By Br. Hilario Seo, SDB
Melbourne and Seoul, May 24 - Salesian Missions Newsletter 2014 (The Australian Salesian Mission Oversea Aid Fund: ASMOAF) and the Don Bosco NANUM 2014 Year report (The Korean Salesian Mission Office) recently published their 2014 activity report. The newsletter is published for their donors as well for the potential benefactors to the Salesian mission in these two countries of Australia and South Korea.
The ASMOAF was started 35 years ago in Melbourne, while the Don Bosco NANUM has just three years-long history in Seoul.
Reading the ASMOAF report, we realize the vast range of help to Salesian works mainly in India, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Samoa and other 14 countries in four continents (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Mongolia, Congo RD, Mozambique, Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Ecuador, PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji). The ASMOAF team is composed of director Br. Michael Lynch (since 1999) and Mrs. Olga and Mrs. Tina. Annual payment of the Mission Office is about 1.5 million of Euros. The Australia-Pacific province has six senior Salesian missionaries working in other continents. There are some 9000 regular benefactors supporting the ASMOAF activities.
While the Don Bosco NANUM (=means sharing) annual report acknowledges the help to the six following countries with the presence of Korean Salesian missionaries - South Sudan, Zambia, Malawi, Mongolia, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea. The DB NANUM team is headed by Fr. Peter Kim (since 2015) and two staff members Miss Kim and Miss Bae. There is not yet any Mission Office website, the report and newsletters are available at ISSUU. Annual payment of the young Korean Mission Procure is about 1.9 million of Euros, a good part of this amount came from Fr. John Lee memorial Foundation. Korea province has now nine missionaries working in Africa, East Asia and PNG. Apart of the regular appeals to the benefactors the Korean provinces started in 2013 an annual Salesian Mission Day (October), there are some regular 10.000 benefactors. Apart of the fundraising campaigns for the social or ecclesial mission work supports also the oversea missionary volunteers send off.
Two other provinces in the EAO region with relevant local resources were requested to start a process toward foundation of the provincial mission office. It’s not only about fundraising from private or public donors, but also a possible link to the local enterprises and government institutions on behalf of the needy Salesian works in the developing countries. Of course, each Mission office is also an open window to the world and inspires a concrete missionary animation of the local Salesians and Salesian family members.
At present there are about 32 Salesian Mission Offices in the Salesian Congregation. Five of them are started with the explicit will of the Rector Major, so called G5, in Torino, Madrid, New Rochelle, Bonn and New Delhi and 27 of them are operating at the provincial level.
From the ASMOAF website
The Australian Salesian Missions Office, located at Ascot Vale (Melbourne), supports a variety of Salesian missionary activities in developing countries including schools [academic, technical, agricultural], orphanages, workshops for unemployed youth, emergency programs and accommodation for street children, drilling for water, running dispensaries, providing emergency assistance and leper colonies.
In recent years the Australian Salesian Missions Office has supported projects in a range of countries including Cambodia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Timor Leste and Vietnam.
For the purpose of fund-raising and financial accountability, Salesian Missions directs all grants and donations into a registered fund known as the AUSTRALIAN SALESIAN MISSION OVERSEAS AID FUND [“ASMOAF”]. This fund is owned by the Salesian Society (Vic) Inc. It has Australian Taxation Office approval for tax deductibility for donations given for the relief of poverty in developing countries.
The Provincial Council of the Salesian Society in Australia is the Governing Board of Salesian Missions and is responsible for the administration of ASMOAF. ASMOAF supports various Salesian projects in developing countries in accordance with the wishes of donors.
From Don Bosco NANUM
