austraLasia #2376

International Womens Day sees Salesian Family active across continents

MUMBAI-JOHANNESBURG-NEW YORK: 11th March 2009 -- 6000 women from Self Help groups in slum areas Antop Hill, Wadala, Matunga, Mahim, Dharavi, and from the villages of Virar and Naigaon, gathered at Matunga on March 8th, International Women's Day. As the Mumbai-based correspondent wrote: "Through the decades this campus has witnessed many a gathering and a variety of celebrations - but this was the first time ever that a Women's Day celebration was being organised here"!
    Meanwhile in New York, the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women, still in session (from 3-13 March) at the UN has seen several branches of the Salesian Family collaborating with NGOs and governments around the theme of equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including car-giving, in the context of HIV/AIDS.
    In the second week of the Commission, the Salesians and Salesian Sisters were able to prepare a joint oral intervention which, in turn, was delivered by two young lay collaborators from South Africa: Charl Domingo and Khanyisile Sarah Tsiane. The intervention, prepared by Fr Tom Brennan and Sr Bernadette Sangma, offered a series of recommendations based on world-wide Salesian experience in the field - and the presentation of these recommendations by two young Africans, a male and female, was something widely appreciated.
    The South African Salesian 'Love Matters' Programme, begun in 2001, was presented. This is a Sexuality Education programme with a special focus on the prevention of spread of HIV/AIDS. Khanyisile Sarah Tsiane and Breven Clarke spoke of the development and purpose of the programme. Charl Domingo spoke of its ability to be replicated in other places, and spoke of his work in Swaziland, while Sr Libokanyo Cecilia Motanya FMA spoke of its implementation in Lesotho.
    Among those in attendance at the Love Matters discussion  were many members of the South African delegation to the UN including  the Minister to the President,  Manto Tshabalala  Msimang and the Deputy Minister Ntombasana Botha.
    Fr Brennan remarked that following these discussions many asked if Don Bosco in South Africa is the same as Don Bosco in..... and in..... and in.......and in......  (a total of four countries named)

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Title: australasia 2376
Subject and key words: SDB General Women, UN, South Africa, India
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2376