austraLasia #2706 Thai Provincial highlights importance of communications
Sihanoukville: 4 August 2010 -- In a conference on 2 September
to students and teachers of the social communication section of the
Sihanoukville Salesian community, the Salesian Provincial for Thailand,
Cambodia and Laos, Fr John Bosco Thepharat Pitisant, underlined the
importance of communications for the Salesian mission and the
development of societies like Cambodia.
Fr Thepharat spoke as part of his canonical visit to
the Don Bosco schools in Cambodia, mainly in Phnom Penh and
Sihanoukville, where he participated in their respective Graduation
Days. About 800 young people finished their 24-month technical
formation in both schools this year in fields including general
mechanics, electricity, secretarial studies, hotel management,
automotive mechanics, social communications. Since 1991 Don Bosco has
given technical certificates to some five thousand young people from
the most impoverished communities of Cambodia, especially rural areas
and for very low affordable fees, while relying on charitable funds to
cover the rest.
On Graduation Day at Sihanoukville on August 13, the
governor of the city, Mr Bong Sarath and other members of the city
authorities, visited the school and greeted the newly graduated Don
Bosco technicians. Fr Thepharat and Mr. Sarath exchanged thanks and
talked about the contribution of the Don Bosco schools for the
development of the country by offering skills formation to young people
from poor communities. For Fr Thepharat, this gesture of Mr Sarath as
governor of the port city is a very important encouragement for the
continuation of the Salesian mission in the region and in the Kingdom
of Cambodia.
Thursday, September 2, was Fr Thepharat's final day
in Sihanoukville and Cambodia. By way of closure to his official visit
to the centre, he addressed a conference to the students and teachers
of the social communication section in the Don Bosco Audiovisual Centre
TV studio. As the students have by now completed their first year and
one of their skills is English as a second language, the conference was
done entirely in English. Fr Thepharat encouraged the project and
underlined the importance of areas like communication and information
technology for the Salesian Mission and the development of countries
like Cambodia. He said to the 18 young students that they must dream
the best future for their country. His desire for the section was that
it might be able to afford the creation of a radio station and
television channel. He said that in Thailand the government has opened
up the possibility to create Radio Communities and with that idea the
Salesians have already founded three radio stations that have been very
important for the encounter with contemporary young people in the
country. "If Don Bosco were alive at this time, he would be very
happy with the Internet, radio, television, the modern media, to reach
more and more young people," he said.
Fr Thepharat also motivated the Salesian communities
in Cambodia to welcome the Don Bosco Casket due to arrive in Cambodia
in December 2010 for three days. The Pilgrimage of the Don Bosco Casket
began in Turin on April 2009 as a way of preparing the Salesian world
for the celebration of the bi-centenary of the birth of Saint John
Bosco (1815 - 2015). _________________ AustraLasia is an
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