austraLasia #2396

The 'Don Bosco Camp' connection

BANG SAK: 8th April 2009 -- David Prior and Rachel Khaw are two young Australian Salesian lay missionaries working under the mantle of the Cagliero Project, run by the Australia-Pacific Province. While a group of 'rookie' Cagliero candidates is out in the South Pacific for a few days running camps at the Salesian Parish of Leauva'a, Samoa, David and Rachel are fully-fledged Cagliero 'professionals' currently carrying out their mission at Chiang Mai in Thailand.  But it's school holiday time in Thailand, and as in many other parts of the Salesian world in 'summertime', they are now down in Thailand's south on the Phuket side, at Bang Sak, helping out with Don Bosco camps.
    Sounds idyllic, but a Don Bosco Camp, as David and Rachel already know from their thorough training and years working with deeply committed Salesian lay leadership trainers back in Australia at Don Bosco Camp Dromana near Melbourne, 'Don Bosco' is always on the lookout for the poor and needy.
    "As school (at Chiang Mai) is now closed, I have come to work at Don Bosco Home, Bang Sak, Takupa, Phang Nga - if you are interested the website is www.dbh2008.com. Basically the children living here have come for two main reasons; 1) they are victims of the Tsunami or 2) they have come from broken/abusive/poor families. The majority of the children come from the second group which, I believe, has been caused as a direct fallout from the Tsunami", says David.
    Rachel reflects on her training back in Australia and how she can now put that into practice. "Thankfully (for the 2nd Camp) we've retained 18 kids from the senior camp who we've employed as leaders and some who I was quite concerned about have gotten the idea so well!....They're such an asset, and just reduce the workload so, so much. That and their presence among the kids makes things so much easier".
    The great point of connection, of course, is the 'Don Bosco leadership' experience, based on thorough Salesian Preventive System principles, universally applicable. The applications may have different names, but in Australia, one very successful version of this has long been associated with summer camps run by Salesians SDB, FMA, and lay.  An ongoing leadership program, put into the hands of several lay couples 18 years ago, all with Salesian background which then matured into full-time Salesian commitment, is now morphing into other forms of commitment - the Cagliero Lay Mission Project being one of them.
    David and Rachel's work is not just camp leadership. That just happens to be an Easter interlude. David describes the real task of Don Bosco Homes Bang Sak: "The home here has been set up so that there are 6 houses with children and one teacher. The largest house has 15 children and the smallest 10. The houses have been set up to replicate a normal home environment. The house parents are absolutely amazing people. Like normal parents they are on 24/7. It is without doubt a labour of love, as I am sure like most parents they wear out and have days they don't fell great but still keep going for the kids". And when David and Rachel are not down at Bang Sak, they are at Chiang Mai "where we have a home for children from the hill tribes who may have less of a chance at accessing education due to financial situations or other circumstances out of the students' control".
    So whether it's a day on the beach with difficult kids, or the unrelenting work of assisting youngsters in need at home or school, thank God for Don Bosco Camp!

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Title: australasia 2396
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces THA AUL Don Bosco Camp
Date (year): 2009