(ANS – Rome) - Don Bosco spent his life for the young dedicating himself  “to his last breath” to the human and Christian salvation of the youngsters he met. His gaze which was already fixed outside the boundaries of the Valdocco district and the city of Turin, still today continues to meet those of many youngsters.

In these days the Deputy Executive Director of Unicef, Rima Salah, in the course of a press conference in Geneva at the presentation of the report on the emergency “Humanitarian Action for Children 2012”, raised the alarm: there have been 384 children killed in Syria since the middle of March  when the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began.

The report also refers to other situations such as the children and their families displaced as a result of the violence in the Ivory Coast and in Southern Sudan, the flooding in Pakistan, and the work in progress to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010.

He also makes as appeal about the so-called “silent” emergencies such as that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where, since June 2011, over 1.5 million people – half of them children – have been displaced because of tribal violence. Millions of others have suffered from sexual violence and the lack of schools.

Nor should be forgotten the situations of immigration and social exclusion in Europe, preoccupied by the economic crisis, where the ones who suffer are often the young, marginalised by prejudice and by the social system which does not encourage their being made welcome and given training for work.

While some of these emergencies are taken up in a significant way by the media  and the political world, others are never put under the spotlight of  international press, and in this way becoming silent emergencies: humanitarian crises so far from public opinion that sometimes they are too easily forgotten.

Today Don Bosco would be turning his gaze also to them

In over 130 counties  the Salesians and other groups of the Salesian Family are engaged in education, in evangelisation,  in safeguarding and promoting human rights, especially those of the smallest and most disadvantaged.- Don Bosco’s inheritance – expressed through the Preventive System – still demonstrates its effectiveness even today. This can be seen in the hundreds of current projects in every part of the world  and the thousands of youngsters and young people who, often with their families, are benefiting every day from these human, Christian and social projects.

In the video section of ANS there is a short video, produced by Missioni Don Bosco, on the Preventive System. In the imaginary context of an interview with Don Bosco, the video shows the personal experience of many Salesians and lay people engaged in  the fields of education and evangelisation.

Published 31/01/2012