MISSION
AMGURI
Don Bosco Amguri : Then & Now Don Bosco Amguri, can always boast of being the first in the province of Dimapur, first at least in alphabetical order and happily first also in some other areas including the DB Bicentenary Quiz last October and in the football and square ball matches recently! We are three in one: A high school with 1215 students, a parish with over 600 Christians and a pre-novitiate, initially with 13 pre-novices 11 of whom went to the novitiate at the end of May. Some out of the ordinary happenings of our life here: In connection with the bicentenary celebrations we got a very fine statue of Don Bosco. And now from above the portico on the first floor , Don Bosco is literally watching over our students , during the school assembly and the recreations! Last September Joe Rodrigues from Mumbai together with his wife Brenda conducted a very lively and interesting animation programme for the students of class 9 & 10 and for the teachers of our school as well as for the pre-novices. They also conducted a selfdefense programme for the girls of our neighbouring Arunodoi junior college. The first day of class for the nursery kids of our school is a special occasion for everyone ; for some of the kids who are separated from their parents for the first time it is a traumatic experience ; the initiation ceremony with writing the first alphabet on rice is a comic delight for the teachers and onlookers , for the pre-novices it is a surprise to see the mountain of gamosas (Assamese scarf) and the heaps of rice which are collected for the occasion and which they are deputed to secure. The sports-week in the school usually has some eminent personality from the academic or secular world. This year we had our own confrere Fr. P. X Andrew doing the honours and he did it brilliantly,
holding the student community enthralled. Our school has double sections up to Class 7. To provide classrooms for classes 8, 9 & 10 in the coming years construction is going on. The parish is quietly progressing under our parish priest Fr. Stanislaus Kerketta sdb. Our latest boast is a grotto that is being built mostly with the contributions of the parishioners. The Sunday oratories of the pre-novices and in particular the skit and quiz competitions and the oratory day under the leadership of the parish priest and the Counsellor enlivens the youth of the parish a lot. While they have their regular classes and formation programme, they are constantly in touch with the active salesian apostolate of the school and parish and thus have a realistic view of salesian life and mission. The team of the pre-novices is a formidable challenge to the school team as well as strong support
to it when needed. They are also involved with farming and cultivation of vegetables under the able guidance of the Counsellor and Administrator Fr. Innocent .The ginger cultivated here last year could easily have won the first prize in any agri expo. A Miraculous Escape from Danger In February we had the grace of a miraculous escape from certain death or permanent disability. One of the pre-novices was plucking coconuts from a very fruitful tree right beside the church. He had done his job and was coming joyfully down. Halfway through there was something that looked like a hump and as
Dimapur Links: May-June 2016
19
