austraLasia #1765

Hidden treasures: DBTC Cebu

CEBU: 19th February 2007 --  The Salesian world, extensive as it is, offers wonderful surprises for those far from a particular setting; indeed 'hidden treasures' might be one way to present these, hidden only in the sense that the rest of the world sometimes does not know what wonderful things are being achieved there, or cannot imagine the challenges that deeply involved and extensive mission activity present.  We are talking here about Don Bosco Technical Center, Cebu (austraLasia tends to use British-Australian spelling, but we are reporting on the Philippines which uses American spelling, hence 'center').
    DBTC is a work which exhibits almost a province-sized dimension in terms of mission variety: consider its Basic Education department with 1,539 students, the DB Technical College with a select group of 276 students, a Skills Training Program for 160 or so out-of-school youth, Salesian Cooperators, DBTC Alumni Association, two boarding houses, a Vocational Training Center and a Cooperative, a Youth Center at weekends, a prison apostolate, a scholarship program for 344 students, an outreach and 'second chance' program, a Technical Vocational Education Department, and an associated VDB group.  All that with 12 confreres representing five nations - Filipino, Dutch, Timorese, Vietnamese, Japanese who also represent several generational levels.
    Of course none of this is 'hidden' in local terms - such a community and presence in Cebu is well known and well appreciated, attractive at every level of its operation.  Nor could any work of these dimensions flourish without a well-formed educative and pastoral plan and a committed community (in the wider EPC sense of this term) around it.  The Salesian presence is not without its challenges - directed as it is to young people who make up 50% of the population in that part of the Philippines, the setting is one where 70% are poor in economic terms, where the under-educated are exploited.
    Everybody wants the Salesian presence to young people to grow - and that is evidently dependent on vocations.  Many factors of life in Filipino society have led to a decrease in vocations in recent years. The Congregation recognises the need to work insistently at those aspects of Salesian life and practice which will guarantee that at least the human side of this dilemma is being confronted, alongside a deep faith that God will do his part.  DBTC is well aware of all this, and striving to do its part.
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