We do not know
each other
... but we know Don Bosco
PHNOM PENH: 3 December 2010 -- The Cambodian
Minister for
Education, Sport and Youth, Im Sothy, visited the Don
Bosco Technical
School compound in the capital district of Phnom Penh
Thmey (New Phnom
Penh) on the morning of 3 December, and emphasised the
role of the Don
Bosco schools in the recovery of Cambodia after the war.
He gave his
address in the presence of the Casket which had arrived on
1 December
(at midnight). Minister Sothy said that the Khmer Rouge
Regime (1975 -
1979) caused a great humanitarian disaster in the country.
After it,
many organizations came to support orphan children and
youth in
particular and among them was 'Don Bosco'.
During the war, Cambodia itself was
terribly divided, the Minister,
who was welcomed solemnly by students, teachers and
members of the
DBFC, said. He continued saying that when 'Don Bosco' came
to Cambodia,
division and violence were still part of the country. The
government
tried to find a place for Don Bosco around
Phnom
Penh.
Then they decided on this place [Phnom Penh Thmey], but it
was so far
from Phnom Penh City at the time (1991) and it was a real
jungle, with
ponds and rice fields. The site needed to be refilled with
sand in
order to construct the school buildings and workshops.
The Catholic Bishop of the Vicariate of
Phnom Penh, Oliviere
Schmitthaeusler,
who will preside at a religious
ceremony on 4 December on campus, was also present.
The Minister, who spoke for some 20
minutes in front of the Don
Bosco Casket and to an audience of two thousand, told
students and past
pupils:
'We do not know each other... but we
know Don Bosco'
--------
On 1st December evening, more than one thousand students
and teachers
from schools in Tekla, Tuol Kok and Phnom Penh Thmey were
waiting. ‘We
were singing on campus since 9 pm, waiting for Don Bosco
to come,’ said
a young student from Kompong Thom, who is also a boarder
in the
technical school.
The Salesian Sisters' students were
also part of the long wait,
plus a few other people able to sleep over- night from
December 1st to
2nd. The school band was lined up for the entry of the
relic. Fr. John
Visser, the DBFC’s country representative, Fr. Roel Soto,
Rector of Don
Bosco Phnom Penh and Fr Eugene Xalxo from Don Bosco
Sihanoukville,
carried the Casket to the place where the educational
community had
gathered to pay honour. _________________
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