EAO: 27 January 2013 -- Given the imminent
celebrations for
31st January, and a number of requests for ideas, materials,
the
following resources may be of interest. Feel free to
make
whatever use you need of them.
The first is a letter-reflection by a member of the MOR
Province,
long-time missionary Fr Gianni Caputa who lectures at
Ratisbonne in
Jerusalem. He is currently visiting Egypt and offers some
reflection on
the current situation.
DON BOSCO BEYOND THE
REVOLUTIONS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Dear Friends,
I have been in Cairo for some days, a guest of our confreres
at “Don
Bosco” in Rod-el-Farag, and am about to head off with some
of them to
Alexandria or thereabouts, for the confreres' Retreat. In
the context
of what has been happening over these days the following
thoughts come
to mind by way of reflection.
Don Bosco (1815-1888) lived at a
time of great
change, we might even say “revolutions”: the incipient
industrial
revolution in Turin, the rennaissance movements which led to
Italy's
'unification'... He had already been a priest for 6 years
when the
first of the wars broke out that would rock the northern
part of the
Peninsula (“the ‘48” !). Many saw military force as the only
way of
achieving their goal. Some priests in Turin were already
training their
young people to send them into front-line combat.
Others, and this included Don Bosco, were
convinced
(did not let themselves be caught up in passions, looking
realistically
beyond the immediate) that young people needed to be
equipped
with some very different tools. Most young people were
illiterate,
poor, and would have been victims of other areas of life
were they not
adequately prepared from a professional, cultural and
religious point
of view.
Thus Don Bosco enters the scene with all
his energy
in so many areas. He writes school texts for them of primary
import: The
metric decimal system to
familiarise
them with the passage from the old to the new measurement
system ...; The
History of Italy, to let the
Piedmontese know something of their new common
homeland; the
Bible History and Church
History so they could be not
just
upright citizens but also good Christians. Evidently these
were not
academic works but handy pocket-sized (almost) books, some
written for
use 'viva voce' ... - and his other front was to open
workshops for
printing, boot-making, tailoring, mechanics... where
youngsters could
learn a trade (at the beginning directly from him, since
he'd been a
shop or trade assistant in his teenage years...). -
And then
finally his direct involvment with the owners or those who
offered
work, so they would respect the rights of their young
workers.
The success of these initiatives of his
demonstrates
that they responded to concrete needs. But they needed
continuity. For
some time Don Bosco appealed to his closest helpers, priests
and lay,
and then in 1859 put the question to a group of his own
boys, young
adults barely, to 'enrol' in a new “army” of individuals who
would
dedicated themselves to an all-round education of poor
youngsters in
the spirit of St Francis de Sales. Thus the Salesians came
into
existence ...
The story continues today.
Here at “Don Bosco” in Cairo (but also in
Alexandria, and in our school in Fidar/Jbeil, or in
Bethlehem, Nazareth
...) the Salesians are doing what he did back then albeit in
updated
fashion: giving youngsters the cultural, professional,
technical tools
which, along with human and religious values, enables them
to set up a
family, earn an honest living, and contribute to the future
of their
country of origin.
Over these few days I have been speaking
with the
Rector, Fr Renzo Leonarduzzi, with Fr Erando Vacca, Fr
El-Prince and
one of the Egyptian lay coordinators, Maged. They are fully
in harmony
with Don Bosco's vision and they are carrying out his
mission in the
socio-economic, cultural and political context of
contemporary Egypt.
Thanks to their work (intelligent and full of sacrifice)
“Don Bosco”
has gained excellent results and remains at this level of
excellence.
Some facts: the current ITI and IPI students number 600.
Over the last
20 years around 850 have graduated and more than 50,000 have
obtained
qualifications from short courses (mechanics, electricity,
numerical
control, refrigeration, PLC, and also Italian). They have
all found a
place in industry, local crafts, tourism ...
Last year 9
gained an Engineering Degree by following an online course
run by an
Italian University.
The Bishops of Upper Egypt are asking the Salesians to come
to their
dioceses to exercise their ministry. The Government is
insisting that
the “Don Bosco Model” (for many years now the flagship of
Egypt-Italian
cooperation) be replicated in other schools. Various
international
development organisations are sending their future
instructors to be
formed by us here
So...if, amongst those reading these lines, there is someone
who is
ready to “give a hand” (NGO, Past Pupils, friends...) he or
she only
needs to write to the Rector, Fr Renzo! renzoleo@hotmail.com
Meanwhile, you can all say a prayer for this 'young' country
which
needs God's help but also people's help to overcome the
crisis it now
finds itself immersed in. And Happy Feast of Don Bosco on
the 31st!
Fr Gianni Caputa"
------------------------------------------------- LIFE OF DON BOSCO
The second is a resource that you may find useful - you could
simply
run it from your computer hooked up to a projector, if you
have good
internet access, but if you wanted a copy of the whole thing
so you can
run it direct just ask and I'll send it to you (it's about 18
Mb zipped
up).
Remember the comic book series on Don Bosco's life (pics by
Nino Musio
with Italian text subtitles)? With some useful
collaboration
between Turin-Rome-Cebu, and some fast footwork especially by
Frs Joriz
Calsa (FIS) Joel Camaya (FIN), who looked after layout and
translation
- both have studied at the UPS - we were able to drop these
pics into a
simple html5 slide show and make them available through
sdb.org.
