(ANS – Addis Abeba) - "Beyond every border" is the title of an article that Christian Family – a well-known weekly founded in 1931 by Fr. Alberione – dedicates this week to the work that the Salesians and volunteers of International Volunteers for Development (VIS) carry out in Ethiopia with tenacity, professionalism and passion. The account of a trip that Luciano Scalettari made together with Carola Carazzone, President of the VIS, and some Salesian NGO workers. ANS offers a synthesis.

The journey of the Italian delegation departed from Addis Abeba and across Ethiopia, which borders with South Sudan and Somalia: Gambela, Ilea, Ibago, Nyinenyang. A tale of educational experiences and humanitarian interventions.

In Addis Abeba the Don Bosco Children welcomes today 160 former street children. Their path of  recovery is told from the first meetings made on the street. Two or three times every week the Salesians, after dinner, leave by car and go searching for street children, along with their Ethiopian staff. "The reason why we will understand later when they finally come to Don Bosco Children," says Fr Dino Viviani, Director of the work. At the Salesian Centre, the boys recover their life after a long and difficult path.

"The first phase is a dozen meetings, at a named place which has been agreed, week after week. We speak with them. Listen to them. Half of them drop out almost immediately, the other half ask us to welcome them at Don Bosco. We say no. We want to make sure that for a couple of months they attend evening meetings on the street. At a later stage, we invite them, only during the day, once a week. Then, for two days. Then for three. Many of them have to cross the entire city to reach the day care Centre ". A tough method, but it works. Of the kids who come to Don Bosco Children only 4 per cent return to the street. The Salesians are extremely demanding, because the experience of 12 years has taught us one thing: to re-educate the children living on the street is the most difficult undertaking, matched only by the rehabilitation of former child soldiers.

Between the villages inhabited by the Nuer, Anyuak and populations of Sudanese origin, refugees arrived in Ethiopia to escape the war. Fr Filippo Perin, accompanied the delegation to visit the "Andrea Wells", built by the VIS sources, complete with pumps, pipes and irrigation infrastructure for over 800 thousand Euros.

In the extreme East of Ethiopia, on the border with Somalia, the VIS continues the work of  a Salesian, Fr Gianni Premoli, "the only Catholic priest who ever worked here," said Fuad Alamirew, Islamist and President of a local NGO, partners of the VIS. Here, between the rows of the crowd celebrating, a source, 130 feet deep, was opened. "Water and education are the primary needs for people. We have already built 14 schools - Fuad says - For the good of man, Christians and Muslims can and should work together, as Fr Gianni always did when he was with us. "

The journalist in his article says: "The Salesian method is famous throughout the world for 'the pastoral of the backyard', for oratories, for the education of all grades, for vocational training. It is so also in Ethiopia: where there is a Salesian mission or a project of VIS, there is a Don Bosco Centre, there are schools with thousands of students (Ethiopia has a hunger for education, the illiteracy rate is more than 50 per cent), there are institutes for plumbers, carpenters, cabinet makers, craftsmen. But here, missionaries and volunteers have chosen to go to work also at the very borders: for  those in poverty, with the least among the last, like street children; but also the geographical ones, at the borders with Southern Sudan and Somalia ".

We add that the title of the article - "Beyond every border" - expresses well the constant commitment of the Salesians and of volunteers around the world keep alive the promise of Don Bosco: "until my last breath I will be for my young".

Published 16/11/2012