.

            The privileged opportunities for living and spreading devotion to Mary Help of Christians among ordinary folk, and asking for graces, are the practices of piety: the commemoration of the 24th of each month, the rosary, the novena in preparation for the feast of Mary Help of Christians, the blessing of Mary Help of Christians, pilgrimages to Marian shrines, processions, collaboration in parish life.
            Members of ADMA are part of the great Salesian Family tree, a movement of people promoted by Don Bosco under the guidance of Mary Help of Christians, for the mission to youth and ordinary folk: “We must unite” he wrote in 1878 “among ourselves and all with the Congregation… aiming at the same goal and using the same means… as in a single family with the bonds of fraternal charity which spurs us to help and support each other for the benefit of our neighbour.” In the Salesian Family ADMA retains the task of emphasising the particular Eucharistic and Marian devotion lived and spread by St John Bosco, devotion which expresses the founding element of the Salesian charism. From this perspective, among other things ADMA promotes the International Congress of Mary Help of Christians for the whole Salesian Family, the next one to be held in Fatima from 29 August to 1 September 2024. The title chosen for this event will be “I will give you a teacher”, in memory of Don Bosco’s dream at nine years of age. This will be the 200th anniversary of the dream.
            In order to get to know ADMA better, as well as the website admadonbosco.org, you can also follow their monthly formation and communion sheet “ADMA on line” and their book series Notebooks of Mary Help of Christians, both of which are on the same site. You can also follow them on their social media channels Facebook and Youtube, and a brochure can be downloaded from HERE.

Just 30 metres from the border with the United States, a Salesian house in Mexico offers many services to young people, the poor and migrants, in the world’s busiest land border area, in a city whose population has tripled over the last 30 years, and in an area famous worldwide for the wall separating Mexico from the United States.

The Salesians arrived in the city of Tijuana, Baja California (Mexico), on the feast of St Joseph, 19 March 1987.
It was at the end of the 1980s that the then Provincial looked towards the northern border of Mexico, emphasising that the presence in the North would have to represent “lungs” to guarantee purified air for the mission and the apostolic and religious life of the Salesian Province.

With this intention, and wanting to respond to the many needs of the city, the Salesians undertook to find spaces to build oratories in the city. In less than a decade, nine oratories were built where young people found a home, a playground, a school and a church.
As time went by, attention was focused on different needs, six work-residences were created in different working-class neighbourhoods of the city, forming the Salesian Tijuana Project. Each of them houses several institutions, giving rise to more than ten work fronts.

The first of the works was the Maria Auxiliadora Parish and Oratory, located in the ‘Colonia Herrera’. Both the parish and the oratory deal with various problems in the area. Steps are being taken towards an agreement with the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) to offer a community health centre with legal and psychological counselling and medical assistance. There is a home for migrant families in the parish called “Pro amore DEI”, which is accompanied by various activities. This Oratory of Mary Help of Christians offers short and flexible workshops that provide various learning opportunities, all for the benefit of families; these workshops are attended by children and families in vulnerable situations. Some of these workshops are: tailoring workshop, beauty workshop, football workshop, zumba workshop, guitar workshop and computer workshop, psychological counselling and training for adults or young people outside the school environment, in agreement with the INEA (National Institute for Adult Education).

Another presence, located in the city centre, is the Oratorio San Francisco de Sales, located in the Castillo area. This presence also houses several institutions, including one of the religious community’s residences, the Oratory, the offices of COMAR (Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees) which, in collaboration with UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), provides services to asylum seekers (identity cards, job offers, legal support) and the offices of the Tijuana Salesian Project. This is a set of services for the most disadvantaged, i.e. foreigners who come to the city seeking refuge with a dignified regard for their rights. In the oratory, the local families are assisted with flexible and agile workshops, offering a space for growth (it is a workers’ area that has suffered greatly in recent years from drug dealing and murders due to this situation). For the Tijuana Salesian Project it has been and continues to be of great importance to be open to the creation of networks and alliances with various institutions that strengthen and promote help for young people, migrants and families in vulnerable situations.

The Domingo Savio Oratory is located in the heart of the ‘SánchezTaboada’ area. This area is very special. According to recent statistics, the Sanchez Taboada neighbourhood ranks first in violence in the city. In this neighbourhood, 146 people were killed in less than five months, making it the most violent area; the highest number of intentional murders was recorded here. This is where our Salesian presence is located, developing various services: a presence that seeks above all to bring hope to families and opportunities to children. The situation of violence, poverty and location of the Salesian house require constant financial support to maintain the facilities and to find the appropriate personnel to provide the educational services. Among the activities currently offered are: football workshop, guitar workshop, volleyball workshop, school regulation workshop for children and adolescents, English workshop and computer workshop. In this oratory, as in the other five presences, sacramental catechesis and liturgical services and celebrations are offered in the chapel.

The San José Obrero Oratory is located in the eastern part of the city, in the area known as “Ejido Matamoros”. It has sports facilities that offer services to a large number of young people, children and adults who come to play football; in the course of a week, more than a thousand users pass through this sports centre. In this oratory, the Salesian Youth Movement is also very active, especially for adolescents and children, with the Friends of Dominic Savio movement, altar servers and choirs. The Oratory Chapel offers daily liturgical services open to the community. The Salesian presence in this Oratory also includes a high school, which, being located in an area of such great growth in the city, can continue to provide an indispensable educational service and, in perspective, should grow in the number of students and the quality of its educational services.

The San Juan Bosco Oratory is located in the Mariano Matamoros area in El Florido. It is an oasis of peace in the eastern part of the city and we call it that because in 2022, 92 murders were also recorded here. This Salesian presence is located in an area of settlements of families working in the “maquilas” and there the Salesian work has developed a wide and complex presence, consisting of four institutions: the Don Bosco reception house (a home for women and children, operational since December 2021), the Don Bosco school (a school with 200 pupils, both boys and girls, attending primary education) the oratory – youth centre (accommodates children, youth groups, football and basketball league athletes, folkloric ballet group, workshops), the San Juan Bosco chapel (offers liturgical services with a large influx of families and children attending catechesis). Together, these institutions create a centre of integration for the local community, being a space for a variety of people (migrants, children, young people, families) that offers the opportunity to actualise the Salesian mission, responding to social needs. In order to realise these institutions of great social work, the Salesians work through collaboration agreements with various civil and governmental organisations and by creating agreements with United Nations agencies (UNHCR, IOM, UNICEF); they also work with great openness and flexibility with other institutions that provide support and assistance in the areas of health and education.

The Salesian Desayunador is a social welfare work that gives rise to two institutions (a breakfast centre and a home for migrant men), which in turn provide a wide range of services to its beneficiaries. This Salesian work is located in the north-central area of the city of Tijuana. Its beginnings date back to 1999, but before that year some “tacos” were already being offered in the Salesian project offices. This service of feeding the poor and migrants wandering around the city has developed and evolved, and in 2007-2008 it was established with its own premises for this activity where it currently operates: here, attention is paid to vulnerable migrants (deportees/returnees, foreigners from central and southern Mexico), the homeless, the elderly, poor or extremely poor families, and hungry men, women and children.

Among the variety of services offered are breakfasts (between 900 and 1200 per day), phone calls abroad (25 per day), showers (up to 150 per day, three times a week), haircuts, delivery of food to poor families (3-5 per day), offering to change clothes (up to 150 per day, three times a week) medical assistance (40-60 per day), legal counselling (8-20 per day) on migration issues, psychological assistance, emotional support and support, workshops for the prevention of violence against women, workshops (graphic art, Byzantine mosaic, alebrijes and piñatas, radio workshop, etc.), formal and informal work exchange, and a radio workshop. ), formal and informal work exchange (8-20 a day), links with rehabilitation centres. The activities of the Desayunador and the shelter are supported with the help of daily volunteers (local, national and international) in various forms or periods, developing a great openness to inter-institutional collaboration.

The Salesian commitment in this great Tijuana Salesian Project is fundamental because the city continues to grow, continues to be the border city with the greatest number of people in mobility and migration situations; to speak of Tijuana as a border is to speak of the most crossed land border in the world. More than 20 million vehicles pass through and more than 60 million people enter the United States through this border in one year. Migration remains a highly topical issue. In this border city, with so many migrants, there are problems with human trafficking, involvement in the world of drug sales and consumption. The city of Tijuana continues to offer great opportunities for the fulfilment of dreams, with a wide range of jobs, but it also continues to be a city with a high level of crime, one of the most violent in the country.

Without a doubt, migrants, children, youth and families look to the Salesian Project in Tijuana for help and hope in building their future. The Salesian mission in Tijuana continues to be a place where Don Bosco’s dreams and the realisation of the Salesian Family’s charism can come to life.

It is also possible to follow the Salesian presence in Tijuana through its social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.

Agustín NOVOA LEYVA, sdb
director of the Salesian House Tijuana, Mexico

The experience of Rodgers Chabala, a young Zambian missionary in Nigeria, starting from the rediscovery of Don Bosco when visiting his places.

Young Salesian Rodgers Chabala is part of the new generation of missionaries, according to the renewed paradigm that goes beyond geographical boundaries or cultural precepts: from Zambia he was sent as a missionary to Nigeria. The missionary course he experienced last September was a powerful moment for him, especially the atmosphere he breathed in Don Bosco’s places: a true spiritual experience.

Don Bosco began his work with his own boys, realising that no one was looking after the souls of these young Piedmontese who often ended up in prison for theft, smuggling or other crimes. If these young men had had a trusted friend, someone to instruct them and give them a good example, they would not have ended up there and so Don Bosco was sent to them by God. We can say that it all began with the dream at nine years of age which Don Bosco gradually understood over time, thanks to the help of many people who helped him to discern. His pastoral desire to care for the souls of the young reached the whole world thanks to the Salesian missionaries, starting with that group of eleven sent to Patagonia, Argentina, in 1875. Initially, Don Bosco did not have a clear intention of sending missionaries, but God in time purified this desire and allowed the Salesian charism to spread to every corner of our earth.

The Salesian missionary vocation is a “vocation within a vocation”, a call to missionary life within one’s Salesian vocation. From the beginning, Rodgers felt a strong missionary desire, but it was not easy to make others understand what his motivations were. At the time of his aspirantate, when he was still unfamiliar with Salesian life, he was greatly impressed by the testimony of a Polish missionary and began to reflect and struggle with himself to decipher the intentions of his own heart. When the missionary asked “who wants to be a missionary?” Rodgers did not doubt and began the path of discernment, starting with the Polish Salesian’s answer to begin by loving his own country. Obviously, many challenges began to emerge and moments of discouragement were not lacking. As with Don Bosco, for Rodgers the help and mediation of many people was essential to distinguish God’s voice from other influences and to purify his intentions. God speaks through people, discernment is not merely an individual process, it always has a community dimension.

Last September, Rodgers attended the formation course for new missionaries, which precedes the official sending out by the Rector Major. Arriving a few days after the others, he met up again, after several years, with some of his novitiate companions and his old Rector from the studentate of philosophy. He joined the group and immediately noticed a special atmosphere, smiling faces and real joy. The reflections on interculturality and other insights provided by the Missions Sector were useful tools to prepare for the missionary departure. During the course, participants had the opportunity to visit Don Bosco’s places, first at Colle Don Bosco and then at Valdocco. Fr Alfred Maravilla, General Councillor for the Missions, asked the newly appointed missionaries: “What effect do these visits to Don Bosco’s holy places have on your life?” When one reads about Don Bosco’s life in books, doubts may arise and one may even be sceptical, but to see those places with one’s own eyes and breathe in the atmosphere of Don Bosco by retracing his story is something that can hardly be recounted. Besides the historical memory of what happened to Don Bosco, Dominic Savio and Mamma Margaret, these places have the capacity to reinvigorate the Salesian charism and make one reflect on one’s vocation. The simplicity and family spirit of Don Bosco show how poverty is not an obstacle to holiness and the realisation of the Kingdom of God. When speaking of Don Bosco we often run the risk of omitting the mystical part, concentrating only on activities and works. Don Bosco was truly a mystic in the spirit who cultivated an intimate relationship with the Lord.

So we arrive at 25 September 2022: Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, today’s Don Bosco, presides over the Mass with the Salesians of the 153rd SDB missionary expedition and the Sisters of the 145th FMA expedition in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, in Valdocco. Rodgers recalls meeting, a few days earlier, his new superior of the ANN province (Nigeria-Niger), and feeling the weight of responsibility for the missionary choice he had made. During the mass, says Rodgers, “I received the missionary cross and the desire to be a missionary largely became real.”
“The missionary vocation is a beautiful vocation, once the journey of discernment is carefully completed. It requires an openness of mind to appreciate the way of life of other peoples. Let us therefore pray for all the missionaries of the world and for those who are discerning the missionary vocation, that God will guide and inspire them in their lives.”

by,
Marco Fulgaro

Don Bosco Volunteers: the commitment of young people for a better future

For more than 20 years the German Salesian Province of Don Bosco has been involved in the field of youth volunteering. Through the Don Bosco Volunteers programme the Salesians in Germany offer around 90 young people each year an educational and life experience in Salesian houses in the Province and in various countries around the world.

For many young Germans it is customary, once they have completed their school education, to devote a year of their lives to social work. The profile of the Salesians for many of these young Germns is a source of inspiration when choosing an organisation to accompany them during this experience. In spite of the secularisation of German society and a constant loss of faithful by the Church in recent years, many young people knock on the Salesians’ door with the clear intention of helping their neighbour and making a small contribution to a better world. These young people find a form of faith and an example of life in the figure of Don Bosco.

Not all of those who apply for admission to the volunteer programme at the relevant offices of the Province in Benediktbeuern and Bonn have had experience in youth groups connected with the Church and especially with the Salesians during their lives. Some of them are not baptised, but recognise a possibility for personal growth in the Salesian educational offer, based on fundamental values for their own development. That is why so many young people begin a volunteer experience with the Don Bosco Volunteers programme every year: during training weekends, the young people not only learn useful information about the projects, but also come face to face with the Salesian preventive system and spirituality, thus preparing themselves for the time they will put into the service of other young people.

The volunteers are accompanied during their experience by a team of coordinators who look after not only the organisational aspects, but above all of the support before, during and after the volunteering experience. This is because the volunteer year does not end on the last day of service at the host Salesian home, but continues for life. This year in the service of others represents a foundation of values that has a strong impact on the future development of the volunteers. Don Bosco educated young people in order to make them upright citizens and good Christians: the Don Bosco Volunteers programme is inspired by this fundamental principle of Salesian pedagogy and seeks to create the basis for a better society, in which Christian values once again characterise our lives.

The German Province provides opportunities for young people to meet at all stages of the volunteering experience: orientation meetings, online information offers, training courses, parties and annual experience exchange meetings are basic activities on which the success of the Don Bosco Volunteers programme is built.

A co-ordination team consisting of co-workers from the Aktionszentrum Benediktbeuern youth training centre and the mission office in Bonn, supported by the provincial economer Fr. Stefan Stöhr and the youth ministry delegate, Fr. Johannes Kaufmann, manages and directs all activities, developing the programme in all its components.

The volunteer experience begins with the application to join the programme: young people taking part in the national programme start their service in September and take part in 25 training days during the volunteer year. For volunteers intending to go abroad, the path is somewhat longer: after an orientation meeting in the autumn, selections are made and candidates receive information from former volunteers who have already taken part in the programme in the past. The training phase begins in the first months of the year and includes a total of 12 days of preparation, during which volunteers receive information on Don Bosco’s pedagogy, the work of the Salesians in the world, important topics such as intercultural communication and precautions to be taken in case of emergency during the experience abroad. In July, the volunteers receive a blessing and a Don Bosco medal as a symbol of belonging to the Salesian Family.

The departure of the young people is planned for September, and towards the middle of the service, reflection meetings are offered in the various regions where the volunteers work, held by the coordination team of the German Province. The experience ends with a concluding seminar, shortly after returning from the service abroad, in which the foundations are laid for a future commitment to the Salesian Family.

On an annual basis, two meetings are organised in the Province for all those who have taken part in the programme since the start of activities in the 1990s. The Province’s coordination team takes care of all organisational aspects, including: searching for Salesian houses interested in collaborating in the field of volunteering; financing activities through ministerial and European funds; support in the event of emergencies; organising the health insurance aspects of the volunteers; communicating with the families of the volunteers.

More than a thousand young people have already taken part in the Don Bosco Volunteers programme in Germany and abroad over the past 25 years. In a study carried out a few months ago by the German Province, in which around 180 former volunteers took part, a constant commitment to social work on the part of the young people was observed even many years after the volunteering experience. Particularly evident is the respondents’ focus on issues such as social injustice, racism, ecology and sustainable development. This study has demonstrated the value of this programme, not only in terms of the immediate help that volunteers can give to their host communities during their year of service, but also in terms of the positive effects that can be registered in the long term, once they have completed their academic studies or embarked on their professional path.

An important aspect of the on Bosco Volunteers programme is its inclusion in national and European programmes, such as the European Commission’s European Solidarity Corps, the national volunteer programmes of the Ministry for Family and Youth or the weltwärts programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, so that the Salesians’ training offerings can be made more visible to institutions.

Constant quality controls carried out by competent associations certify the efficiency and transparency of the training offer of the Don Bosco Volunteers programme on a biannual basis. One aspect of these quality controls often concerns the cooperation between our competent offices and the host structures in Germany and in different countries around the world. This detail distinguishes the Salesian offer from many other private volunteer agencies, which cooperate with various organisations with the most varied profiles. Our volunteers work exclusively in Salesian facilities and are specially prepared for this life experience. It does not matter whether a volunteer is employed in a small village in southern India or in a European metropolis. There is something that unites all these young people and makes them feel at home during their experience: Don Bosco with his presence in the host communities offers them a point of reference in everyday life and gives them comfort and protection in the most difficult moments.

Of course, it would be too easy to say that a volunteer experience always goes smoothly or without problems: the acclimatisation phase in particular can create various integration problems for the volunteers. But it is precisely in these situations that growth can be observed in young people, who learn to know themselves, their limits and their resources better. The accompaniment provided by the Salesian host communities and the staff of the German Provincial coordination centres is intended to turn even the most difficult phases of this journey into opportunities for reflection and personal growth.

Many challenges await us in the future: the last two years have shown us that the world is changing and the fear that war will wipe out the prospect of a fairer society seems to be growing in the new generations. The Don Bosco Volunteers programme seeks to be a glimmer of light and a source of hope, so that our young people can build a better future for our planet through their commitment.

Francesco BAGIOLINI
Benediktbeuern, Germany

Photo gallery International volunteer work in Benediktbeuern

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A life spent for others. Fr Davide FACCHINELLO, sdb

Born in the thousand-year-old city of Treviso on 21 May 1974, Davide was baptised in the parish church of Loria (Treviso) where his family lived. He attended primary school in his birthplace and continued as a boarder in the two-year graphics school at the San Giorgio Institute in Venice, where he met the Salesians. He began a live-in experience in the Salesian Community in Mogliano Veneto, continuing his graphic design studies in Noventa Padovana where he received his qualifications. This experience led him to learn about the activities of the parish oratory in Mogliano, summer leadership initiatives, and formation groups, which would become catalysts for his response to a divine call, entering the novitiate in 1993. His first pastoral destination was in the Mogliano Veneto Astori house as Catechist for middle school, where he remained until 2011. He then received a new destination to the House at Este as vice-rector of the community and pastoral animator among the students at the Job Training Centre. This gave him a heartfelt desire for pastoral experience in mission lands, and he put himself at the disposal of the Salesian Congregation for this purpose. As his superiors indicated Peru as his destination, he immediately began to study Spanish, a language he continued to improve in while in the mission, at the same time as he immersed himself in the local culture.

Since his arrival in Peru in 2017, after a period of acclimatisation he was sent to the missionary community at Monte Salvado, in the region of Cusco. He started as assistant parish priest of Mary Help of Christians Parish, Quebrada Honda, in the Yanatile Valley, deep in the jungle where the Salesians accompany the Andean missions. After almost two years, he was appointed parish priest there on 12 April 2019.

As soon as he arrived, he dedicated himself to getting to know the people and putting himself at their pastoral service, being faithful to the instructions of the Archdiocese of Cusco and in collaboration with the local community. Since it was a missionary parish, he periodically visited all seventy-three communities, travelled to the most remote villages and reached the most humble and remote homes in a vast region. Eager to get even closer to the souls he served, he set about learning the Quechua language.

He initiated assistance and promotion projects, such as the parish canteen and a comprehensive psychological assistance programme, and, as a good Salesian, he gave encouragement to many oratories in the various villages. He intensely developed the renewal of catechesis along the lines of the RCIA, in harmony with the Province’s Educative and Pastoral Project. His commitment to the local Church was so great that he was appointed Dean of the region by the Archbishop of Cuzco. Among the testimonies of the people, the special care he had for some people (the poorest of the poor) stands out. David accompanied and promoted them in a special and very discreet way.

The testimonies received confirm that he was kind and attentive to the confreres in the community, an exemplary religious and a hard-working and committed apostle. From the very first moment he won the hearts of everyone with his kindness and serene cheerfulness; he was able to win the esteem and trust of people: companions, co-workers, parishioners and young people, thanks to his optimism, good sense, prudence and availability.

In addition to all this apostolic work, Davide was a much loved confrere: he loved being in the Salesian community, the confreres appreciated his good humour and his ability to create close bonds.

The young people at Monte Salvado (the school for young people from the jungle who attend the Salesian missionary community) loved him very much, appreciated the fact that he was happy to spend time with them during the break, and were impressed by his enthusiasm when he taught catechesis: his was a true sacrament of presence.

His earthly journey ended there: after sharing the feast of Mary Help of Christians with the parish community on 24 May 2022, he left for heaven in a car accident on his return around midnight. His final celebration of Our Lady would accompany him to Paradise.

Two fundamental traits that Don Bosco saw in St Francis de Sales – apostolic charity and loving-kindness – are those he most embodied. It is almost a reflection of what one of his countrymen, Fr Antonio Cojazzi, used to say: “Cheerful face, heart in hand, there goes the Salesian.”

We hope that he will obtain many holy vocations for us from Heaven to accompany young people on their earthly journey. In the meantime, let us pray for him.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Commemorative video

To be a missionary in Amazonia is to allow oneself to be evangelised by the forest

The beauty of the indigenous people of Rio Negro conquers hearts and causes our own heart to change, to expand, to be surprised and to identify with this land, to the point of it being impossible to forget “dear Amazonia”! This is the experience of Leonardo, a young Salesian in the heart of Amazonia.

How did the idea of being a missionary arise in your heart?
This desire matured within me over many years of listening to the stories of Salesian missionaries, their witness as bearers of the love of God to the world. I have always admired these confreres who experienced divine love in their lives and could not remain silent; rather they felt compelled to announce it to others so that they too could prove how much they were loved by God. So it was that I asked to have an experience in the Salesian missions in Amazonia among the indigenous peoples. In 2021 I began to live and work as a “practical traineee” in the São Gabriel da Cachoeira missionary community, in the state of Amazonia. It was a real “missionary school”, full of new discoveries and experiences, of unimagined challenges, facing realities totally unknown to me until then.

What were your first impressions on arriving in an unknown land?
From the first moment that I looked out the window of the plane and saw the vastness of the forest and the many rivers, my mind “clicked”: I really am in Amazonia! Just as I have always seen on TV, the Amazon region is of exuberant beauty, with beautiful natural landscapes, true masterpieces of God the Creator. Another very beautiful first impression was seeing so many indigenous brothers and sisters, with such striking physical characteristics, such as the colour of their skin, their bright eyes and their black hair. To see the diversity and cultural richness of Amazonia is to remember our history, to remember our origin as Brazil and to understand better who we are as a people.

And why the choice of the Amazon? What is special about it for you?
The Church, including our Salesian Congregation, is essentially missionary. However, in the Northern region this is even more so because the territories are immense; access, generally by river, is difficult and costly; the cultural and linguistic diversity is vast and there is an enormous lack of priests, religious and other leaders who can carry out evangelization and the presence of the Church in these lands. Therefore, there is a lot of work and “heavy”, demanding work. It is not only the service of visits, preaching, celebrating the sacraments, as one might think of missionary life, but it means sharing the life and work of the people, carrying heavy burdens, feeling the need, exclusion, and abandonment of the people by the politicians; spending hours on the road or on the river; feeling the stings of insects; eating the food of the simple people “seasoned” with the spices of love, sharing and of welcome; listening to the stories of the elderly, often with words and expressions that we do not understand well; getting muddy feet and clothes, unheated cars; being without internet and, sometimes, even without electricity… All of this is involved in Salesian missionary life in Amazonia!

Tell us something more about the Salesian work where you have lived? What do the Salesians do for the young people of the region?
One of the purposes of our Salesian community in Sao Gabriel is the Oratory and Social Work: it is the Salesian playground, our direct work with the young people of “Gabriel” who frequent our Oratory every day and find in our house a place to play, have fun and live in a healthy way with their friends and colleagues. The young people here love sports, especially the national passion that is football. As the city does not offer many options for leisure and sport, the kids are present at our work all the time we are in operation and they complain a lot when it’s time to end the day’s activities. An average of 150 to 200 young people pass through our work every day. Besides this, the Salesian Missionary Centre offers courses for teenagers and older youth, such as computer and bakery courses.

And if a young person, knowing you and liking the charism, expresses the desire to become a Salesian, is there a way to be formed as such?
Yes, for some years now our community has also been running the Centro de Formaçao Indígena (CFI), which aims at accompanying and welcoming young indigenous people from all our missionary communities who want to follow vocational accompaniment and be helped in drawing up a Life Project. This accompaniment is what the Indigenous Aspirantate of the Salesian Missionary Province of Amazonia (ISMA) is all about. Besides offering this formation process, CFI offers classes in Portuguese, Salesianity, computer and bakery courses, spiritual and psychological accompaniment and gradual insertion within Salesian life. It is really an experience that is highly valued by them, since they are the first steps on the formation journey and it is done in their environment, with their people, with the affection and closeness of the Salesians and lay leaders.

You said that there are other missionary communities besides San Gabriel? How is this? How does the missionary work in Rio Negro function?
Because it has more connections and services, our Sao Gabriel community is the base seeing to links and logistics with our missions in the interior, especially Maturacá (with the Yanomami people) and Iauaretê (in the “tukano triangle”). In these missionary situations there is no formal commerce, and when there is, the prices are extremely high. Therefore, all purchases of food, hygiene products, materials for repairs and fuel for the boats used in the itinerance (pastoral visits to the riverside communities) and the production of electricity by generator, are done in São Gabriel and then sent by us, via river transport, to these locations. It is a very intense manual work, because we have to buy and then carry a lot of heavy materials to the boats that will take these products to our people who live and work in the other missions. We carry food bags, Styrofoam boxes with meat and several “carotes” (plastic containers for carrying liquids) of 50 litres of fuel each. Besides this, our house has several rooms, always available and prepared to host the missionary confreres who are passing through São Gabriel, either going to or returning from the other missions. It is a real work of assistance and networking.

And do you remember any powerful experiences from these “itinerance” on the rivers?
Yes, of course, in relation to these “itinerance”, one experience that impressed me deeply was the one at Maturacá. We had days of profound experience of the encounter with God through the encounter with others, with those who are different from us, with our neighbour, because we made a pastoral visit to the Yanomami people’s communities.

In addition to the headquarters of the Salesian Mission at Maturacá, we visited six other communities (Nazaré, Cachoeirinha, Aiari, Maiá, Marvim and Inambú). These were intense and challenging days. Firstly, because each community is very distant from one another and access is only possible by means of the tributaries of our beloved Amazon, travelling in a motorised boat (called a voadeira), under strong sun or heavy rain. Secondly, they are traditional Yanomami communities, so culture shock is inevitable, as they have habits, customs and ways of life that are completely different to us non-indigenous people. Thirdly, there are the practical challenges, such as the lack of electricity 24 hours a day, no telephone signal, little choice and variety of food, bathing and washing clothes in the river, living with insects and other animals of the forest… A real anthropological and spiritual “dive”. We celebrated the Eucharist in all the communities and several baptisms in some of them, we visited the families and prayed with the children. It was a fantastic experience of encounter, special days, days of gratitude, days of returning to the most essential aspects of our faith and Salesian Youth Spirituality: love for Jesus, fruit of our personal encounter with Him, and the love for our neighbour that is manifested in the desire to be with him and to become his friend.

This remarkable “itinerance” undoubtedly left you with much to learn in your life, true?
These pastoral visits are a real “school” and give us life lessons: detachment, because the more “things” we accumulate, the “heavier” the journey becomes; living in the present, because in the middle of Amazonia, without access to the means of information, the only contact is with present reality, whatever is around us, the forest, the river, the sky, the boat; gratuitousness, because we face difficulties and weariness without expecting gestures of human gratitude. Finally, geographical itinerance leads us to an “inner itinerance”, conversion, a return to the essentials of life and faith. To sail the rivers of Amazonia is to sail to interior rivers.  To be in the missions is to be constantly provoked to free oneself from preconceived and rigid ideas in order to be freer to love and welcome the other and to announce the joy of the Gospel to them.

A very special lesson that I learn every day in the missions is that to be a good missionary I must be someone deeply marked and touched by the merciful love of God, and only from this experience can I be ready to “take” and “show” everywhere how God loves us and can transform our whole life. I also learn that, being a missionary, I take and show this love, first of all with my own life given to the mission. Without saying a word, by the simple fact of leaving my origins and embracing new cultures, I can reveal that the love of God is worth much more than all the things we consider valuable in our lives. Therefore, the missionary’s life is his first and greatest witness and proclamation!

You have had this missionary experience, but can it be said that you too have been evangelised? What has given you satisfaction in your heart?
Finally, being in São Gabriel, the most indigenous municipality in Brazil, “home” to 23 multicultural and multilingual ethnic groups, I realize every day that, in calling us to be missionaries, God calls us to be capable of being enchanted by the beauty and mystery which is each person and each culture of our world. Therefore, following the example of the Master, Jesus, missionary of the Father, we are called to “empty ourselves” of everything in order to “fill ourselves” with the beauties and marvels present in every corner of the earth and to associate them with the preciousness of the Gospel. This was one of the most profound experiences for me.

At the end of all this, I believe that satisfaction comes from the smiles and cries of our boys and girls playing, running, jumping, throwing a ball, telling their jokes; it comes from the curious and brilliant glances of the men and women of the forest; joy comes from contemplating the beauty of nature, the generosity of the people and the perseverance of the Christians who remain, at times, for months without the presence of a priest, but who look at and touch with love and devotion the little feet of the small image of Our Lady or the cross on the altar. In the Salesian missions of Rio Negro one learns to live without excesses, to value simplicity and to rejoice in the little things of life. Here all becomes a feast, dance, music, celebration, faith. Here one lives in the same poverty and simplicity as at the beginning of Valdocco, where Don Bosco, Mamma Margaret, Dominic Savio, Fr Rua and so many others lived and were sanctified. Being in Amazonia certainly enriches us as people, Christians and Salesians of Don Bosco!

Interview of Don Gabriel ROMERO with the young Salesian Leonardo Tadeu DA SILVA OLIVEIRA, from the Province of São João Bosco based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Amazonia Photo Gallery

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I had always admired Don Bosco, his passion for young people, his spirituality made of joy and concreteness, but I was unaware that there was a large Family around him. When someone spoke to me for the first time about the Salesian Family some time ago, he pointed to a large oak standing majestically in front of me and said: ‘Look at that tree. The Salesian Family is like that: it has a strong and solid trunk that is Don Bosco, well rooted to the ground, to the concrete reality of everyday life – the young, the poor, the challenges of every day that await answers, … – and it has many branches that look to the sky – the various Groups born from his charism. There are groups of religious and groups of lay people, men and women, as many as thirty-two that share the same spirituality, the same passion for the mission, but each one realises it in its own specific way!”.

I liked the image of the tree: the branches were close to each other, growing independently, but united to the trunk and nourished by the same sap of the plant. Together they made the tree leafy, lush, an exceptional shelter for the many birds that had chosen it as their home. It could have been a home for me too! I also liked the idea of ‘family’: it smelled good, of intimacy, of mutual support.

The first thing that attracted my interest was the fact that all the Groups together, despite their autonomy, form a large reality where an atmosphere of fraternity and joy, of closeness and trust is experienced. It is a style that characterises all the Groups: the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian Cooperators, the ADMA Association, and all those which, over the years, have been founded by ‘sons of Don Bosco’, each with its own special character. There are Sisters who take care of lepers and those who carry out their mission in small centres where others do not come; religious who put themselves at the service of local peoples and others who take in children. Then there are groups of lay people, from those who evangelise through mass media to those involved in missionary activity ad gentes or who are committed to being active in the social sphere, bringing the values received in Salesian circles. Finally, there are also Secular Institutes for men and women, with consecrated lay people committed to becoming missionaries in the heart of the world.

A great variety of vocations united by the one charism, the one spirituality: that of Don Bosco.

I also wanted to enter this adventure. As I went along I understood what “belonging” meant: just as being part of a natural family does not simply mean having the same surname, but is also participating in its history, sharing its values, its projects, its labours, so it is for the Salesian Family. Belonging to it is a choice, a vocation to which one responds, and from that moment on we grow together, bonds are created and strengthened, we dream together, plan together, build together, support, LOVE. This is what making Family is all about!

Already in 2009, the Successor of Don Bosco at the time, Fr Pascual Chávez, said emphatically: ‘I make the pressing invitation to this Family to acquire a new mentality, to think and act always as a Movement, with an intense spirit of communion (concord), with a convinced desire for cooperation (unity of intentions), with a mature capacity to work as a network (unity of projects)’.

Not a mere aggregation of groups, then, which like live monads in a self-referential manner, ignoring others, but rather the response to a call to live in full communion, bringing about a true Copernican revolution! It is a matter of being able to feel, when one joins a Salesian group, that one is not alone, that in the first place one joins a Family, a Movement of apostolic spirituality, which then becomes specific in a particular way of living the same gift. It is a matter of learning to recognise oneself as part of a whole and to understand that by walking and working together with others, we are all enriched and can achieve better results. It is a matter of learning to recognise the riches of the charisms of others, of committing oneself to the growth not only of one’s own, but also of the other groups, and of building a communion made up of respect for the specificities of each one, of collaboration, of appreciation for all.

Don Bosco truly had an original and fascinating intuition: join forces for a more effective mission!

In a letter to Cardinal John Cagliero (27 April 1876) Don Bosco wrote: ‘Once it was enough to unite together in prayer, but now that there are so many means of perversion, especially to the detriment of the youth of both sexes, it is necessary to unite in the field of action and work’.

And again in the January 1878 Salesian Bulletin, addressing the Cooperators: ‘We must unite among ourselves and all with the Congregation. Let us therefore unite by aiming at the same end and using the same means to achieve it. Let us therefore unite as one family with the bonds of fraternal charity’.

This, “working together” does not always mean, however, working “cheek by jowl”. It does not mean intervening in uniform ways. It does not mean all doing the same thing, but knowing how to interpret the personal and social contexts of young people together, knowing how to find potential intervention strategies to achieve shared goals – knowing how to coordinate together, mutually, with common as well as individual responsibility.

As in any family, everyone has their own role in the Don Bosco Family, but everyone is striving to achieve the same goals. Each group has its own specific character which must be respected and valued; it has its own characterisation that does not exhaust the charism that the Spirit has given through Don Bosco to the Church and to the world, but brings to light aspects of it that are always new and original. No one, on the other hand, can claim to be the ‘owner’ of the charism, but simply its custodian! In the Salesian Family it can be said that each group is incomplete without the other. All this makes me think of a face of Don Bosco made up of many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle: if some pieces are missing, the features of the figure will be disfigured, the face will not be recognisable. The pieces put together will show a complete Don Bosco.

Together, in communion, living the mission! In this way all the Groups can collaborate in formation and appreciation of the charism. Starting from concrete situations, they can plan together and foster shared commitment in their neighbourhood, where each can offer its own “specialisation”. They can network in a fraternal spirit to be more effective.

We know only too well how urgent it is, today, to commit ourselves to a fairer and more humane world; how necessary it is to indicate horizons of hope to so many young people; how indispensable it is to bear witness to solidarity, unity, communion in a society constantly tempted to close in on itself.

Yes, this is truly a beautiful Family!

I want to sing my thanks to Don Bosco. Ever available to the Holy Spirit, he sowed a seed in the earth. That seed sprouted, it became a large plant with many branches, leaves, flowers: … one big tree.

Now I know that whoever feels the same passion as Don Bosco, the same desire to make himself a mission for the young, the poor, the least, will find a place among its branches and will contribute to making the world more beautiful.

Giuseppina BELLOCCHI

From Croatia to Ethiopia: don Bosco’s missionary dream continues

            Testimony of Josip Ivan SOLDO sdb, a Croatian Don Bosco missionary sent to Ethiopia among the members of the 151st missionary expedition. The missionary call arises within the Salesian vocation as an invitation to go out and go wherever the Lord calls us.

My name is Josip SOLDO, I am a Croatian Salesian born in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Let me begin by saying that my family has always played an important role in my life: I have three brothers and two sisters, one of whom is my twin sister. I am very proud of my sixteen grandnephews and nieces; my mother Veronica is still alive while my father died in 2006.
If I look back in the story of my vocation, I can say that from a very young age I felt the desire to become a priest. I was already an altar boy at the age of five and I kept up this service until middle school. As a teenager, however, I drifted away from the Church, keeping only the tradition of going to Mass on Sundays and going to confession, but without any real interest or involvement.

Around the age of 24-25 my conversion began. At that time I worked in a fast-food company and felt the need to reconnect with God, reading the Bible in my breaks from work. The Word of God slowly filtered into my heart and I felt confused. I was a ‘normal’ young man who loved going to discos, going out with friends and having fun with them, getting girls to notice me, hoping one day to find my soul mate. Meeting a Salesian priest changed my life and I made the decision to deepen my understanding of Don Bosco’s charism with the desire to one day become a Salesian priest. For two years I was in the pre-novitiate community; I needed to really get to know Don Bosco because the Salesians had no community where I lived. Suffice it to say that in my village they asked me if the Salesians were part of the Catholic Church, thinking they were a sect instead. The idea of helping poor young people, educating them for a better life and bringing them closer to Christ immediately fascinated me.

In 2016 I moved to Italy, to Rome where I stayed for three years, first in the novitiate in Genzano, where I took my first vows as a religious on 8 September 2017, and then in the Community of San Tarcisio to study philosophy at the Pontifical Salesian University. Inside me I felt a strong desire to go further, to go far, but I was not yet mature enough to make a serious and difficult decision such as missionary life. When I returned to Croatia for my internship, I realised that my doubts, uncertainties, fears, not feeling up to it, or inexperience could not stop me from being willing to become a missionary. God works through us even when we are not aware and we cannot rely solely on our own, limited, human strength, He uses our weaknesses, our little nuances to show His greatness. Many times it had happened to me that I had prepared well for meetings with the young people and then they often remembered nothing of the meeting, but they would tell me how significant for them were the things said in informal moments, which I often did not even realise. I understood that God does not need superheroes but “useless servants” who have in their hearts the desire to serve Him, and so I wrote my application to the Rector Major to be a Salesian missionary, ad gentes. In the very year that the Covid pandemic started, I received the answer from the Generalate: missionary with destination Ethiopia! The first step was to learn patience amidst the limitations due to the health situation and the slowness of the bureaucracy to obtain the necessary documents. In the meantime, I did my practical training in the communities in Split and Zagreb, two different experiences which gave me the opportunity to get to know many saintly confreres and young people who showed me the face and voice of God.

Finally, at the beginning of September last year, I arrived in Ethiopia! At the “Bosco Children” in Addis Ababa I was able to be among the boys: many of them come from the street. The Salesians give them a second chance by welcoming them into the centre. There are young refugees, boys who have had to flee their cities or their homes, while others were born and have always lived on the street. We Salesians offer them the chance to have a new life, through education, housing and all that is necessary for a life worthy of a human being. The boys who enter the Bosco Children programme live there for two to three years until they are ready to be reintegrated into their family or society. Another service I performed this year was building the website (boscochildren.com), with the help and support of some good confreres from Croatia and the Croatian youth movement called Nova Eva. Having had experience as a cook in the past, it was suggested that I bake bread with the young people: every day we baked bread for the whole centre and community, with the dream of one day opening a real bakery with jobs and training courses. For the rest, our centre is a ‘Valdocco in Addis Ababa’: a farm with rabbits, chickens and cows, school for auto mechanics, carpentry, metalworkers, electricians, cooking, tailoring… everything to educate our boys and prepare them for life.

The culture shock for me was quite strong: the different food, a language that I could not learn straight away, the customs of a new culture… I experienced many emotions, I felt nervous and often wanted to isolate myself.

I have to thank the Congregation’s Missions Sector for the missionary training course that has just ended because it was an opportunity to name these shocks, to see that other missionaries also experience the same challenges and that the process of inculturation is not easy. In spite of the difficulties, I feel in my heart a strong desire to go forward and urge myself to overcome myself. With time I know that I will understand that in missionary life the Lord does not ask for much – “He asks for everything” to give you everything.

My formation towards the priesthood continues by beginning my studies in theology, before returning to the mission. Surely there will be new challenges, but there will also be the joy of being where the Lord wants me, the fullness of knowing that what I am doing is God’s will. Now I feel that there is nothing that can fill your heart as the Lord does when you are there where He wants you, when you know that your life finds fullness of meaning in His Divine plan, and the hope that He will never leave your hands until heaven, where I hope to be one day together with many brothers and sisters.

Interviewer: Marco FULGARO