NEWS
(ANS - Bukavu) - "For the time being, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is less tragic than in Europe," says Fr Piero Gavioli, an Italian Salesian missionary, as he begins to describe the current situation in the country that he has served for over 35 years. And yet one must still be careful: already there have been about fifty cases of Covid-19 in the capital, with 5 or 6 dead, and in the same Bukavu, where Fr Gavioli operates, two have been found. "We are preparing for the worst, as we pray and hope that the worst will not happen," the Salesian continues.
(ANS - Madrid) - The self-confinement to stop the expansion of COVID-19 from spreading has forced the suspension of the traditional Easter youth meetings organized every year by the Salesians, in which about 2,000 young people usually participate. However, the Youth Ministry Delegations of the two Salesian Provinces in Spain have presented virtual online alternatives so that young people can celebrate the Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection even at home.
(ANS - Lima) - Peru is one of the Latin American nations that can be defined as a "young country". According to the National Institute of Statistics and Computer Science (INEI), one third of the population, that is, 10,338,000 people are children and adolescents from zero to 17 years of age, but unfortunately the country has the highest child labor rate in South America with 1,274,000 children and adolescents carrying out dangerous jobs. The Salesians of Don Bosco, who first arrived in 1891, are aware of this situation and wherever there is a Salesian House they have created the "Don Bosco Shelter Homes", where hundreds of these adolescents and young people are taken care of.
(ANS - Rome) - Over the course of a few weeks, Covid-19 has gone from being a Chinese national problem to a pandemic involving the whole world. While the contagion has spread day by day in new regions and countries, the Don Bosco Network (DBN), the coordinating body of nine of the most important Salesian NGOs, has been hard at work. Under the patronage of the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, it has initiated a coordinated response to the current emergency under the guidance of the Congregation's Emergency Response Coordinator - the coordinator of the Congregation's Mission Office.
(ANS - Buenos Aires) - Covid-19 has reached every corner of the world and has become a pandemic. Some Latin American countries have made important decisions for the care of their citizens. In Argentina, President Alberto Fernández has extended the rigid quarantine until April 12 and has declared that "a falling economy rises again, but a falling life never rises again." Salesians from all parts of this large country are preparing to support, help and in some cases offer some Salesian works, because "the worst situation", with the peak of infections, is expected for the month of May.