(ANS - Rome) - A video entitled "The Future in Your Hands" on Vocational Training in the Salesian world has been released. The video was made by Igor Francescato, a professional with experience of television direction and author of documentaries and short films, with the collaboration of Fr Miguel Angel García from the Office for Vocational Training in the Department for Youth Ministry.

 by Fr Miguel Angel García Morcuende, SDB

The video was funded by the National Federation of CNOS-FAP. It describes all aspects of Vocational Training - the characteristics of today's educational philosophy, tradition and origins in Valdocco, its dynamism in many countries of the world, the overview of professional training. It is a school presentation that allows Salesian centres to use it on any occasion: meetings with young people, teachers, parents, agencies, etc.

The video is along two tracks. There are the testimonies of young people and educators that bring the situation close to the viewer, and it also describes the training situation. The effectiveness, strength and immediacy of the video show the rich reality of the Salesian world in the different continents, through images collected since 1994 in about sixty countries worldwide.

It serves as an introduction to all the Salesians and lay people in the world who work in the area of Vocational Training and as a tribute at the end of the Bicentenary year of the birth of Don Bosco. It can also be a starting point and a valuable aid in promoting the educative and pastoral work of the Salesians in the Church and in the local area. The aim of this institutional product is to involve, inform, excite and attract the attention of people who want to learn more about the presence of the Salesians in Vocational Training in the world.

To borrow the words spoken by the Pope in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians on 22 June: "You Salesians have the same challenge that Don Bosco had. Take these boys and girls. And what did Don Bosco do? [...] He does not say great things. No! He opened small schools to teach trades. Those Salesian schools were then of schools of arts and crafts where young people learned a trade. [...] In six months they can learn to work as an electrician or as a plumber, because the tap is always breaking. Education, but education that responds to the crisis [...] Give them something that leads to a job, even a small job, even if only for today.  Emergency education, I think the young people on the streets today need this. Give them a short course and a practical skill and then you'll see. Pick up this challenge with Salesian Creativity."

The video, which lasts twenty-seven minutes, is available in various languages.

Published 20/10/2015