Subject: 'austraLasia' #330

SOUTH PACIFIC 'GAMES': SALESIANS ON TRACK TO SUCCESS

Julian Fox - on info provided by L. Capelli

HONIARA: 17th April -- The next South Pacific Games are not until 2002, but it looks as if the Salesians will be there in more ways than one...in Honiara where the Games are to be played in a stadium still to be built. So where do the Salesians come in? As power-brokers it would seem! The Prime Minister has sought Salesian assistance to re-acquire some land presently leased to the Golf Club, asistance which will be forthcoming, it would also seem, if some 20 hectares are provided for the Don Bosco Centre (while the other 20 hectares would go, of course, to the new National Stadium). it is an ideal location situated between the SI Insitute of Higher Education and the industrial section along the (only) main road. Much of the spadework has been done - spadework, that is at the negotiating level. The final step of Government offer is awaited.

Meanwhile the Minister for Education wants the Salesians on the island of Malaita at all costs. Readers will note that the threat of civil war that still hangs over the fragile unity of the Solomon Islands is focused largely on the Malaitan people who have been the 'workers' on the nearby island of Guadalcanal, where the Salesians are presently located. Many if not most have fled Guadalcanal and returned to Malaita, exacerbating the already limited resources of the island. All the islands are under national Government, but old local rivalries and disputes which pre-date modern democratic institutions do not easily evaporate. Before any possible move of the Salesians to include another isalnd, they must get government recognition as an 'Education Authority'. This approval has just come through, enabling the Salesians to commence a school - on Guadalcanal in the first instance.