austraLasia 832
PNG Delegation is 10 going 25!
PORT MORESBY: 23rd April '04 -- The
Salesian work in Papua New Guinea is nearly 25 years in the making, or about to
celebrate a 10th birthday, depending which way you look at it. Both are
true. The first Salesians arrived in the country in June 1980; in July
1994 the Rector Major and his council approved the establishment of the
Delegation of PNG. The Salesians in this nation will have every right to a
year of celebration, beginning this July, and to memories of the often
heroic beginnings and growth of their labours.
Papua New Guinea is a nation like no other - it belongs
to that turkey-shaped major landmass (part of which is called Irian Jaya) plus
other islands, which sprawls across the equator: 12% swamp and
mangrove, 25% mountain from one to three thousand metres and a
further 4% over three thousand. That leaves precious little, given the beaches,
ridges and reefs, for people to cling to. Yet an estimated 4
million of them (at best an estimate, so difficult is it to access
the populated regions) thrive therein and thereon. Of these, 66%
are named as Christian, of whom 22% are Catholic. Between them they
speak 815 indigenous languages, though most understand Tok Pisin, the world's
most populous pidgin. It makes it nothing short of prodigious, then,
that a handful of Salesians numbering but 35 in the country, with another 10
beyond, studying, have so spread the name of Don Bosco, and more importantly the
Kingdom of God, through north, south, east and west.
The PNG Delegation has seven major educational institutions
from Vanimo (remember the tidal wave?) to Rabual (recall the volcano?) to Port
Moresby (you've heard of the 'rascals'?), and other places inbetween.
Technical High Schools, an Agrotech, a primary school, several parishes, and a
Salesian formation centre have sprouted despite geographical upheaval and social
unrest,. The Salesians, with a small but solid, numerically increasing
indigenous membership, are making their mark.
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