'austraLasia' # 109

PNG: SALESIAN MISSION DAY

by Fr. Alfred Maravilla

PORT MORESBY: 14th November --Fr. Luciano Odorico is presently visiting the Salesian houses in Papua New Guinea. He is also accompanied by Fr. Luciano Capelli Provincial of FIN. Last November 9 they visited Don
Bosco Technical School in Gabutu, Port Moresby. The students, staff and Salesians welcomed them in the Kurongku Hall with music, songs, drama and a traditional dance. The school captain welcomed them: "We're grateful for your visit because we know that you care about us. Through you we would like to show our gratitude to Don Bosco for giving us school leavers another chance to dream for the future"! Fr. Capelli responded that he had seen Don Bosco Tech grow in the past 6 years. Fr. Odorico also re-echoed the same sentiments. He thanked especially the students who prepared the programme themselves. Before ending Fr. Odorico also drew out the winners for the Mission Month Contest. He then proceeded to the school's Audio Visual Room for a brief meeting with the teachers.
Later in the afternoon the Parish Priest brought him to visit the different areas of the parish of Mary Help of Christians which is entrusted to the community of Gabutu. The next day he presided at the Eucharist commemorating the Salesian Mission Day which culminated the month long Salesian Mission Awareness campaign for this year's project - the Yanomanis. The whole Eucharistic liturgy was inserted into traditional dances and singing, strumming of guitars and drums dramatising the history of evangelisation in PNG. During the offertory the students offered sacks of tin cans they have collected the past months for the Yanomani Indians. Indeed a touching
sight to behold. During the homily Fr. Odorico congratulated the students for their gesture of solidarity with the Salesian work for the Yanomanis. At the end of the liturgy, before leaving for the airport for a flight to the highlands, Fr. Odorico blessed the newly renovated Oratory which is frequented every weekend by around 200 young people living in the settlements around the school.
Don Bosco Tech is the only technical secondary school in Papua New Guinea. It caters primarily to non-selected students who have been pushed out of the country's education system. It has a staff of 6 Salesians and 35 lay teachers. It opened its doors to students in 1985.

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