The presence of the Salesians in Ethiopia has lasted uninterrupted since 1976, when the religious began to take care of the local children and young people, using all their human, cultural, professional and economic resources for the good of the population. The Salesians were there during the famine that struck Ethiopia in 1983-85 and which caused a million deaths. Today they are present and at work during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the famine generated by the invasion of locusts, and in the malnutrition emergency that puts the lives of thousands of people at risk.
The four missions of Macallè, Adua, Scirè and Adigrat - located in the Tigray region, where the clashes between the National Army and the Tigray Popular Liberation Front (TPLF) - have continued for over a year, continue to help thousands of children and young people from contexts of misery and with stories of violence, abuse, and despair behind them. Thanks to the donations of many benefactors, thousands of children in recent years have been welcomed into Salesian homes and have been able to attend Salesian kindergartens and primary schools, and many street children have received vocational training.
In 1998, the Salesian religious were joined by the Volunteers of VIS, a non-governmental organization founded in 1986 as an expression of the National Center for Salesian Works and which is inspired by the message of St. John Bosco and his educational system, whose first objective was to work to build sustainable and lasting development for local populations.
In Tigray, as in the Gambella Region or in the "Somali Region", the eastern region of Ethiopia, on the border with Somalia, the VIS is committed to guaranteeing the supply of clean water, improving basic sanitation and the local water resources management capabilities of local communities, through projects such as "Wash" (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene), carried out in collaboration with the local partner "Dgmda" (Don Gianmaria Memorial Development Association).
Following the Salesian tradition, VIS is also involved in the sector of vocational training and education. Within the Salesian technical schools of the Tigray region, as well as in Gambella and Addis Ababa, courses have been activated in Graphics and Typographic Arts (with the creation of the first Printing School in the country), tailoring, food preparation and catering, carpentry, motor mechanics, leather goods, and construction trades.
“To promote job placement,” said the VIS volunteers, “we have developed a strategy, which we have adopted in Tigray and Addis Ababa, based on the organization of short courses in line with the labor market, the promotion of self-employment and placement in private firms through support for partnerships between the public and private sectors.”
Training activities were also carried out in refugee camps where, thanks to the collaboration of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Salesians tried to improve the living conditions of refugees in the Gambella and Tigray regions through the strengthening of their professional skills and job placement for potential Eritrean migrants and refugees.
Ultimately, the mission of the Salesians and VIS volunteers in Ethiopia is to tailor and build a future for young people and for the most disadvantaged communities.
Source: Fides Agency
