(ANS – Yellagiri) – On 5 July at Don Bosco Centre, Yellagiri, by Fr Stanislaus Swamikannu, former Provincial of Chennai and Director of Don Bosco Centre, released a comprehensive Directory of the Don Bosco National Forum for the Young at Risk (YaR.).

The 280 page document with photos and detailed statistics enables the reader to learn the story of how the Salesians of Don Bosco in India have gradually come to claim their rightful place among the most neglected and vulnerable children and youth of the country.

The Directory documents the origins and the steady growth of a work for the Young at Risk (YaR) that started four decades ago and today involves hundreds of Salesians and collaborators across 73 cities and towns in India.

The Directory reveals the fact that the 225 YaR centres across the country reach out to 292,407 at-risk young people on almost a daily basis! This is ample evidence that the Salesians have finally arrived where they are meant to be—among the poorest and the weakest.

The volume includes a heart-warming section of “Success Stories”. These are stories of young people whose lives have been transformed after they came into contact with YaR centres across India. It is a section not to be missed: stories that disturb, stories that delight; stories that tug at your heartstrings.

The Directory, a first attempt by the YaR National Forum, has succeeded in documenting the origin and development of every YaR centre in the country, with detailed facts and figures indicating the kind of services each centre offers and the number of beneficiaries, etc. The extensive statistics on nearly a hundred pages will be an eye-opener to everyone, including those engaged in YaR work.

It will be an excellent tool for better coordination, animation and planning for those involved in YaR ministry at all levels. It will also facilitate networking and promote liaison and collaboration with like-minded organisations including Government agencies. A work of this kind is bound to bring greater visibility and credibility to the National Forum and to the individual YaR centres and thus help mobilise resources to take forward their programmes and projects.

The Directory is compiled and published by Bosco Institute of Social Sciences (BISS), Bangalore, under the direction of its Director Fr Francis Chittilappilly, on behalf of the National Forum for the Young at Risk, New Delhi. It is designed and printed by Don Bosco IGACT, Kochi.

Published 10/07/2012