ULAAN BAATAR: 8 February 2103 --
In
AGC 397 some years back, the Rector Major was noting the
founders and
pioneers of the EAO Region, and included the names of those of
more
recent times who had beguan a Salesian presence in countries
such as
Pakistan, Mongolia, Fiji....
Here below, Fr Carlo Villegas, one of those so named, reflects
on the
12 years since he was the first Salesian to establish a firm
footing on
Mongolain soil. Excerpts of this reflection are found here,
not the
whole text.
When I received my "obedience" from Fr Odorico and blessings
from Fr
Vecchi to lead the founders of the mission in Mongolia, I
began
deliberately to filially seek out a way to meet the remaining
(living)
Salesian pioneers of my country of origin (Philippines). In
the last
winter months of the Jubilee year (2000) on the North American
west
coast, I sought out Fr. Anthony DiFalco and met him in a
nursing home
in California. In the early days of February 2001 a day before
my entry
into Mongolia I was was privileged to be brought to "Braga
House" in
Hong-Kong... and meet Fr. Mario Acquistapace. Bent with age,
he
listened to what "good news" I was eager to tell him. "Father
Mario,
tomorrow we enter Mongolia." Upon hearing this his eyes filled
with
tears and he said 'this too was our dream. This too was Don
Bosco's
dream'. I then asked him to write a note on a holy picture
that I could
carry with me as an encouragement for what lies ahead. He
wrote on a
holy picture of Pope Paul VI, "(mama) Maria, will be with
you." And
indeed she was, is and will be.
At 3:45 pm our Mongol Airlines (MIAT) Airbus wheels "touched
down" at
Buyant-Ukhaa airport (Mongolian: Буянт-Ухаа нисэх онгоцны
буудал)* in
the coldest capital city of the world, Ulaanbaatar (The Red
Hero),
outer Mongolia. The temperatures then were nothing compared to
nowadays.
My beloved "chaperones" (they would leave me behind two days
later)
then were Fr. Odorico and Fr. Ty, my new Provincial now that
this
mission was entrusted to the Salesian Jurisdiction of Vietnam.
And
after the brief introductions to the mission by some
missionaries I was
left to live in the mission center for a while whilst
preparing our
place, our school, our educational mission work. For us
Salesians, we
Educate by Evangelizing and we Evangelize by Educating. This
implies
that a new Evangelization requires a New Education.
....
To my knowledge... I have prepared the school to the best of
my
God-given formation and experience (with 11 years as technical
student
at DB-Makati, 11 years as a Salesian-Educator-Priest in the
making in
DB Canlubang, DB Mandaluyong, DB Paranaquel; and my
first mission
territory as a very young priest – 7 beautiful years in Papua
New
Guinea)
To my knowledge... my confreres then, now and in the future
will always
have a place warm enough to keep the presence of St. John
Bosco thawed
and unfrozen if they have enough means to pay the bills.
To my knowledge... my Mongolian proficiency is our 'corporate'
lacunae
which I hope and pray, may someday be realized and filled.
After twelve and a half winters, nearing 500 Mongolian Youths
have
passed through the doors of our home, eleven graduation
ceremonies,
from thirty (2001) to three hundred (2012) Mongolian students
per year,
from seven to sixty staff, from a Russian 'cold-war' military
Forgon
van to a Hyundai Hybrid, from a "domboo" (colloquial for
stupid) to
clearly a "Дон Боско, хатуу шуударгаа гэвч маш сайн сургуул.
Манай
Монголд энэ шиг хэрэгтэй" (Don Bosco, very strict and honest,
but is a
very good school. Our Mongolia needs more of this kind).
Tengerburkhan
(God of the heavens and of earth) is good.
......
I always told the students and staff and parents, "It is
useless to
gain knowledge and skills without moral values. Let us produce
not only
students with a high school diploma. Let us produce not only
students
with a technical skill. Let us produce also honest, truthful,
respectful, hard working and grateful citizens of Mongolia."
...and it
all begins with a good foundation of educators in good homes
(parents)
and good schools (educative staff).
The secret?... I come to realize that people, young as well as
older
ones, do not reflect much. If we all did... reflect, the
possibilities
for transformation are limitless. Even the first pillar of the
Preventive System is Reason. Rationality in the very human
conscience
is open to truth, to goodness, to transformation.
From plus 40 hot temperatures in summer to minus 40 deep
freeze
temperatures in winter... a non-issue even for people like me
born in
the tropics. Our subsistence in the great steppes of the
central plains
of Asia, should serve as a myth-buster for naysayers since
freezing
climates are not Waterloos for mission. You should try
listening to our
confreres in Siberia. Yet my baptism into subzero 45 degree
celsius was
very real when I had to go by foot and public transportation
to and
from my 5 month stint at Mongolian language school. But the
warm
reception of the Mongolian youth and elders to the truth and
goodness
within themselves makes it worth all the while for a Salesian
to
prepare the seed bed for their own generations to come to
embrace the
fullness of Truth and Goodness in the very Person whom Khublai
and
Temujin a.k.a. Chinggis Khaan called prophetically as Tenger
(Burkhan).
Its humbling to be chronicled in history specially from the
Rector
Major... yet at great risk and responsibility when one's main
task is
simply to live up to what the Baptist said... That He must
increase, and
I must decrease. I believe we ought to have more courage to
implement
the “correct” and “unified” charism at all cost... learning
from the
past twelve years, not ever again to be compromisingly soft to
the
clamor of a few who demanded their individualism.... and in
the end,
are sadly lost. May the Lord and St. John Bosco grant us
mercy.
When all things failed to unconvince my superiors, I asked Fr.
Odorico
why on earth he choose me to be the founder among founders, he
said...
"because you're crazy." ...'nuff said. :)
I tried. Viva JMJ! Christo Rey!
* If your computer does not read Cyrillic this and other
phrases will be 'garbage' in computer terms.
