'Return to Don Bosco'. Don Bosco Youth Centre Seoul
celebrates
40 years.
SEOUL: 13 December 2007 -- Don Bosco Youth Centre at Shin
Kil
Dong, Seoul, is many things - a youth centre for young workers, a
technical 'vocational' school for mechanical trades, a boarding
establishment, an oratory. a Mission Office and a Communications
Centre. Fr Henry Bonetti, also vice provincial, has his work cut
out
guiding all this, and on 8th December, on the 40th anniversary of the
vocational school's existence, he drew attention to the real figure
behind all this - St John Bosco.
As Don Bosco did, in preparing boys to contribute to
the society
they lived in, and to be grateful for what they had received, so does
'Don Bosco Vocational School' in Seoul. Bro Philip Hwang, school
principal, explains that the 'Return to Don Bosco' is more than
something physical but a return to this spirit of Don Bosco. Many
past
students came back over these days and for the 40th anniversary, but
the wish is that they come back to this spirit in particular.
The school has seen some 2,500 students graduate
over 40 years,
many of them finding good jobs in companies. The school was approved by
the Ministry of Labour as a Vocational institute in 1970. It has
been
twice recognised with the Order of National Service Merit for its
achievements. And now, in preparation for a new scholastic year,
the
school has built a new 10,000 square metre building which includes
accommodation for boarders, an auditorium and a chapel. This will
enable the school to take in an additional thirty or so students each
year. Currently there are 68 students studying mechanical trades.
All of this is in function of helping young Korean
workers to
contribute to society as 'good Christians and honest citizens", and
many of them, including from those early years, came back for the
anniversary celebrations. The school accepts by preference those
students, between the ages of 16-23, who cannot afford to pursue their
studies. They are offered board and training for one year in
subjects
such as lathe and assembly machinery, but also other basic subjects -
maths, English, Religion, Ethics, offered by means of evening classes. _________________ AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
as an
agency for ANS based in
Rome.
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.
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