CAMBODIA: SDB BROTHER TELLS ALL!
"Every day is a wonderful experience"
nb: Bro Robert Panetto's full experience
in his own words can be read in the September edition of ANSMag - this
publication has gone digital and is no longer in printed version, so it may well
be that many readers of 'austraLasia' would be relying on their Province to
ensure that further digital copies are fanned out to local communities.
Let this brief synthesis of Robert's work be an encouragement to you to seek
your own emailed copy of ANSMag which this time is full of thoughtful and
provocative material on the Lay Salesian vocation.
PHNOM PENH: 16th Oct -- We often read about lay
missionaries in the Church these days, but let's spend a moment reading about
the life of the lay salesian missionary, the Salesian Brother, as our usual
English label puts it. Bro. Robert Panetto's nearly 30 year period in
Asia, approximately half of those in Thailand and more recently in Cambodia are
about as exciting as you'd get!
There's the story of little Sok Heng, in a sense
tying it all together: dealing with the ravages of AIDS, often simply passed on
from mother to child, has been a constant for Robert, virtually since he began
work in the Khmer Rouge border camps 14 years ago. The 'Brother', without
further trappings or pretentions, is most acceptable in Cambodian society
and the Salesian Brother, who at his best demonstrates Don Bosco's paternal care
for the young, even more so. Robert found himself just plain 'daddy' for
abandoned Sok Heng, who now shares fully in the communion of saints after her
inevitable early death; he was there when she needed him in life and was beside
her at the moment of death.
That's but one, albeit touching side of this man's
busy life. With the help of many 'lay missionaries', past pupils of
Salesian Schools in Thailand, Robert set up not one but several small technical
centres in the camps. It was inevitable that those youngsters educated
there to be able to return to a productive life in Phnom Penh would say:
"Brother, come with us and do the same in our city", and he did.
Now it is not just Phnom Penh, but Sihanouk Ville
230 kms south, Batambang 300 kms north, Kep 180 kms south and lastly Poipet 415
kms north - Robert has criss-crossed the country planning, guiding, building but
essentially identifying the appropriate services to meet the needs of thousands
of poor young people, and all in the space of 14 years.
But, as Brother Robert says, "Every day is a
wonderful experience". Here is a story to put to many young people seeking
a future. Already there are other young Salesian missionaries
now off to Cambodia to be part of Don Bosco's booming presence
there.
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'austraLasia' is an email news service
for
the Salesian Family of Asia-Pacific.
