3781(II)_Sarasit (=Salesian) and Sarasas?

By Our Own Correspondent

Chiang Mai, Thailand – Turin, Italy, October 27,2015 - Our Salesian Aspirants of Thailand are studying in three different places – junior aspirants (grade 7-9) in Hua Hin (Salesian school) and Chiang Mai (Sarasas school), senior aspirants (grade 10-12) in Banpong (Sarasit school, which means ‘Salesian’ in the Thai transliteration). Only the last stage of the aspirantate program – some kind of pre-prenovitiate is happening in Sampran, where our candidates study two years in the ‘Lux Mundi’ National Catholic major seminary before they eventually apply for the Novitiate (Sampran).

Since 1965 one of the Don Bosco Past Pupils in Thailand developed a large nation-wide brand of ‘Sarasas’ school, pointing at the ‘excellence in teaching and caring’. From the far South to the North East and North West there are 36 schools with a population of 85.540 students. Sarasas was the first school in Thailand to use the bilingual (Thai-English) curriculum extensively since 1995 (K-12 grade).

What does strike in these ‘Don Bosco inspired schools’ is the continuous reference to St John Bosco within the school infrastructures, the use of the preventive system (large playgrounds, music rooms, involvement of the students into education and learning process, care about the poor students). All 6945 Sarasas staff and teachers are constantly reminded about the person and work of Don Bosco, as the point of reference in education. The Sarasas story is among those hundreds that shows the impact of Don Bosco beyond the ‘Salesian Mission’.

As the Don Bosco Bicentenary Year draws to the close, we notice the last major event in Turin, Italy: “The 6th International Congress of Salesian Historians” (ACSSA). From October 28th until November 1st we will see the participation of 90 ‘Salesian Historians’ (SDB, FMA, Salesian Cooperators and other members of the Salesian Family) from four continents in Turin. The theme is ‘The perception of the figure of Don Bosco outside of Salesian Work from 1879 until 1965’.

From the EAO region we notice the contributions from three professional historians - Carlo Socol (CIN), Nestor Impelido (FIN) and Maria Grassi (THA-FMA) and the program can be followed at the special website: http://congressoacssatorino2015.altervista.org/index.html. We wish many more insight into the impact of the figure of Don Bosco in education, social and ecclesial life among the 22 countries of our Region.