Inharrime is 400 km north of the capital, Maputo. There, the Salesians run a VTC which trains about 300 students a year, in four different courses. There is also a simple hostel that houses about thirty boys.
Across the street there is a large work of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, built shortly after the VTC. It became huge thanks to the initiative of a Portuguese Nun: Sister Lucilia Teixeira. Today there are 2,300 students, including primary, secondary and pre-university, and 120 girls, including 50 orphans, are housed in the boarding school.
At Matola, a suburb of Maputo, the Salesian school has the usual professional workshops. It is attended by 120 students almost all of whom find a job quickly at the end of their training.
Employers told the Salesian Brother Giampietro Pettenon, President of Don Bosco Missions, "What we are looking for are not the technical skills. In just three months with the company the young people learn their job. What we are looking for is something that only the students of the Salesian centres possess strongly, namely respect for the equipment, punctuality, cooperation, honesty and so on."
Namaacha is 70 km south-west of Maputo. It is an elegant colonial town where the Salesians now have the Novitiate. In the past, however, the Salesians and the FMA ran the Higher Colleges, Male and Female. These were frequented almost exclusively by the children of Portuguese settlers.
With Independence in 1975 and the advent of the communist totalitarian regime, the Sons and Daughters of Don Bosco had to leave the country and the government took over the management of the two schools. Only one Salesian could remain, Brother António Pedrosa, now 85 years old. He was accepted by the regime because he was not a priest. He was hired and salaried to coordinate the educational activities of the college and for 11 consecutive years received the Medal as the best educator and teacher.
Bro. Pedrosa had to wait almost twenty years before the Salesians could return, in the early 90s, after the time of the regime and the civil war. Now he can enjoy his old age in peace, telling the young people who aspire to consecrated life the story of his life, simple and true, in spite of everything.
