At present, there is a small SDB community with four Salesians, four Sisters of St. Paul (local Congregation founded by Salesian Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, archbishop of Yangon) and 8 part-time (volunteer) teachers/instructors (Catholics, Buddhists and other beliefs) working together in the VTC of Don Bosco, which also features room and board, now with a 20-year history.
There are different sections being offered: Carpentry (3 students), Welding (6), Electricity (4), Automotive (12), Tailor & Dressmaking (17) and Beautician (1).
Since the VTC is located in the northernmost part of Mynamar (Kachin State) with a very long history of armed conflict, there are among the students a few orphans or children from broken families. The Salesians are happy that 22 of 25 boys who graduated were immediately employed according to their respective trades while three went back to help their families in the rural zones.
The Salesians have many future dreams: “We would like to increase one trade section each for boys and girls, possibly in Computer Science. There is also an urgent need for two buildings: a one-story building for the library and the study hall and another one for the new Computer section. And we also need more adequate textbooks for all seven VTC sections,” says Fr Victor Nawki, in charge of the community.
The whole structure of the VTC is made in timber, a wooden construction, with few walls made of bricks or cement, so they would also like one day to expand the boarding house to help the graduates, too, who already have jobs but have no place to stay in the town of Myitkyina.
“And, of course, we dream also one more future step: to upgrade the VTC to a Secondary Technical school. We are happy to receive any help through our Provincial Economer Fr. Leo Mang,” concludes Fr Nawki.
Source: AustraLasia
