(ANS – Armenia) – In a press conference held on 11 March the Salesians in the city of Armenia showed the results obtained so far in the Don Bosco Training Centre. In 2014 the centre gave a diploma in technical or complementary disciplines to more than 250 people. For 2015, however, the goal is to train many more people aged between 17 and 24 years, as a gift to mark the Bicentenary Year of the birth of Don Bosco. For this reason the hope is to involve private companies, institutions or individual citizens.

by Andrés Felipe Loaiza, SDB

For some of its courses the Don Bosco Training Centre awards the seal of the National Apprenticeship Service, which guarantees the quality of training given to the needy.

This project is linked in different ways to various organizations. For economic investment it is linked to the Leopold Bachmann Foundation and to Jugendhilfe Weltweit who together contributed    $1,520,350 in addition to the local contribution of the Salesians of Colombia which came to about $100,000.

There are many testimonies from young people who received training at the centre, like that of 22 year old Carol Tatiana Cuervo. After overcoming some difficulties, she presented a project for a hairdresser to work in Central Wholesalers of Quindio, passing the first phase of the Emprender Fund in support of entrepreneurial projects.

During the press conference, Fr Jairo Gallo, director of the work, encouraged participation in the project by institutions, private companies or individuals who want to contribute to training young people most in need. "This training offers great opportunities to get a decent job, for themselves and for their families," he said.

The courses so far registered with the Secretaries of Education are Laboratory Technician in cookery, hairdressing, welding and Tourism Operations. The process of registration has been started for courses for Accounting Assistant and Laboratory Technician in Systems.

"For Stage Two six laboratories are planned to offer additional training opportunities and work for young people, always taking into account the labour market, and therefore directing them towards the needs of the business community. For that reason we need communication and direct collaboration with business companies,” said Fr Gallo.

For more information or to support the project, visit the website of the centre.

Published 17/03/2015