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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