austraLasia #2491

Vietnam: Youth gathering to celebrate 150th

HO CHI MINH CITY: 2nd September 2009 --  As the whole country was celebrating its Independence Day - a national holiday - the SDBs in Vietnam Province celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Foundation of the Salesian Society with one of their most beloved groups of youth: the young intra-national migrant workers. More than 1,000 of these poor migrant workers gathered to express their gratitude for the service offered to them by the Salesians.
    They thanked God for sending Salesians brothers, sisters and priests to accompany their journey of labor and sweat. Like many other developing countries, these young people have had to leave their home village to migrate to big cities like Ho Chi Minh to find jobs. They barely survive with menial and low-paid jobs for non-skilled tasks such as working in assembly-line plants and factories from early morning to late evening and sometimes seven days per week and three sessions per day. In the economic recession, those who are still employed by factories feel that they are luckier than their friends who are thrown back to their poor villages.
    In such a situation, the members of the Salesian Family are attempting to do their best to alleviate these young workers’ fate: giving them a space to express themselves during non-working time, to have time for God, to refresh themselves spiritually and psychologically, especially, to look for meaning through their labors and difficulties. At the same time, the Salesians are opening more and more skill-training centres or classes to help these young to escape their  lowest status in the society.
    For all the SDB’s in Vietnam, the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Salesian Society together with many groups of the Salesian Family is certainly an occasion to re-commit themselves to serve those who are really underprivileged in the society.
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Title: australasia 2491
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces VIE migrant youth, 150th
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2491