VIETNAM: GOVERNMENT INVITES SDBs INTO FORMER DMZ
AREA - AND 'HOME'
ROME: 9th August -- The Salesians are
preparing to move into full scale Professional Skills Training in the
Central Mekong Delta, in the former DMZ region well-known to American and
Australian troops before 1975, but also an area of special significance for
Salesians - close by the assigned Salesian area is a national Shrine to Mary
Help of Christians. There is a strong feeling of 'coming home'
for the persevering and industrious Salesians of the Vietnamese
Province
In an interview with 'austraLasia' today, Fr. John
Nguyen Van Ti, who recently concluded his term as Provincial in Vietnam,
outlined significant developments for the Vietnamese SDB Province, which now
numbers around 230 confreres and climbing, with a steady influx of 20 or more
novices per year, most of whom enter with a university or other professional
degree and experience already behind them.
Since 1975, Salesians have really been restricted
to Parish work mainly, with small non-institutional enterprises around these
parish centres. In the 1990's, two attempts were made to enter into joint
agreement with Government to provide educational facilities - there was an
openness on the part of the Government, 'but conditions and restrictions to
proposed agreements were deemed unsatisfactory', Fr. Ti indicated. By
1998, however, one such joint venture in the city (HCM) did eventuate - a
professional skills training centre affiliated with a Government institution
but with no actual legal status in itself. By the year 2000 there was
change in the air - the Government issued a decree opening up education to
certain private bodies. As the Salesians discovered, this did not include
certain Religious bodies, but a start had been made: health, education, sport
now began to see some private institutions working in their own
right.
The real change came when the Salesian Province
approached local provincial government concerning a number of areas outside the
main cities. Lam Dong in the highlands was one such area. The result
was agreement in 2002 for the Salesians to conduct a fully private institution,
even allowing boarding providing students were poor rural students with no other
opportunities. The Government provided 3-4 acres of land for the
purpose. While buildings are still something for the future, 'teaching is
already going on', said Fr. Ti. Misereor has promised assistance with
buildings. Yet another Professional Skills Training Centre is proposed in
the deep South, next to the border with Cambodia at Ba Ria, hopefully with
financial backing from the Italian Government. Here too, teaching is going
on, but the interesting feature of this development is the presence, not of
Salesians but young Salesian Cooperators. It is also the hometown of the
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister. All these developments have led to the
Salesian name being held in high esteem amongst ordinary Vietnamese but
especially Party cadre members - to the point where the most recent 'Mekong'
offer (at Quang Tri, precisely) is indeed an offer, not something originally
sought by the Salesians. Fr. Ti explained how the local government
authorities have provided the land, tax free and how 'it just happens that the
land is nearby the beloved shrine to Mary Help of Christians at La Vang'.
Hic domus mea.....inde gloria mea...
