11 february 2017 cambodia salesian delegation circular 02 tha

SALESIAN DELEGATION OF CAMBODIA (THA) CIRCULAR

Issue # 2

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Salesian Delegation of Cambodia (THA) Circular

“WE ARE FAMILY! EVERY HOME, A SCHOOL OF LIFE AND LOVE”

IN THIS ISSUE

Dear Confreres and Members of the Salesian Family, Peace!

“We are Family! Every home, a school of life and love” is the Strenna given to us by our beloved Rector Major, Fr Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB, for the year 2017. As a Salesian Family we gathered together last January 14, 2017 at Don Bosco Teuk Thla for a study and reflection on the Strenna through the initiative of the our Salesian Sisters and the animating presentation of Fr Samnang Albeiro Rodas Torres, SDB. I wish STRENNA 2017 to express my gratitude to all members of the Salesian Family for your We are FAMILY… presence. This is a concrete sign of our growing family belongingness. It was also a moment of making the identity of every group more known and of sharing our way of participating in Don Bosco’s Charism and mission.

In the afternoon, the first Social Communication Meeting of representatives of each Salesian setting, organized by our Delegate for Social Communication - Fr Samnang, took place at Don Bosco Technical School Phnom Penh. I was happy to see the representatives from different ages gathering together to strengthen our relationship and collaboration through communication. I hope to see the immediate fruits of this meeting through quick information exchanges and updates through the means of Social Communication.

During our celebration of Don Bosco’s Feast we were blessed to open Don Bosco Kep as a Physically Challenged Friendly Campus with it ramps and elevator. These facilities would now facilitate the integration of physically challenged children and youth to our education and formation program for their future. We expressed our gratitude to USAID for their support to this project through its program ASHA and also through the assistance of our Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, New York. The presence of Fr Mark Hyde, SDB, the director of the Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, and Mr Jaime Correa-Montalvo, the international program director, and their visit to all our Salesian presences has been for us an experience of solidarity and Salesian Family Spirit. We thank

SALESIAN DELEGATION OF CAMBODIA (THA) CIRCULAR | Issue # 2

Fr Mark and Jaime for their time, brotherly presence and concern.

All communities have finished celebrating the solemnity of St. John Bosco and echoing the Strenna 2017 to our teaching and nonteaching staff, volunteers and students. The final celebration was the Assembly of our Salesian Past Pupils at Don Bosco Technical First Social Communication Representatives Meeting in Phnom Penh.

School Phnom Penh last February 4, 2017 through the leadership of the President of the Don Bosco Past Pupils Association of Cambodia (DBPPAC), Mr Cheam Sovannarith, and our Salesian Delegate for Past Pupils, Fr Gerard Ravasco, SDB. Around 300 past pupils attended. Some came even with their families. Thus, I invite everyone to live concretely the Strenna 2017 as we form our Educative Pastoral Communities. Let us particularly stress Installation of Fr Thepharat as new Provincial of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia among all other points mentioned by the Rector Major the six points most pertinent to our situation in Cambodia: patience, empathy, the value of simplicity of life through temperance and moderation, mercy, the joy of loving through sharing and service, and the accompaniment of parents and our children in making their homes and our Salesian presences a school of life and love.

We wish to thank Fr. Paul Prasert Somngam, our former Provincial Superior for his years of dedicated service and guidance to our THA Province. We also welcome our new Provincial Superior, Fr. John Bosco Thepharat Pitisant, for accepting for the second time the leadership of service and paternal guidance to our THA Province and Delegation.

In the coming months in Cambodia we look forward to the following: the meetings for the re-shaping of

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SALESIAN DELEGATION OF CAMBODIA (THA) CIRCULAR | Issue # 2

our delegation and the drafting of our ODP, the establishment phase of our PDO, the joint meeting of the SDB delegation council and the FMA provincial council, and the seeking of permission from the ministry for offering night courses in all our technical schools for the self-sustainability of our works.

May our Lady of Lourdes whom we remember this month having revealed herself to the simple St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, guide and show us the path to serving the poor children and youth and their families in Cambodia.

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Don Bosco Teuk Thla – Jan 14, 2017. Mass of the Salesian Family in Cambodia.

Don Bosco Teuk Thla – Jan 14, 2017. Members of the Salesian Family in Cambodia reflect on the Strenna 2017 “We are Family”.

Don Bosco Phnom Penh – Feb 1, 2017. Fr Mark Hyde, Director of Salesian Missions, N.Y., follows Fr Charles Arun, who guides him through the Technical sections.

Don Bosco Kep – Feb 3, 2017. Students and teachers meet for the Color Games to commemorate the Feast of Saint John Bosco.

Don Bosco Kep – Jan 31, 2017. Mr Anh Pak uses the elevator installed to test it for students in a wheel chair. Fr Mark Hyde, Director of Salesian Mission New Rochelle, and Jaime Correa, Director of International Projects, talk with Fr Samnang Albeiro Rodas, Director of the Technical School, about the Project.

Don Bosco Kep – Jan 31, 2017. Mr Anh Pak, a Cambodian past pupil on a wheelchair, cuts the ribbon to open officially the Project to integrate students who are physically challenged, widening the inclusion of vulnerable children and youth supported by Don Bosco in Cambodia.

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Don Bosco Phnom Penh – Feb 4, 2017. Gathering of Don Bosco Cambodia Past Pupils.

La Pissana (Rome) – Jan 24, 2017. Fr. John Bosco Thepharat Pitisant, new THA Provincial, meet Fr Ángel Fernández Artimi, Rector Major and 10th Successor of Don Bosco. Fr Thepharat was installed as Provincial on February 2, 2017.

Takeo – Jan 10, 2017. Borath, above with his grandma, is a member of Don Bosco Children Fund. He is able to study in school because We are FAMILY!.