In recent years, in response to the acceleration of migration dynamics, Salesian welcoming dynamics have also accelerated, especially in Southwest France, starting with the "Don Bosco Institute," based in Gradignan. Accompanying and integration platforms have been established in all departments in the Southwest of the country, for example, the "Don Bosco MNA 64" support and integration platform located in Bayonne, in the Pyrénées Atlantiques department. Its location, a few minutes' walk from the Place des Basques bus and coach terminal and the center of Bayonne, makes it easily accessible to all unaccompanied foreign minors (MNA, in French) in need of help. Moreover, again to extend its capacity for action, the center is in the process of acquiring two more branches in the neighboring municipalities of Saint-Palais et Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
The main mission of the work is to support unaccompanied minors present in the Pyrénées Atlantiques Department to promote their social and professional integration and enable them to become fully integrated citizens in French society.
The service is open 365 days a year and relies on several full-time workers. The offices are open Monday through Friday, but even on weekends or at night all MNA youth know the cell phone number to call in case of need.
The work currently houses seventy foreign minors, and several dozen of them have already exited the protected circuit of the institution to enter full-fledged society. "For us, a successful exit means a job contract, a diploma, and a residence permit," explains Jérémie Julien, Director of the "Don Bosco MNA 64" center.
"We intervene as part of the protection of minors," the Director further adds. "These young people who arrive are first and foremost boys when they arrive, and so we accompany them under the protection of minors as they are entitled to it."
"Don Bosco is super!" exclaims Sadiodily, who left Mali when he was 14 years old and is now happily doing an apprenticeship course at the "Don Bosco MNA 64" center.
The "Don Bosco Action Sociale" (DBAS) network takes in about 1,000 migrant minors throughout the FRB province. A founding member of the DBAS network is the Don Bosco Institute of Gradignan, which has been present in the Department of New Aquitaine for more than 160 years and currently runs 30 facilities and services and employs about 800 people, elements that make it one of the key, most important social and medical-social action players in the region.
