Jim, as he is best known among the children he educates and serves, specifically collaborates on Salesian activities at the Don Bosco Center for Formation and Professional Comoro. With a teaching background behind him, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to continue educating young people once he stopped working. That's why he applied to take part in the Salesian Province of Australia and the Pacific's (AUL) missionary volunteer program, the "Cagliero Project," and made himself available to the Salesians in East Timor.
Arriving at his destination last February, he always says he is very happy with his period of service there. His days now are probably even more intense and busier than when he worked only. Every day he is busy teaching English in the classrooms and then giving Carpentry lessons to General Construction students in the Carpentry workshop.
Versatile and willing, he moves as casually between desks to correct his students' homework as he does between planks and wooden frames. In his work with carpentry students, he recently helped students make models of various types of gabled roofs, as well as a basic structure for making concrete stairs - both important jobs for carpenters.
"We wish Mr. Jim the best of luck and a good continuation of his stay in East Timor, and we also want to extend our gratitude to the Cagliero Missionary Volunteer Project for sending him to us - he is really helping the center and the students," commented the Salesians of the St. Callistus Caravario Vice-Province (TLS).
The Cagliero Project, established in 2007 in the AUL Province, is named after the expedition leader of the First Salesian Missionary Expedition, John Cagliero. It fosters solidarity among the different Provinces of the East Asia-Oceania Region, and it is in the name of this solidarity that volunteers who are part of it have been sent not only to East Timor but also to Thailand, Cambodia, Samoa, and Zambia.
Volunteers in the Cagliero Project are committed to working in the "Salesian way," which means that young people are placed at the center of all work. This provides an opportunity for volunteers, young and old, to contribute to Don Bosco's mission, which is to serve the poorest and most disadvantaged children and make them good Christians and upstanding citizens.
The Comoro Salesian center community, for its part, has a long and fruitful tradition of welcoming volunteers since its inception in 1991.
To learn more about the Cagliero Project, please visit the website: https://www.cagliero.org.au
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/15791-east-timor-jim-s-experience-a-retiree-and-volunteer-of-cagliero-project#sigProIdbe6b51f2d0
