MAPUTO:
1 May 2012 - Maputo,
you
say? Where's that? In fact it is about as far from the EAO
Region as
you could imagine. Maputo is Mozambique's Capital city and the
centre
of the Salesian Vice Province of Mozambique, a
Portuguese-speaking
(officially, though as a first language, most would speak
Swahili or
another local language) Republic just north of South Africa,
and on a
line with Madagascar to the East.
Why this sudden interest in
Mozambique?
Bro Rogelio Arenal, a Spanish
missionary in a
Portuguese-speaking region, which is already something of a
'coup', has
pulled off what we believe is a communications coup -
the very
first official Salesian Bulletin to exist as a blog. Mind you,
it is
not the first SB Blog (A number of Salesian Bulletins around
the world
have this kind of digital offshoot, the Central American
Province being
perhaps the best example), but it is the first Salesian
Bulletin to
come into existence mainly as a blog.
Let's allow Rogelio to tell us about
it:
"My
dear
brothers and sisters,
A few days ago I sent you the Salesian Bulletin in digital
edition
(cheap and because it is digital we can reach many more
people through
social networks). But one step was missing so that the SB
could be
called a truly 'online' SB, which seems to be the road we
really have
to travel. Since we do not have a website (too costly for us
now), we
have opted for the one thing that we can afford because it
is free - a
blog! An that's why we now have theSB online".
He then goes on to explain the
advantages of
the SB as a blog, especially for those in Mozambique:
- people can read it, even with slow connections
- since we will be publishing more 'editions' of the SB this
way,
articles can still be collected in a topic file. e.g. you want
to see
or read all the messages of the RM in the SB - just click on
the topic
Rector Major and you get all messages posted on this topic.
- You can actually play your part through comments
- As you can see, the pics we offer in the blog are the same
ones you
can see in the digital or printed version.
This particular item of news could
well
be an inspiration to provinces, including several in our own
region,
who face all kinds of difficulties, especially financial ones,
in
putting together a Salesian Bulleitn. But connectivity
in poorer
regions of the globe has increased exponentially in the last
few years:
a 2.988.4% growth in Africa from 200-2011.This is due to
low-level satellite coverage, especially
through
O3b which has started connecting billions of people in
the
region within 45 degrees latitude either side of the Equator -
that
contains the majority of the world's poorest people.
It is in the light of this that Rogelio and his team's efforts
seem so
much in line with what Don Bosco might well have done facing
similar
circumstances - reach as many ordinary people as possible
using the
developing means at his disposal.
