Sassi is 19 years of age and he is the only one to look after his youngest brother, Austin. Since their mother died they have been left on their own; they lived on the street doing occasional jobs and making enough to live mainly by begging. Recently in the Salesian reception centre at Ngangi, in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they began a new life and a smile returned to their faces.
There are thousands of other African children like Sassi and Austin who have had experience of life on the streets in the large cities of the African continent; children who have been abandoned or have run away from home, who wander alone around the streets trying to get enough money to eat; children without a future and without a childhood.
Over 100 million children in Africa have no chance of an education. The Salesian Missions are engaged in offering an education because they believe that going to school is a crucial element in the development of the individual and of a people. But equally important is taking care and providing protection for the youngest ones so that they can enjoy a happy childhood and become the protagonists of their own future. The Salesians have provided many “foyers”, or reception centres, in 41 African countries, places where the children find the warm welcome and protection they need and where they are offered education, accommodation, health care and food.
The Salesian Missions began in 1875, when Don Bosco sent a group of ten missionaries to Argentinian Patagonia. In the more than 135 years since then over 10,000 Salesians have been sent to mission lands. Nowadays the Salesians are present in over 130 countries where they are engaged in projects on behalf of the most disadvantaged children and young people.
Published 16/06/2011
